Also known as just Momodora 4, this is a Metroidvania I decided to check out not only because it was on Game Pass, but also because it seemed we were looking for some kind of first-hand opinion on it recently. All I knew about it is that it was fairly difficult but also fairly short, and both of those proved to be true. It took me a little under 6 hours to do a 100% run on normal difficulty.

Momodora is a Metroidvania with very obvious inspirations from Fromsoft's Souls series. Especially thematically and aesthetically, the relatively few NPCs, the lethality of normal enemies, healing items that refresh at checkpoints, and even the "you're a savoir from a far-off land here to save this land from a corrupted monarch", this game's design shows its inspirations on its sleeve. That said, I wouldn't call that a bad thing. Momodora has a beautiful pixel-art design with very fluid 2D animations. Oddly enough, with what a nearly all-female cast with a somewhat anime art-style, the aesthetic came off to as a "Touhou meets Dark Souls 1" at times XD. There isn't a ton of enemy variety, but what is there has lots of corrupted, creepy designs, and the boss fights and designs are fun while never feeling unfair, as the game is quite generous with checkpoints. The combat handles consistently and nicely, and you can really start wrecking stuff once you get the hang of how the game plays.

The mechanical design feel a lot like Hollow Knight, but if Hollow Knight were a more conventionally designed Metroidvania. The scope is much smaller compared to Hollow Knight's massive and sprawling area maps, you have an auto-mapping system as you explore, and you only ever get a couple of new combat abilities to augment the otherwise unchanging power of your normal sword slash, ranged attack, and dodge roll. "Hollow Knight with a far narrower and conventional design" is my one-sentence summary for this game.

My only real complaint would be the game's difficulty curve. The game's mechanics are simple, but they have a fair deal of weight to them. Especially getting used to how long/far you can dodge and how much recovery time you need before you can start moving again once you finish your normal attack combo can both take some getting used to. However, once you get the hang of those and start finding health upgrades, the game gets a lot easier. There are a few activatable items other than your not-Estus Flask that you can find as well as some passives you can equip, but they don't really change the combat much other than sometimes buffing your attack power. The first couple bosses were way harder than the last few because I could tank SO much more damage. I didn't even die once on the final boss (who is admittedly, not that hard) because I had such a big health pool and so much ability to heal. Not a huge design flaw or a deal breaker outright, but I wish the game would've had a smoother difficulty curve than more of a downward slope.

Verdict: Recommended. If you want a Metroidvania that's short, sweet, and to the point, then you can do a lot worse than Momodora. It doesn't do anything super unique or unconventional, but it does what it does very competently and the challenge provided is engaging. If you bounced off Hollow Knight because of the great difficulty AND huge length, then Momodora's difficulty settings and much smaller scope may well be right up your alley~

A great game that I couldn't be bothered to finish, a bit. My curse with metroidvanias is that I may need to look up a guide for them at some point, and then I can't retread my ground and I lose interest quite a bit. Up until I hit that wall, the game was excellent. combat felt really good, and except for a few of the unclear platforming segments, the game is pretty fair. The real place the game shines is in its aesthetic. Beautiful and cute pixel art with a lot of varied animations and atmosphere to the areas. None of them quite feel totally new, but none of them feel unoriginal. The story wasn't too gripping either, but didn't seem bad for what I paid attention to, just isn't revealed through much except a few dialogue sequences.

It's decent but nothing too special jumping from Momodora 3 just much better sprite and animation work going on here it's a slow paced but short metroidvania light on complexity and back tracking I'd probably recommend it to a first timer to both this series and the genre honestly. Story is there it does a decent job and there's much greater atmosphere and artistry at play than what came before it. More bosses that are fun but not too challenging by any means. Less awkwardness with how it plays looks and feels but still not doing anything really special for me. It's a good time though!

I wasn't familiar with this series and I literally first heard about it a couple weeks ago, however something about the vibe this game had really pulled me in so I gave it a try.

