So I originally bought this just because I knew it was a Metroidvania and I thought it was more of a "choose your character and go" kind of game, that's it, I had no other notion of the game besides that and very few images, yet I still bought it. And I'm glad I did.
I honestly wasn't expecting such an amazing yet minimalistic love letter to retro Metroidvania type games. It also has an element of rogue-lite in it as well, you're not actually punished for dying, in fact it's kind of the opposite in a way, you are rewarded for lasting as long as you can and the more enemies and/or bosses you kill, the better stuff you are given when you die and have to try again to get back to where you were. It's actually pretty thrilling, it took a bit to catch on, but once I understood it I loved the game.
The music is honestly stellar, it's really good and has a kind of NES era vibe to it.
The story is a bit of a mixed bag, at the beginning you are told a slight bit of the story and the character's purpose annnnnnnd that's about it...at save points the characters have dialogue as well as the character you are using comments on things here and there, but you could go quite a while without seeing any progression in the story itself, exploration is really the whole key to the game.
If I had to think of any flaws I have maybe two, one being that, the game takes a bit for you to understand how it wants you to play, if you don't learn to understand that the game wants you to explore and grind a little then you could easily find yourself frustrated and losing interest and I don't feel the game eases you into the correct mindset. Second, the controls are a tad frustrating, not all of them, just the climbing and falling through ladders and open spaces you are supposed to just climb yet you fall instead, it's something you'd have to play to understand, but some of the controls make platforming a bit frustrating. But that's about it for negatives, I really enjoyed what I played and I'm glad I just too a leap of faith and tried it out.
I honestly wasn't expecting such an amazing yet minimalistic love letter to retro Metroidvania type games. It also has an element of rogue-lite in it as well, you're not actually punished for dying, in fact it's kind of the opposite in a way, you are rewarded for lasting as long as you can and the more enemies and/or bosses you kill, the better stuff you are given when you die and have to try again to get back to where you were. It's actually pretty thrilling, it took a bit to catch on, but once I understood it I loved the game.
The music is honestly stellar, it's really good and has a kind of NES era vibe to it.
The story is a bit of a mixed bag, at the beginning you are told a slight bit of the story and the character's purpose annnnnnnd that's about it...at save points the characters have dialogue as well as the character you are using comments on things here and there, but you could go quite a while without seeing any progression in the story itself, exploration is really the whole key to the game.
If I had to think of any flaws I have maybe two, one being that, the game takes a bit for you to understand how it wants you to play, if you don't learn to understand that the game wants you to explore and grind a little then you could easily find yourself frustrated and losing interest and I don't feel the game eases you into the correct mindset. Second, the controls are a tad frustrating, not all of them, just the climbing and falling through ladders and open spaces you are supposed to just climb yet you fall instead, it's something you'd have to play to understand, but some of the controls make platforming a bit frustrating. But that's about it for negatives, I really enjoyed what I played and I'm glad I just too a leap of faith and tried it out.
In every Fantasy-obsessed ex-NES gamer's mind, there exists the perfect evil castle. It's a brutal landscape chocked full of untold secrets, powerful items, deadly sections of spikes and leaps of faith, and powerful villains to slay - all born out of some fever dream amalgamation of every 8-bit sword-and-shield adventure and Saturday morning cartoon shoved together by sheer imagination and a fantastical desire for adventure. The Tower of Serpents in Astalon: Tears of the Night fulfills this dream in almost every possible way.
Controlling a party of adventurers, you scale the Tower in order to save your town from a poison emanating from within, and you will need the strengths of every party member if you are to uncover all of its secrets and save the day. There are certain platforming sections that require the use of the Rogue's wall-jump, or walls that can only be destroyed by a Warrior, or magical orbs that need activation by Wizard spells. Astalon is very good at showing you the conventions and rules of the game quickly so that the puzzles never seem frustrating and you never feel clueless, allowing you to focus on what the game does best - exploration and gameplay.
