The in-game clock tells me I took 7 hours and 14 minutes to beat Strider, but I was playing it for longer if you count the times I left the PS4 on. I ended the game with 80.3% game completion; I got all the upgrades except for one energy refill I missed and all of the gear except for one Plasma Catapult variation. I collected a good portion of the Concept Art and various other small extras, as well.

Personally, I can definitely understand why people see this game as mid or even mediocre, but I had a fun time with it. It was one of the few Metroidvanias where I didn't feel stuck to the point where I needed a guide to know where I am supposed to be going or how to solve a puzzle, though that might say more about my small brain than anything. I enjoyed the climbing mechanic, it was fun being able to grab onto just about any surface and it made for some interesting to reach secrets. I feel that this game might have been better off being a regular hack and slash sidescroller, though; the Metroidvania elements are pretty cool, but I don't think the game would lose much by dropping them. There are various extras littered throughout the maps to incentivize exploration, such as Concept Art, Story Intel, and Costumes, but these felt more like filler to pad out the exploration aspect of the game than rewards I actually wanted to earn. I did enjoy using the costumes but that was just because I love cosmetics in any game.

Mechanically, the game is pretty solid. The controls are responsive, if not a little oversensitive since there were a few times my attacks were angled upwards because I slightly tilted the stick up. I will say that it did crash on me twice in one day, but it wasn't a big deal since turning the PS4 off and then trying later made it to where the issue never happened again. My only real complaints with the mechanics are the awkward controls for using Kunai once you unlock them. I felt like the Kunai sometimes went where I was moving and other times they didn't, I would have liked it better if the Kunai always were thrown where you were facing rather than you having to aim where you throw them with the right stick. I am only complaining about this because I used the Kunai a lot for boss fights and some locked doors require you use Kunai to open them temporarily. Speaking of which...

Bosses were honestly an absolute joke once I got some stamina upgrades. To be entirely fair, I was playing on normal difficulty since I rarely ever go hard mode in games, but you can just spam the super moves you get and bosses drop like flies. Phoenix Flight (if I'm remembering the name correctly) is the first stamina move you get and it wrecks bosses. In the late game, I just spammed the Explosive Kunai and it obliterated bosses easily, especially when paired with occasional use of Phoenix Flight. The most I died to bosses was twice, even the final boss was not very hard.

Overall my opinions on this game are pretty positive, though I did have my gripes with it. I don't plan on revisiting it again, but that's expected at this point since most games don't get me replaying them from the beginning.

Very mediocre metroidvania. Game's movement is significantly slower than the Strider series history and even slower than some other Metroidvanias. Combat is also very samey with little in the way of meaningful upgrades to ever change up how you're playing the game beyond the first hour. Even Metroid offers alternative weapon options or bosses that require you to figure out weaknesses whereas this game's bosses are designed like the myriad of bosses you could find in any western developed action game of the time. Presentation also sucks massively for what is a game with such a high concept world and for some god forsaken reason the devs thought this game needed recurring dialogue while playing that covers up the entire bottom fourth of the screen. The game is by all accounts competent, but did not have much going for it in 2014 and sure as fuck has even less going for it in 2022.