LogFAQs > #970626409

59. Ghost Song (2022)

Checked this one out due to currently having Gamepass, it getting really good reviews, and me always being in the mood for a good Metroidvania, and while it was a somewhat enjoyable game, it certainly didn't live up to the praise. Not sure why this of all Metroidvanias was one that got an enthusiastic critical reception - Islets came out not a couple months earlier and is rather better, I would say. I suppose the strongest part of the experience in the atmosphere. It's nice and dark, with a real Metroid-y feel. There's more of a story though. There's a camp with several people you get to talk to, and you often chat a little with people you find out in the world, too. The story parts are generally enjoyable, except maybe the ending, which isn't too hot. There's decent voice acting, which is nice but can be slow at times (lots of '...' lines). The game has some Soulsy elements too, which I wasn't a huge fan of. Losing your currency when you die doesn't add much to the game, and neither does losing part of your health bar. Enemies can be bullet spongy.

Combat feels pretty good, for the most part. There's a neat mechanism where your gun overheats and fires more slowly after you fire for a while, but your melee weapons do more damage while your gun's overheated. Encourages variety. The dodge is pretty fun too. I found some bosses a bit more tough than I'd like, but the difficulty goes down a lot after you've done a couple things in the main quest due to powering up, so that aspect wasn't too bad. Exploring can be a bit tedious sometimes, though. You get a sprint powerup, but it barely makes you go any faster and it consumes stamina, so I basically never used it. Running around everywhere should've been faster - just have the sprint be permanent and not consume stamina. The powerups in general are basically fine. The movement powerups are pretty basic, with the highlight being that the dash is also an air dash, but they're nothing new for Metroidvanias. There's a lot more weapon powerups, and those are a bit more interesting (you swap between them). I didn't use a ton (you can't have very many equipped at a time), but there was a fun one I got where you shoot out flies that fly around and kill enemies. Overall, it's a pretty solid experience, which I guess the critics liked because of the atmosphere? But I definitely wouldn't recommend it, since there's dozens of better examples of the genre.

Next game hint: Hail Satan (2022)