Astalon follows the standard Metroidvania framework, but throws in a rogue-(very)lite wrinkle within the story. Every time you die, you start back at the bottom of the tower. Everything you unlocked stays unlocked and everything you've discovered stays discovered; it's up to you to return to the scene of your death and continue. Though this could seem frustrating, Astalon is actually built around this concept, and it further enhances the experience of exploration. Like Hades, the game expects you to die, and you are able to level up and buy items after each death in order to become more powerful. In addition, there are tons of shortcuts, secret passages, and teleports which open up quick runs through sections of the Tower, as well as elevators which serve as a fast-travel mechanic. They are well placed as well, with elevators before every major boss.
The Tower is dense not only with shortcuts, but secrets as well. There is a secret from the very first few rooms of the castle, and while they are well-hidden, once you know the signs of hidden rooms, they are easily discoverable. Many contain power-ups such as bonus health and more powerful attacks, but some contain crucial upgrades as well. All of the abilities received throughout the game are unlocked through exploration rather than defeating bosses.
Though there are quite a few mini-bosses and eight boss-fights in total, the main portion of the game focuses on platforming challenges, using enemies as obstacles rather than tight combat encounters. The combat is still fun and you have several different ways of dealing with enemies since you control different characters, but much of what makes the encounters enjoyable are the platforming scenarios such as fighting enemies while blocks fall from under your feet, or avoiding environmental lasers, or even while trying cross spike traps. Boss fights also incorporate platforming into them, as well as multiple phases to keep you on your toes. If you level your characters up, by the mid-to-end portions of the game, they will be able to dish out some serious damage, making the bossfights manageable yet still fun. There are no difficulty settings, however I found the game to be balanced extremely well, and the ability to level up helps mitigate some of the harder challenges - if you are struggling, there's always more of the castle to explore. Astalon does a fantastic job of letting you set small goals, so there's always something you can focus on overcoming, or something to side-track to if you need to take a break and level up.
While the story itself is your standard fantasy-fare, the characters are endearing with their small personalities and sprite-work. The art-direction of the game is fantastic, and each area is unique and stands-out from both color palette as well as soundtrack. The map itself is split into multiple sections that are easy to read as well. Getting the true ending of the game does take 100% map completion, which can sound daunting, but is actually quite fun to achieve. The shop even sells a map that will show you which rooms you are missing as well, which is an excellent quality-of-life feature. It took me about 20 hours to achieve 100% map completion playing blind.
Astalon completely surprised me with its cast of characters, expertly crafted map, and finely tuned gameplay. The Tower of Serpents is fun to explore, and even after achieving 100%, the game offers new modes to explore and conquer it in different ways. Astalon is one of the best metroidvanias I've ever played, as it follows its formula to perfection.
Controlling a party of adventurers, you scale the Tower in order to save your town from a poison emanating from within, and you will need the strengths of every party member if you are to uncover all of its secrets and save the day. There are certain platforming sections that require the use of the Rogue's wall-jump, or walls that can only be destroyed by a Warrior, or magical orbs that need activation by Wizard spells. Astalon is very good at showing you the conventions and rules of the game quickly so that the puzzles never seem frustrating and you never feel clueless, allowing you to focus on what the game does best - exploration and gameplay.
Astalon follows the standard Metroidvania framework, but throws in a rogue-(very)lite wrinkle within the story. Every time you die, you start back at the bottom of the tower. Everything you unlocked stays unlocked and everything you've discovered stays discovered; it's up to you to return to the scene of your death and continue. Though this could seem frustrating, Astalon is actually built around this concept, and it further enhances the experience of exploration. Like Hades, the game expects you to die, and you are able to level up and buy items after each death in order to become more powerful. In addition, there are tons of shortcuts, secret passages, and teleports which open up quick runs through sections of the Tower, as well as elevators which serve as a fast-travel mechanic. They are well placed as well, with elevators before every major boss.
The Tower is dense not only with shortcuts, but secrets as well. There is a secret from the very first few rooms of the castle, and while they are well-hidden, once you know the signs of hidden rooms, they are easily discoverable. Many contain power-ups such as bonus health and more powerful attacks, but some contain crucial upgrades as well. All of the abilities received throughout the game are unlocked through exploration rather than defeating bosses.
