William and Sly

William and Sly is a Flash game submitted by Lucas Paakh on August 17, 2009. It is an action platformer, but it can also be considered an art game due to its unusual design, abstract story and well-developed atmosphere.
== Story ==
The Story of William and Sly is simple, but open for interpretation. William is a man who lives in a house in the woods, and Sly is a fox and his friend. William needs to use a group of thirteen runestones to travel to a cave he uses for storage. However, the stones have been mysteriously deactivated. William needs Sly to reactivate them by collecting fairyflies. In the end, Sly manages to activate all of the runestones except for the one in the cave. There, he fights a mysterious snake spirit. After activating the stone, the snake disappears, and Sly returns to William's house for a well deserved break.
== Design ==
William and Sly takes place in a huge 2D forest, full of giant trees, caves, and cliffs. The world contains thirteen runestones, three levers, sixteen locked chests, and 176 mushrooms hidden throughout, which can be collected for bonus points. Runestones can be activated by collecting five fairyflies and then touching a runestone. However, the world also contains fifteen creatures called darklings, which can consume all of the player's fairyflies in one bite. Fortunately, after activating a runestone, the player is temporarily invincible, and can destroy the darklings by simply touching them. Adjacent activated runestones can be used to travel across the world quickly. Later in the game, William also provides a map for navigating. The game is impossible to lose, although a player's score is calculated at the end based on how quickly they completed the game and how much they collected.
== Gameplay ==
Sly is controlled like any typical platforming character. He can run left and right and jump to higher places. One thing that makes William and Sly stand out is the ease with which Sly can do this. Sly automatically moves at a brisk pace, can jump from branch to branch, and fall from extremely high places without getting hurt.
However, he has no natural attacks, and depends on the effects of activating runestones to defeat his enemies. Unless the player is attempting a high score, it often makes more sense to simply avoid the game's relatively few enemies. Most of the game is spent running and jumping to either find treasure or activate the next stone. The game also includes a secret power-up: a pair of wings that slows Sly's fall.
== Presentation ==
William and Sly is viewed from the traditional side view, and features entirely 2D graphics. The game features a largely blue and green landscape, with only Sly, the treasures, and the enemies standing out with their reds and browns. The game's background also features multiple layers, including nearby cliffs, distant mountains, and a constant rain. A single track, "The Valley - WaS," is looped until the very end of the game. The only character that actually talks is William, who speaks using text instead of voice acting. At regular intervals, the music will cease, and ambient noises such as singing birds and thunder can be heard instead.
== Reception ==
William and Sly has had a very positive response on Newgrounds. The game won the Daily Feature and Weekly Second awards. Additionally, it is featured in the Flash Portal History and Adventure Games collections. As of September 2010, the game had over 960,000 views and an average review of 9.3/10. Tom Fulp mentioned the game on the front page news, where he asked people to digg it. The game was also nominated for the Newgrounds Tank Awards in 2009.
It also received a sequel, titled, William and Sly 2.
Category:Flash games
Category:Platformers
Category:Action Games
Category:Everyone
Category:Games With Medals
Category:2009