ENYO 9+

Gameplay is extremely simple and straightforward. Graphics are two dimensional and stylized cartoons. The soundtrack is short and on repeat. There’s a total of only ten levels in normal gameplay. Those might be reasons you’d be tempted to pass this over as a tactical game. This is a brisk, brutal game where you likely will fail many times. It rewards, though. It’s addictive. The music and the graphics fit the mood and the theme perfectly, no matter how seemingly simplistic. While simple, challenge escalates quickly, and there are modes beyond the normal mode to explore. And the gameplay hits that careful sweet spot where it’s just challenging enough to keep one playing at it over and over (and still fail most of the time) yet incredibly approachable and rewards being observant and experimenting. Really, my only lament is that this game is a huge battery drain when playing. It means my attempting to binge play it as I return to it has a governor on the binge length. And that’s the real tragedy of the game. At some point, you have to take a break because your battery will force you to.

I love how the game is strategic in your moves and attacks with the different enemy attacks, the placement of obstacles, and your own planning abilities. The art style is awesome, and the monsters are really cool in their design.
I have two ideas to add tho
1 - Add power ups such as a sword to be able to run into enemies and kill them with one hit, health power ups, and maybe even bombs like the alligator type bomber enemies. I think adding this mechanic to getting the Golden skull for three kills would be the best way to incorporate power ups like these, and have them drop on a random square that you have to get to so you can get and use them to add a little more challenge to using them.
2 - Add some kind of monetary system to be able to buy power ups to start off with or to buy retries and resurrections
Could you see about adding these ideas? It would really enhance the gameplay

I’ve been playing this game on and off for…at least 5 years. I’ll get obsessed with another game and play it incessantly. But I always find myself returning back here. The relative simplicity of the controls and rules belies a hidden complexity. I discover small new things every so often; Just last week I realized that I can propel myself toward the shield-bearing cyclops with the hook, over lava, and cause an area effect without harm.

I want to continue playing this into my greying years, I feel that it’ll help me stay sharp, as the the apps geared towards that endeavor can’t hold my attention like this game does.

Every iOS update, I’m afraid that this will disappear. I’m even thinking of freezing an old device on an version of iOS that it can’t upgrade from, to keep this forever, if that would even work.

Thank you for putting this together. It’s an old reliable that has gotten me through a lot.