Something really interesting about this game is that it does the metroidvania style while at the same time having the entire game open to you from the start. (Not counting the final area obviously) From that description alone you're prolly already trying to wrap your head around that concept because that sounds like the exact opposite of a metroidvania but it works.

There's no unique form of platforming here. It's actually very simplistic but the way they make it interesting is the level design and mainly the enemy placements. Kaho is practically made of glass because every enemy will do like a quarter of her health with a single attack so every room kind of turns into a puzzle with the player trying to work out how to get through without taking too much damage. You can not brute force this game. It will make you take your time and strategize. (Unless you get the Red Ring that just allows you to get health for every thing you kill so the strategy just turns into destroying everything in your path.)

The best part of the game in my opinion are the boss fights. I'm not going to spoil most of them but the fights can be pretty cool. Also Lubella, who you beat by smacking her titties... This game knows what I like.

Overall this game pretty nice. The vibe and gameplay are both really unique and cool. It is the definition of a hidden gem.

Esse foi o primeiro momodora que eu zerei, (tirando o primeiro)não tenho muita certeza de como é os jogos anteriores, mas definitivamente é um jogo que eu gostei bastante. Ele é um metroidvania um pouco desafiador, no começo eu me sentia um pouco burro por morrer mais de 20 vezes para um tomate com um PORRETE, mas com um pouco de tempo eu fui progredindo bem no jogo... E progredindo eu me refiro a SOFRER MORRENDO E AVANÇANDO.

Eu vi que tem algumas mecânicas diferentes nesse jogo como a parte onde você consegue VIRAR UM GATO FODA E ANDAR POR AÍ MATANDO TODO MUNDO.

Não tenho muito o que falar sobre esse jogo, ele foi uma experiência muito boa que valeu cada centavo. Tiveram algumas coisas que apareceram no jogo somente uma vez em um lugar em especifico, e quando lembrei dessas coisas eu falei: "putz, seria muito foda se isso aparecesse mais vezes", são alguns detalhes que eu vejo e sinto que poderia ser mais aproveitado, mas nada que mude a experiência do jogo que já é incrível.

Momodora is a great example of how simple games can be great at the same time. This game is a must play for anyone who enjoy metroidvanias.

Starting off, I want to comment about how great the sprite work is here. The 4:3 aspect ratio actually works pretty well here and the animations are very fluid. The environments look incredible and the backgrounds are very nice to take in. Sometimes, it adds to the dark vibe that some areas give off. Speaking of vibes though, the music is also really good, but the game also knows when to pull back and just let you sink in. The 2nd area of the game doesn't have much happening in music and its to set the tone of the setting. You aren't in a happy place, you're in a desolate, empty kingdom with few left who are struggling along. Enemies you fight are actual ghosts, skeletons, the people from the kingdom who have died. It has a cutesy exterior but the inside is rather saddening.

Gameplay is pretty nice too, Its pretty smooth, its precise to control, and I never had any issues with movement. Its pretty much your standard metroidvania stuff but without the whole 2 castle thing that castlevania does often or having to do new game plus for the true ending, or find a bunch of random books around the castle stuff. Its also a metroidvania without too much backtracking which I like. What I mean specifically is that the games events are pretty laid out, you have branching paths but you aren't going to be lead astray to random areas you can't do much in. In my run, it was clear where I needed to go and most the times, there was no need to run back through areas. You COULD run through previous areas if you wanted to find some extra looties but its not integral to finishing the game. I even got the true ending without having to put in much effort. Most metroidvania games require you to do some extremely confusing or tedious things to get the true ending.

A couple gripes though, is that contact damage on enemies is inconsistent. Some have it and some don't. Personally, I don't think any of them should have it, in a game where your melee weapon has a short range and requires you to get real close and your melee attacks make you walk forward too. It's not that big of a deal but it's probably my biggest issue. Most of the bosses are good but the flame one, and you'll know it when you get there, isnt that good. It's not terrible but it enforces a passive playstyle.

Play this game though, it's not that expensive, it has tons of love poured in it, and it's one of my personal favorites of the genre. BUY IT NOW!