Current Events > ITT: I briefly review Metroidvanias I've played recently (MV discussion topic)

(+) Yeah! (+)

EvilResident posted...

Blasphemous is good but too hard for me. It needs an easy mode. Did they add that in yet?

anyone who's played this know?

EvilResident posted...

anyone who's played this know?

There is no easy mode

TheGoldenEel posted...

There is no easy mode

I fail then

Odallus: The Dark Call

I mentioned earlier that I didnt really vet any of these before buying. This is another game that is not strictly a Metroidvania, definitely being more in the vein of classic Castlevanias, specifically the NES versions. However, it does have some degree of MV gameplay as there are abilities and secrets to find, and you do have to return to levels to advance.

if you read my previous review of Shantae: 1/2 genie hero, youd see that I didnt like that gameplay loop there, but here, it actually works pretty wellmainly because there are more levels and fewer power-ups, so you end up repeating everything far less. The game initially consists of five somewhat linear levels, each with a boss at the end, but once you finish those youll find that the final level is closed off. So you have to return to scour the previous levels for the power ups and secret exits that unlock a second set of five levels.

level design starts out feeling pretty basic, but as you advance and unlock more abilities traversing levels becomes much more fluid, and it allows the game to really open up in terms of challenge. The secret levels are definitely the high point of the game, being much longer and with interesting design that makes good use of the power ups. bosses were great and varied, each presenting a solid challenge while not feeling unfair.

i did have a few issues: first of all, the game uses a sub-weapon system; but the sub-weapons are all consumables. So a large chunk of the hidden secrets are just chests containing consumable sub weapons, or currency to buy those sub weapons. And the games shop system seems designed to initially punish the player, as each time you buy health or weapons, the price permanently increases. there is a cap on this, and by the end of the game you have far more than enough to buy anything you want, but in the early game it feels very unforgiving

secondly, the game is very clearly made by a small indie team, as I did encounter a few bugs that required me to start the game. Places where you would consistently fall through the level and get stuck, and freezes. The translation of the story is also nonsense, with a lot of silly words and over-the top descriptions as well as poor English. however the atmosphere of the game is pretty cool, and goes in unexpected directions given it initially seems like a pretty basic castlevania clone

overall this game got better as it went on for me, and by the end I was really enjoying it. Recommended for people who enjoy a more classic castlevania style of gameplay and can deal with some of the quirks of a small indie game

7/10

Might be a couple days before Im able to write up another so keeping this bumped

Having a lot of trouble with Origa in Deaths Gambit, has me kinda discouraged.

DespondentDeity posted...

Having a lot of trouble with Origa in Deaths Gambit, has me kinda discouraged.

She's the sniper right? What part's messing you up exactly?

MJOLNRVII posted...

She's the sniper right? What part's messing you up exactly?

Im having inconsistent results getting the gravestones to block the background shots, but Im just gonna farm a bit and go buy a bunch of bombs and cheese it.

I got her but it was crazy close, honestly it kinda clicked at the end of the fight and she would have been really easy if Id seen the counters to certain moves sooner.

Bumping this just cuz. I haven't played any MV's lately due to Sunbreak.

I got that Omega Strike game cuz it was so cheap (85% off on PS4) and its actually pretty fun if not dreadfully easy on normal, seems like itll be pretty short too.

I probably recommended it, but is Headlander on your list TC?

Wuppo

From the start, this gave my strong An Untitled Story vibes, and I even thought it must have been made by the same developerit wasnt, but it was apparently inspired by that game. Movement is extremely similar to that game and the hand drawn ms-paint aesthetic is clearly taken from that game.

I really wanted to like this game, because of that aesthetic and because its an interesting take on the genre, being more in the vein of traditional adventure games than your typical MV. But even at a relatively short length (I finished in 9 hours) it felt padded, and the game didnt feel like it had a solid focus on what it wanted to be.

One thing it did very well was it had a surprisingly deep lore, which, combined with the aesthetic and loads of NPCs roaming around, made the world feel very fully realized. They clearly spent a lot of time coming up with the various races in the game, giving them personalities and backstories, and it was often very funny.

however, they just didnt come up with enough interesting stuff to do in this world they created, and it often felt disjointed in terms of goals. For example, the first area of the game is purely an action-adventure style, with lots of platforming, and then the middle few sections of the game are purely adventure game style with no hazards and no enemies, just back and forth fetch quest style tasks, then the final section is composed of a large puzzle area followed by some platforming.

amongst all this, there are various bosses, which seem totally disconnected from the rest of the gameplay, having twin-stick shooter style controls, and which were often very challenging. Usually in a game like this you build up the skills for bosses by playing through the rest of the game, here, there were so many long segments that had no enemies separated by boss fights that got increasingly more challenging.

