Thanks for the recommendation, although the horror tag keeps me away from that one. I'm not a huge fan of 3d platformers since the camera movement makes it depend on reaction times and I think quite slowly. With 2d platformers, a sufficiently stubborn person can effectively memorize the levels and only make minor adjustments along the way, so it is more about learning the sequence of moves needed and then being able to perform them rather than reaction time. But Castle on the Coast looked cute so I had to try it :) (I tried it briefly and it is quite forgiving and even has an "invincible" mode, although the controls feel a bit sluggish to me). I also still have the Kao the Kangaroo games that I got a while ago and haven't played yet. Would be great to see more puzzle games! The better card games are somewhat similar IMO, I like Card City Nights and will try Monster Train at some point.

I was looking at that one too. A fair number of reviews, many positive, but a bunch of them mention the game having trouble after a while. Hard to tell what impact that might have. Plus I already have ΔV: Rings of Saturn so I'm thinking I should just play that one more.

If only because it was on giveaway a couple of years ago :/. I didn't last long playing it due to the lack of a "no blood" option, though.

Actually, I would say it depends on the platformer. Some 2D platformers, like Celeste, are as you describe, but others, like Hollow Knight, are more dependent on reaction time. (Exception: There's one area of Hollow Kinght, needed for the best ending, where the game changes and becomes more like Celeste for a while; this part is particularly notorious for having hard patforming.)

In general, games where you have to deal with enemies, particularly when there's RNG involved, tend to involve more reaction time than games where you don't.

Even enemies are usually quite predictable, although there can be some randomness. I checked quick and in Hollow Knight I think the only randomness with the regular enemies is where they are placed when you enter an area. Otherwise they act based on where you are and what direction they are facing and how their movement interacts with walls and such. Although multiple enemies and projectiles can leave a lot of things to keep track of. Boss battles have some randomness and are usually the hardest part for me since it does require reaction, although they also show what they are about to do in advance. There are strategies you can use to decrease the reaction time you need in some cases (not so much in others with area effects). One of the things that makes Hollow Knight so difficult is that the bosses can be quite quick. I haven't quite finished the game because I haven't been able to get past that final circus boss, although I'll try again today and just finish the game anyway if I can't do it. Hopefully we will get Celeste here at some point.

I also tried Guacamelee and I think some of the enemies there do have a bit of randomness, although they also usually signal what they are doing a ways in advance and there are stragegies that require less reaction time. I guess there is still a certain reaction time needed even if not that short and above that it may just not be possible. However, for anyone who can still enjoy a game repeating sections over and over again (some of us do) it is usually possible to get through 2D platformers with a much slower reaction time than you might think (and the limited randomness means it is rarely a matter of RNG hacking). With 3D platformers it feels less like I am messing up at the same thing each time until I get it right and more like things are randomly different each time I try (although Cyber Hook feels more like a 2D platformer to me even though it has randomness so possibly it is just that there are very few 3D platformers that I like).

The top review for that game on GOG says this: Is that true? If so, that sucks. If true, then why is GOG preinstalling unofficial patches that change the balance of the game? GOG should never be doing that. I want the game that the actual devs themselves made; but I don't want fan users to "re-balance" the game for me against my will and then GOG sells me that.

Can anyone who knows about this game explain what the deal is with all those things that I just mentioned?

Unsure about that game but usually GOGs reason for doing those actions is because its both the best way to fix the game to work on modern hardware and to also made the games better and easier for younger generation of gamers to enjoy classic games .. Yes I ain't kidding here Edit in I would list the games that this has happened in but it'd be a very very long list of old games indeed and ones I would have to fact check all the changes and such on