Candy Rangers

Candy Rangers is fun, cute, and shockingly deep for how small it is. It rewards skillful play while still being easy to pick up and play. Some accuracy issues, uneven boss fights, and a light storyline are among the game’s minor flaws that never detract from the experience.

Short and sweet, Candy Rangers' pick-up-and-play arcade action is just the thing for those looking for a quick sugar rush this fall season.

As a cute and simple game, Candy Rangers is certainly a charmer but it doesn't do anything beyond the very basics to get its hooks in you.

The whole experience is buttery smooth and pretty snappy. This is a unique rail-shooter with a lot of legitimately new ideas that I've never seen elsewhere. There are some mild colorblindness issues to be aware of if that is relevant to you, and now and then progression feels a little padded, but it is hard to complain too much when Candy Rangers is doing so many new things and doing them well.

Candy Rangers is, at its heart, a sugar-coated arcade throwback. It takes a genre that’s often seen as niche or outdated and injects it with colour and plenty of personality. Yes, it can be overwhelming at first, and yes, you’ll probably have to replay a stage or two, but the cheerful vibe and satisfying mechanics make it a delight to dip into. It’s not the kind of game that’s going to change your life, but it is the kind of game that can brighten your evening. Sometimes, that’s more than enough. I walked away from it smiling every single time, and really, that’s the best thing you can ask for from a game like this. A welcome addition to the often overlooked cute ’em up sub genre. A free demo is also available on Steam.

Candy Rangers is a visually charming game with interesting mechanics for the rail shooter genre. Its colorful atmosphere, combined with a lively soundtrack, creates an engaging initial experience. However, the requirement to collect tokens to advance compromises the fluidity of progression, making the journey more repetitive than it should be. Despite this, it still delivers fun and a challenge, especially for those who enjoy overcoming obstacles perfectly.

Candy Rangers is a competent time killer, with a very attractive art style, riding the low-poly trend that seems to have become a favorite among indie developers instead of pixel art. It's a game that, I believe, only makes sense in handheld mode, given the short length of the levels and the amount of information available at once. At the same time, I miss motion controls or the inclusion of mouse controls for Switch 2 and Switch users.

Colorful single-player on-rails shooter experience

A rough early game and poor first impression hide a true gem filled with clever level designs. It would be a true pity to judge Candy Rangers by its first hour of gameplay, but due to how brutal the first hour is with required hidden collectibles and a steep learning curve, anyone but a full-blooded masochist would not be blamed for putting it down before getting to the good part. However, if there is one message that should be remembered from this review, it is this: the good part is coming soon, and it is truly worth the rough journey there. Give Candy Rangers a try; it is one of the more innovative games in its genre, and once mastered, the foreign controls will become second nature.

Candy Rangers is a challenging on-rails shooter that has you controlling a team of four characters at the same time once you get used to the controls.