i also found it was often hard to tell what was going on in the game. The paint aesthetic doesnt make it clear what is actually a platform and what is background, and many of the NPCs running around look very similar to the player so its easy to lose your character. In several places the camera zooms super far out, and during boss fights the damage numbers that appear when you hit the boss can cover up the action

there was also a ton of unused stuff that seemed like it came from a different game. There are a whole bunch of shops throughout the game where you can buy costumes, extra items, and upgrades to your weapon, but since there are barely any enemies you dont really get enough money to buy anything. Theres an entire completely optional theme park area that similarly has everything cost money that you simply dont have. And theres a weird aspect of time-wasting they included, with several areas having trains/trams that you have to wait for in real time. One train that takes you to a new area only comes every five minutes and you just have to sit there waiting for it.

Ultimately its very obvious that this game started out as one type of game (an untitled story clone) and the developers shifted focus partway through but didnt fully commit to that new vision, or just ran out of ideas. It ended up being mostly boring, with areas of frustration (several bosses). a rare metroidvania-style game that I didnt feel compelled to 100% complete, I just wanted it over with.

4/10

MabusIncarnate posted...

I probably recommended it, but is Headlander on your list TC?

Yes

Oh man. I loved An Untitled Story. I forgot it existed until now

Xerun posted...

Oh man. I loved An Untitled Story. I forgot it existed until now

Same! But as soon as I played Wuppo I had flashbacks of the jingle that plays when you save

might have to replay that again soon

TheGoldenEel posted...

From the start, this gave my strong An Untitled Story vibes, and I even thought it must have been made by the same developerit wasnt, but it was apparently inspired by that game.

I dunno if you realized but an untitled story is the same dev as celeste

thinking of starting rabiribi soon but it's very intimidating for some reason

kirbymuncher posted...

thinking of starting rabiribi soon but it's very intimidating for some reason

Tell me what you think of this one if you do. I've been wanting to try it out since all people talk about are how good it is, or they haven't played it because of the arststyle/character designs.

Rabi Ribi has an incredible degree of freedom and the best difficulty balance of any game I've ever played

Extremely underrated game

MarthGoomba posted...

Rabi Ribi has an incredible degree of freedom and the best difficulty balance of any game I've ever played

Extremely underrated game

Can I get a second opinion

TheGoldenEel posted...

Can I get a second opinion

\_()_/

TheGoldenEel posted...

Can I get a second opinion

I tend to agree but I didn't play the game nearly as much cause I thought it was kinda hard lol

MJOLNRVII posted...

Tell me what you think of this one if you do.

my internet was dead today so I played a bunch of it, currently at about 30% item collection. It's really fun.

It's definitely got all the metroidvania staples, like assorted weapon/mobility upgrades, small powerup collectibles hidden behind fishy-looking walls or in strange dead ends, a sprawling world with distinct zone themeing, all that stuff. But I think what makes it really unique is it has a ton of bullet hell DNA as well. Bosses have tons and tons of attack variety (this feels nice after ender lilies where each boss had like 3 different attacks max) and they're all very pretty and flashy and full of bullets everywhere. They even have touhou-esque character cut-in supers, where the boss boosts its defense or sometimes even becomes totally invuln and you just focus on dodging complex bullet patterns for a while. The game's built to support this sort of thing too, since your hitbox is tiny compared to your sprite and if you hold the attack button it makes you move slowly while highlighting your hitbox. Basically the focus mechanic common in shmups.

Personally I've played a fair bit of touhou in the past so I've been playing on hard and I think the difficulty is not too bad, only one boss has taken me more than 10 tries so far. But if you're not confident in your dodging there's two difficulty levels below that plus some extra assist features so I don't think you'd get too wallled.

MJOLNRVII posted...

haven't played it because of the arststyle/character designs.

Gonna talk about this a bit since you mentioned it. Yes, there are a bunch of somewhat scantily dressed anime girls. Can't really deny that part. But honestly, the game isn't particularly horny about it or anything; in my however many hours of playing I've encountered only one very short scene that goes anywhere near that, and it's pretty tame. Other than that there's like 0 lewd jokes, revealing CGs, etc etc. They just... happen to dress like that and then the rest of the game is pretty much normal <_<

And honestly if anyone is interested in it except for the design/art, and even that^ doesn't reassure them, I'd say to just play it anyway and skip alll the cutscenes. The plot is banal at best and nonsense at worse, and individual conversations are awkward/stilted (apparently the result of a poor translation) so you're not even really missing anything anyway

Gonna fight Sirad when I get home.

Its only MV adjacent, but Im also buying that Little Noah roguelite today. Watched Haelian do a couple runs and it looks amazing, like a mixture of Dead Cells and Ender Lilies gameplay, with the artists from Bravely Default.

Yeh this Little Noah game rules, I think itll be a bit shorter than most roguelites but its also only $15.