Though there are quite a few mini-bosses and eight boss-fights in total, the main portion of the game focuses on platforming challenges, using enemies as obstacles rather than tight combat encounters. The combat is still fun and you have several different ways of dealing with enemies since you control different characters, but much of what makes the encounters enjoyable are the platforming scenarios such as fighting enemies while blocks fall from under your feet, or avoiding environmental lasers, or even while trying cross spike traps. Boss fights also incorporate platforming into them, as well as multiple phases to keep you on your toes. If you level your characters up, by the mid-to-end portions of the game, they will be able to dish out some serious damage, making the bossfights manageable yet still fun. There are no difficulty settings, however I found the game to be balanced extremely well, and the ability to level up helps mitigate some of the harder challenges - if you are struggling, there's always more of the castle to explore. Astalon does a fantastic job of letting you set small goals, so there's always something you can focus on overcoming, or something to side-track to if you need to take a break and level up.
While the story itself is your standard fantasy-fare, the characters are endearing with their small personalities and sprite-work. The art-direction of the game is fantastic, and each area is unique and stands-out from both color palette as well as soundtrack. The map itself is split into multiple sections that are easy to read as well. Getting the true ending of the game does take 100% map completion, which can sound daunting, but is actually quite fun to achieve. The shop even sells a map that will show you which rooms you are missing as well, which is an excellent quality-of-life feature. It took me about 20 hours to achieve 100% map completion playing blind.
Astalon completely surprised me with its cast of characters, expertly crafted map, and finely tuned gameplay. The Tower of Serpents is fun to explore, and even after achieving 100%, the game offers new modes to explore and conquer it in different ways. Astalon is one of the best metroidvanias I've ever played, as it follows its formula to perfection.
An all-killer-no-filler action platformer with mechanics that truly transform over time, razor-sharp level design, and the sort of intrigue and exploration that is both vital to games in this unfortunately named genre and yet somehow also too rarely executed to this level. It's not 1:1, but the depth in its world loosely reminds me of the likes of Cave Story, with secrets small and transformative. Simply cannot believe how creative and exciting this is. In a year that actually has shown quite well in this genre space, Astalon sits comfortably above the rest for me.
Absolutely masterful in its genre and one of my favorite games all year. It's a little on the tough side, but the game expects you to die a bunch in order to incrementally beef up your trio of heroes.
Simple-but-solid narrative, soundtrack jam packed with earworms, a couple of different modes to make the game replayable and a couple of incredible a-ha twist discoveries that really defined what makes the metroidvania genre exciting and fun for me. Don't miss this if you're a fan.
Simple-but-solid narrative, soundtrack jam packed with earworms, a couple of different modes to make the game replayable and a couple of incredible a-ha twist discoveries that really defined what makes the metroidvania genre exciting and fun for me. Don't miss this if you're a fan.
Game is great, very reminiscent of many great classic games like megaman, shovel knight, super metroid etc. The gameplay is fun, the platforming is crisp and the game has a really good difficulty curve; It felt challenging, but always fair and it never got too difficult. The map is huge with plenty of secrets and places to explore. it's a proper metroidvania map too, too many metroidvanias i've played use small cordoned off sections of the map laid out in a grid and don't feature the sort of interconnectedness and intracacy that makes exploring those maps fun. Highly recommend if you're at all interested in the metroidvania genre because this game has some real legs.
GRAB THIS GAME. The only reason I don't five-star this game is because there are some bugs that occasionally surface and at least one was responsible for making me have to die at least once in order to get back to normal progression.
That aside, level design and gameplay are STELLAR. The tower is a behemoth that sprawls upward and about and as you think you have a grasp on the size of the tower, you find that you're only seeing about half of what's actually there.
Secrets abound and you're actively encouraged to poke around. In fact, that's one of the quintessential cornerstones of why this game works -- it implores you to explore to your heart's content. Dying isn't an issue because any currency you build up is spendable on death and none of it is ever lost, even if you choose not to spend it. Worried you're not going to make it to whatever goal location you've got? Just try your best, spend some currency on upgrades after you die, and then come back to it again.
The character swap system is largely fun, though Arias wasn't really worth it to me and I spent most of my time switching between Kyuli (who I mained for her range) and Algus (after he got an ability that I found to be very useful).
