In Woolfe — The Red Hood Diaries, you play as a stylized, attitude-heavy version of Little Red Riding Hood, whose main motivational drive in the game is revenge for her father’s death and the destruction of her family. The game is a twisted, noir-ish retelling of the girl in the red cape, complete with a series of one-liners more reminiscent of Ash than Stephen Sondheim.

A combat-heavy platformer, Woolfe requires Little Red Riding Hood to traverse bleak — dare I say grim — reimaginings of fairy tale worlds to do battle with steampunk toy soldiers and giant rats, among other creatures, as she uncovers the true nature of her past. Players can jump, climb and tiptoe through several stages, amassing mystical powers and new attacks along the way.

The overall look and movement remind me quite specifically of platformers from the late 90s and early 00s in a kind of pleasant way. The jumping requires some getting used to, but there’s something interesting to this game’s approach world traversal. I’d give it a similar feel to Brothers, except the controls are nowhere near as tight.

The art style is absorbing, and players change environments and playstyles — stealth to combat to puzzles — with enough regularity to keep the average side-scrolling fan interested. The world itself is imaginative and epic in scope, so it can be quite visually stunning.

It’s a 2D / 3D hybrid, so you won’t just be hopping from ledge to ledge and bop enemies on the head, and it keeps things moving, so the scenery doesn’t get a chance to go stale.

The main problem is twofold: the controls and the combat. The game has other problems — cheap bosses with repetitive attack cycles and bland writing — but they are overshadowed by the big two issues I have with Woolfe.

First of all, the jumping doesn’t have the frenetic energy of its contemporary counterparts. It’s a more languid form of these mechanics, but the imprecise jumping is a fault this game cannot abide. Soft, spongy jumping was okay with games like American McGee’s Alice way back in the day, but more recent fare has upped the ante on the more technical aspects of platforming.

For example, jumping from a platform onto a pipe is difficult, and so there’s a chance players will die a lot trying to traverse even a mundane series of jumps. Sometimes the pipes don’t stick, or you have to double-jump to be able to attach, so it comes off as unreliable. This sort of thing is not acceptable in a game that is mostly jumping and latching onto surfaces. It is especially frustrating. Luckily, the game checkpoints frequently, so you’ll never be too far from the most recent problems, which will give you plenty of time to practice.

Another thing — and this is related to the platforming — is that I felt myself fighting the camera a la early 3D platforming games. I couldn’t judge the depth or distance of several jumps due to my perspective, so I ended up dying for that simple reason alone. That sort of stuff can be tightened up, hopefully, to give players a more fluid sense of movement, so it’s not a total loss. It just seems that the tactile feel of the player moving through the world would be the driving focus of its creation.

The combat adds a some depth to the game, but it doesn’t feel well-calibrated. It’s very button-mashy, which isn’t a problem in and of itself, but it also makes combat avoidance almost preferable. Still, Hood’s attacks increase in both reach and intensity over time, so the prospect of wielding the axe isn’t without its very obvious benefits.

Overall, Woolfe — The Red Hood Diaries has some engrossing elements. The levels are varied enough to occupy one’s time for a few hours. Some stuff is kind of grandiose without being compelling — the story and voice-over fit into this category — but after a few cringes, it sort of goes away. Woolfe also has the benefit of being in Early Access, so the developers can improve the game by tightening up the finer bits of the platforming / traversal and adding some depth to the combat.

At $10 on Steam, despite some problems, Woolfe might be worth a shot for those into retro-ish platformers. The game’s official release date is set for March 17, and people can find out more at Woolfegame.com