Pros:
+ a respectful homage to the glory 8-bit days
+ fitting art style with nasty gore effect
+ awesome full-screen splash pages
+ a wide variety of spells and upgrades
+ combat system is tough but fair
+ context-specific death animations ...
Cons
- ... that take entirely too long to skip
- too tough in the beginning, too easy in the end
- unskippable day/night sequence
- enemies spawn in architecture
- keys are not tied to dungeons and can become an issue
- quest log is basically useless; no quest markers on NPCs
- major quests and final boss locked behind morality system
- morality system is too obscure and without indicators
- enemies' and items' hitboxes are wonky
- camera is not movable downwards or upwards
- platforming challenges are often unfair
- weak dungeon design with superfluous objects, platforms etc.
- missing checkpoint system makes leaving dungeons to save necessary
- bosses are boring and can be tanked easily
- INNs are copy pasted and mostly useless
- weak writing with inconsistent voice and tenor
- dialogue in general is not context-specific
- role-playing elements clash with the Metroidvania design
Bullshit Moments: Redoing an entire dungeon for the first time because a platform challenge was cut short by the camera or architecture. Finding out that the final challenges are locked behind a different ending than the one you got.
Verdict: This is clearly a labor of love by fans of old-school action platformers of yore. However, even though the presentation and combat system are commendable, the quest and platforming design are simply weak and the final challenges being locked away behind certain morality paths are unforgivable. Playing this with a guide would probably eliminate most of the frustration but would also eliminate the fun of exploring the world. A missed opportunity with more style than substance that you should probably pass on.
+ a respectful homage to the glory 8-bit days
+ fitting art style with nasty gore effect
+ awesome full-screen splash pages
+ a wide variety of spells and upgrades
+ combat system is tough but fair
+ context-specific death animations ...
Cons
- ... that take entirely too long to skip
- too tough in the beginning, too easy in the end
- unskippable day/night sequence
- enemies spawn in architecture
- keys are not tied to dungeons and can become an issue
- quest log is basically useless; no quest markers on NPCs
- major quests and final boss locked behind morality system
- morality system is too obscure and without indicators
- enemies' and items' hitboxes are wonky
- camera is not movable downwards or upwards
- platforming challenges are often unfair
- weak dungeon design with superfluous objects, platforms etc.
- missing checkpoint system makes leaving dungeons to save necessary
- bosses are boring and can be tanked easily
- INNs are copy pasted and mostly useless
- weak writing with inconsistent voice and tenor
- dialogue in general is not context-specific
- role-playing elements clash with the Metroidvania design
Bullshit Moments: Redoing an entire dungeon for the first time because a platform challenge was cut short by the camera or architecture. Finding out that the final challenges are locked behind a different ending than the one you got.
Verdict: This is clearly a labor of love by fans of old-school action platformers of yore. However, even though the presentation and combat system are commendable, the quest and platforming design are simply weak and the final challenges being locked away behind certain morality paths are unforgivable. Playing this with a guide would probably eliminate most of the frustration but would also eliminate the fun of exploring the world. A missed opportunity with more style than substance that you should probably pass on.