Area progression is hypothetically linear, but sometimes getting lost can lead you to some secret areas that let you pick up some more goodies and come back with massive stomping powers as a result.
You could argue that if anything, the game actually gets too easy once you start branching out in different directions after the first boss because it's not difficult to start amassing orbs from a slew of enemies if you're not just actively avoiding them and some of the ability power-ups you find while exploring give you major leverage on both regular monsters and bosses.
Regarding bosses, all of them were fun to me, though as I mentioned before -- there wasn't much challenge after the first one. That's probably on me, but I won't delve into why because it's spoiler territory. Boss patterns are simple to understand and the difficulty in the fights lies largely in how to get the most damage out there without being greedy -- if you don't temper your desire to get a few extra hits in, you will pay the price.
Visually, it's an 8-bit spectacle and the bosses and minibosses are far more entertaining to look at (and fight) than most of the regular monsters.
Music is good, not great -- it's solid adventuring vibes throughout the entire tower, but none of them are specifically sticking with me right now after 100%ing the game.
Content is wonderful. There is a true ending for players who want incentive to strive for 100% bestiary, items, and map collection (the bestiary isn't mandatory, but you may as well if you're on your way!). There are multiple modes of play that are unlocked after beating the game or finding certain secrets/fulfilling certain conditions. Boss Rush and NG+ (which shuffles items and other such things) are some enjoyable staples, but there are others I won't mention here. Beyond the modes of play, there are other secrets that are optional to the main game that also alter the gameplay a bit.
I achieved 100% bestiary, items, and map completion along with the true ending at roughly 16 hours of time. I'd say at least an hour of that was wandering around, maybe two. There's a lot to get lost in, and that's a great thing in this game.
There are two features I'd like to add, but for sake of spoilers, I'll refrain from mentioning one of them. The other feature, however -- it would be nice if you could place markers on your map to indicate your own areas of interest. The game does try to give you a number of useful markers via some upgrades you purchase, but they're not really helpful when trying to figure out if you need a certain character for a certain ability in a room or if you just walked into a room, walked out, and never completed the room. In that respect, this map system could use the Batbarian treatment. Other than that, a little polish and at least for me, this is a 10/10 game. Buy it at full price, it's absolutely worth it at 20 bucks. Over a dozen of hours of fun before even unlocking multiple modes that change the dynamics of the game? ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, I'M THERE FOR IT.
That aside, level design and gameplay are STELLAR. The tower is a behemoth that sprawls upward and about and as you think you have a grasp on the size of the tower, you find that you're only seeing about half of what's actually there.
Secrets abound and you're actively encouraged to poke around. In fact, that's one of the quintessential cornerstones of why this game works -- it implores you to explore to your heart's content. Dying isn't an issue because any currency you build up is spendable on death and none of it is ever lost, even if you choose not to spend it. Worried you're not going to make it to whatever goal location you've got? Just try your best, spend some currency on upgrades after you die, and then come back to it again.
The character swap system is largely fun, though Arias wasn't really worth it to me and I spent most of my time switching between Kyuli (who I mained for her range) and Algus (after he got an ability that I found to be very useful).
Area progression is hypothetically linear, but sometimes getting lost can lead you to some secret areas that let you pick up some more goodies and come back with massive stomping powers as a result.
You could argue that if anything, the game actually gets too easy once you start branching out in different directions after the first boss because it's not difficult to start amassing orbs from a slew of enemies if you're not just actively avoiding them and some of the ability power-ups you find while exploring give you major leverage on both regular monsters and bosses.
Regarding bosses, all of them were fun to me, though as I mentioned before -- there wasn't much challenge after the first one. That's probably on me, but I won't delve into why because it's spoiler territory. Boss patterns are simple to understand and the difficulty in the fights lies largely in how to get the most damage out there without being greedy -- if you don't temper your desire to get a few extra hits in, you will pay the price.
Visually, it's an 8-bit spectacle and the bosses and minibosses are far more entertaining to look at (and fight) than most of the regular monsters.
Music is good, not great -- it's solid adventuring vibes throughout the entire tower, but none of them are specifically sticking with me right now after 100%ing the game.
