Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines

An absolute, genuine delight. Shadow the Hedge-dog is a joy to control, to the point that I wish the whole game had just gone ahead and been designed around her moveset. Graphically dense, wonderful difficulty curve, and genuine speedrunning and search challenges for those who want to 100%, but that aspect is not necessary, and you won't feel pressured to do it outside of your own want of mastery. It's an absolute shame this did not sell better, and from interviews with the developer you can tell they are disappointed with the lack of financial response. So I hope this is the review that sways you - support these devs who put in the work, as the game is obviously pouring with graphical love and had to be Q-A tested to hell and back based on the solid level design. Can't say enough good (and play the first one too, both are great, especially on steam deck).

This one is a mixed review for me, especially as someone who really enjoyed the original Grapple Dog to 100% completion. The grappling in this game feels heavier and less snappy than its predecessor. While you can rebind the grapple and talk buttons (my preference is Y to grapple and X to talk), unfortunately on controller Y is permanently bound to restart time trial levels, and as someone who likes to hold down the button to grapple it has been inconvenient to have to restart due to this oversight. I also didn't initially care for Luna's controls, but over time I got used to them as well. The level design, while good and honestly better than the original game, unfortunately to me was less memorable than it. Some of the featured level designs (like the desert one and Catsablanca) honestly feel underutilized compared to ones like Monkeytropolis or Stormrise. I would have loved to see something like the final main level of the original game, where Pablo and Luna are running through every dimension trying to save the multiverse, instead of two levels in He[strike]ll[/strike]kk and then the final boss. The boss fights, which were the best part of the original game imo, were just okay; many of which honestly seemed repetitive and bland compared to the original. In the original there was a dinosaur chase boss, a flying dragon boss, Nul's fight at the end (which was peak); here it's just "here's an enclosed arena with a boss, go fight it" - what really set me off was that Vyr's fight, the final boss mind you, was heavily anticlimactic. In addition, you can soft lock the game in the level editor by testing a level with nothing in it. Considering the fact that the ending of the first game basically sets this one up, if you want to continue with the story of the original game go ahead and get this - otherwise, just play the original.