GAME INFO

YATOSAN

A cute little platformer about cheese, and the many things standing between you and it. Yatosan is a 2D platformer that looks friendly and is not entirely honest about it. Everything is bright and cute — the character, the levels, the little slices of cheese waiting to be picked up. Then the spikes start.

How it plays

Each of the 8 levels is a short obstacle course. Your goal is to collect the slices of cheese scattered around the level and reach the Exit door to move on to the next one. The first level lets you learn the jump. The last one does not let you do anything for free. What stands in your way: enemies that walk their own paths, spikes sticking out of the ground, and ground saws — spinning blades set into the floor, which is exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Every hazard kills the run, so you learn each level the honest way: by dying to it once and jumping better the second time. The cheese is what makes the game interesting. The cheese is never just lying on the safe route. It sits past the saw, above the spikes, on the far side of an enemy's patrol. So every level asks the same question: do you take the clean path to the Exit door, or do you detour through everything the level put in your way to grab the last slice? That small decision is most of the fun. It also gets harder to answer, because the difficulty climbs steadily level by level — tighter jumps, busier hazards, and less room to make a mistake. There is no timer breathing down your neck. Take your time, watch how the enemies move, and plan two jumps ahead. When you die, you know exactly what killed you, and trying again costs you nothing but a few seconds.

Controls

Two inputs. That is the whole game.

• WASD or Arrow keys — move left and right

• W or Up arrow — jump

• W or Up arrow, pressed twice — double jump

The double jump is the skill you will actually be learning. The second jump can be saved for the top of your arc, which means the height and distance of every jump is in your hands. Early levels barely need it. By level 6 you will be chaining jump-then-jump-again over a saw blade without thinking about it — which is when the game clicks.

Who it is for

Anyone who wants a platformer they can finish in an evening. It suits kids — nothing scary, nothing complicated — and it suits adults who grew up on small browser platformers and still like one. Short levels mean it also works when you only have ten minutes.

Two things worth knowing

1. The double jump does real work. It is not a gimmick bolted onto the movement — the later levels are built around it, and getting the second jump's timing right is the difference between clearing a gap and landing in it.

1. The cheese changes how you play. Chasing every slice turns the same level into a harder one. Grab the cheese or skip it — either way, the Exit door is waiting.

Cute on the outside, honest about the spikes. Eight levels. Good luck with the saws.