Content is wonderful. There is a true ending for players who want incentive to strive for 100% bestiary, items, and map collection (the bestiary isn't mandatory, but you may as well if you're on your way!). There are multiple modes of play that are unlocked after beating the game or finding certain secrets/fulfilling certain conditions. Boss Rush and NG+ (which shuffles items and other such things) are some enjoyable staples, but there are others I won't mention here. Beyond the modes of play, there are other secrets that are optional to the main game that also alter the gameplay a bit.
I achieved 100% bestiary, items, and map completion along with the true ending at roughly 16 hours of time. I'd say at least an hour of that was wandering around, maybe two. There's a lot to get lost in, and that's a great thing in this game.
There are two features I'd like to add, but for sake of spoilers, I'll refrain from mentioning one of them. The other feature, however -- it would be nice if you could place markers on your map to indicate your own areas of interest. The game does try to give you a number of useful markers via some upgrades you purchase, but they're not really helpful when trying to figure out if you need a certain character for a certain ability in a room or if you just walked into a room, walked out, and never completed the room. In that respect, this map system could use the Batbarian treatment. Other than that, a little polish and at least for me, this is a 10/10 game. Buy it at full price, it's absolutely worth it at 20 bucks. Over a dozen of hours of fun before even unlocking multiple modes that change the dynamics of the game? ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, I'M THERE FOR IT.
Had a nice little time with this! Astalon is one of those absorbing metroidvanias that you can just comfortably slouch down and go full butt city into for a good week because of just how good the exploration is and how impossible it can be to put down due to the regular flow of new paths, secrets and trekking oppertunities. Also add on some nice pixel art and some cool character stuff and you've got yourself a good time!
Just don't go into it expecting anything real in-depth or pushing your gaming skillz. The difficulty of the game and bosses aren't that bad to start and only get easier as the game goes along, the beginning is probably where it's the toughest. You have a limited health pool shared between all three of your characters with a scarce resource being the only way to get health back BUT when you die you can cash out the EXP you gained to level up your characters and also add some mechanics to the game world. Afterwards you get sent to the beginning of the dungeon and continue on. It's a neat way to deal with death but it also creates this situation where dying is kinda good and is how you progress. You level everyone up, you get full health again and you carry on back to where you were. I don't know if it was just me but it ended up making me go from trying my hardest to survive at the beginning of the game to taking less care of myself and not really caring about dying because I would get in a better state, y'know?
Idk, that stuff aside, I had a comfy time with it. If you like the idea of quality metroidvanias that give you the good brain juice for exploration and isn't too demanding then this a good one.
Just don't go into it expecting anything real in-depth or pushing your gaming skillz. The difficulty of the game and bosses aren't that bad to start and only get easier as the game goes along, the beginning is probably where it's the toughest. You have a limited health pool shared between all three of your characters with a scarce resource being the only way to get health back BUT when you die you can cash out the EXP you gained to level up your characters and also add some mechanics to the game world. Afterwards you get sent to the beginning of the dungeon and continue on. It's a neat way to deal with death but it also creates this situation where dying is kinda good and is how you progress. You level everyone up, you get full health again and you carry on back to where you were. I don't know if it was just me but it ended up making me go from trying my hardest to survive at the beginning of the game to taking less care of myself and not really caring about dying because I would get in a better state, y'know?
Idk, that stuff aside, I had a comfy time with it. If you like the idea of quality metroidvanias that give you the good brain juice for exploration and isn't too demanding then this a good one.
This review contains spoilers
a favorite of many hardcore MV fans, i thought it was just ok. the pseudo-loop mechanic works narratively, but didn't add anything to the gameplay in my opinion. i'm also a little worn out on the 8-bit style as well. otherwise i do enjoy the game, it has good exploration and good combat. the upgrades you can get with the orbs can give you a really powerful build, which i found rewarding.
Ótimo metroidvania, platina relativamente difícil, principalmente os dois últimos troféus do bestiário. Dificuldade balanceada, gameplay limpinho, mapas legais de se explorar e chefes bacanas, gostei bastante e espero que outros metroidvania sigam esse exemplo.