If you follow me and have played this game, you may have known this review was coming. I'm always on the lookout for a new 3D Platformer and this one got a lot of praise. I heard it was a 3D Castleroid with a platforming focus. The only other game that I know of that fits that description is Blue Fire, which, while a fine game, was pretty uninspired in many ways. As such, I was looking forward to seeing if this game reached the potential of the concept.
In many ways, it does. This game has one of the best movesets for platforming of any 3D Platformer. Expressive, unique, but also classical. Many of these moves are conceptually similar to those in other platformers, but the execution makes them special. There's a wall kick, but you only get three per jump, and you're given a lot more control of what angle you jump out. There's a slide into a long jump, but it's fully committal. There's even this hidden, crazy side jump that's hard to use but super good. Pretty much all of these are upgrades characteristic of the Castleroid structure. One problem I had with Blue Fire is that the platforming upgrades just trivialized sections, but in Pseudoregalia, the upgrades make the gameplay more complex. At first I thought I was really clever doing some sequence breaking here and there, but eventually I realized there's no real sequence to break at all in many cases. Several challenges can be cleared with a multitude of move combinations, and it's up to you to discover how to progress. It also helps that your moveset will increase your mobility, making backtracking much faster in general. It's a really awesome way to blend Platforming and Castleroid structure.
The more contentious part of this game is the exploration and the lack of a map. However, I believe the root of the problem is the level design. The rooms independently are pretty well designed, but it's looking at them altogether when some issues emerge. Many rooms are distinct to an extent, but considering the game's low-poly, low detail style, it can feel somewhat homogeneous. Really though, I think the main issue is that the path to the boss keys feel the same as the other paths. The door needed to advance will look just like the door that might just be an alternate path to where you just came from and nothing else. If you look at the Castlevania series, notice that not only is it portrayed that you need to get to the top of the castle, but the required detours from that path also have a clear direction, it makes a little more sense why many people get confused here. Very rarely is there an intuitive direction to go, as most entrances to important rooms are placed right beside entrances to less important rooms that might possibly have an upgrade but could very well not (They probably should've added more health/stat upgrades...). Of course, this wouldn't be as big of an issue if you simply had a map, but for game as small as this, I think a map isn't particularly necessary. If the doors to rooms were more unique (And not covered by fog), it would be easier to tell where you've been, even without a map. It's not a big deal, and I'm sure if I replayed this game the issue would be far less detrimental to my time, but it's still a problem.
The other thing that kinda holds this game back is combat. I mean, it's fine I guess. There's few enemy types, the ones that are here a pretty simply designed, and your attacks never progress beyond a 3-hit combo. You get benefits for fighting, but most of those are to solve problems caused by the combat in the first place. You can just run past most enemies, but if that's a positive, something went wrong here. It feels added out of a sense of obligation, which is the worst feeling to have about something in a game. The only boss fight is the final boss, which is solid overall, but it still kind of irks me that a platforming game has to end with a fight where platforming is mostly an afterthought. There's not even a final section to the bossfight here. Once you get all of the keys and go to the big door, it's straight to the boss. There was a missed opportunity for a final area that tested you on all of your abilities. Oh well.
It's a pretty good 3D Platformer, but it doesn't quite reach its potential. 7/10, very close to an 8.
In many ways, it does. This game has one of the best movesets for platforming of any 3D Platformer. Expressive, unique, but also classical. Many of these moves are conceptually similar to those in other platformers, but the execution makes them special. There's a wall kick, but you only get three per jump, and you're given a lot more control of what angle you jump out. There's a slide into a long jump, but it's fully committal. There's even this hidden, crazy side jump that's hard to use but super good. Pretty much all of these are upgrades characteristic of the Castleroid structure. One problem I had with Blue Fire is that the platforming upgrades just trivialized sections, but in Pseudoregalia, the upgrades make the gameplay more complex. At first I thought I was really clever doing some sequence breaking here and there, but eventually I realized there's no real sequence to break at all in many cases. Several challenges can be cleared with a multitude of move combinations, and it's up to you to discover how to progress. It also helps that your moveset will increase your mobility, making backtracking much faster in general. It's a really awesome way to blend Platforming and Castleroid structure.
The more contentious part of this game is the exploration and the lack of a map. However, I believe the root of the problem is the level design. The rooms independently are pretty well designed, but it's looking at them altogether when some issues emerge. Many rooms are distinct to an extent, but considering the game's low-poly, low detail style, it can feel somewhat homogeneous. Really though, I think the main issue is that the path to the boss keys feel the same as the other paths. The door needed to advance will look just like the door that might just be an alternate path to where you just came from and nothing else. If you look at the Castlevania series, notice that not only is it portrayed that you need to get to the top of the castle, but the required detours from that path also have a clear direction, it makes a little more sense why many people get confused here. Very rarely is there an intuitive direction to go, as most entrances to important rooms are placed right beside entrances to less important rooms that might possibly have an upgrade but could very well not (They probably should've added more health/stat upgrades...). Of course, this wouldn't be as big of an issue if you simply had a map, but for game as small as this, I think a map isn't particularly necessary. If the doors to rooms were more unique (And not covered by fog), it would be easier to tell where you've been, even without a map. It's not a big deal, and I'm sure if I replayed this game the issue would be far less detrimental to my time, but it's still a problem.
The other thing that kinda holds this game back is combat. I mean, it's fine I guess. There's few enemy types, the ones that are here a pretty simply designed, and your attacks never progress beyond a 3-hit combo. You get benefits for fighting, but most of those are to solve problems caused by the combat in the first place. You can just run past most enemies, but if that's a positive, something went wrong here. It feels added out of a sense of obligation, which is the worst feeling to have about something in a game. The only boss fight is the final boss, which is solid overall, but it still kind of irks me that a platforming game has to end with a fight where platforming is mostly an afterthought. There's not even a final section to the bossfight here. Once you get all of the keys and go to the big door, it's straight to the boss. There was a missed opportunity for a final area that tested you on all of your abilities. Oh well.
It's a pretty good 3D Platformer, but it doesn't quite reach its potential. 7/10, very close to an 8.
7 Comments
I think you and I are pretty much in agreement for Pseudoregalia's strengths and weaknesses. On top of the issue of paths feeling the same, most of the game also takes place in enclosed spaces so it's really hard to use spatial recognition to try and determine which rooms/directions to go towards that haven't been covered before since the map itself is quite vast and separated into various areas.
@PunnyPeace I agree, there's a lot of potential here for fanmade levels or a DLC that mixes things up a bit a la Demon Turf: Neon Splash.
@Drax Yeah, the more enclosed spaces can definitely make it harder to tell where to go. I wonder what a game with this structure that replaced the 'multitude of connected rooms' system with something more like a bunch of interconnected Banjo Kazooie levels would play like. Although now that I think about it, that's what I've heard Banjo-Tooie is like...
@Drax Yeah, the more enclosed spaces can definitely make it harder to tell where to go. I wonder what a game with this structure that replaced the 'multitude of connected rooms' system with something more like a bunch of interconnected Banjo Kazooie levels would play like. Although now that I think about it, that's what I've heard Banjo-Tooie is like...
You’ve got to be kidding me. HOW IS IT WE ALSO PLAYED THIS AT THE SAME TIME
@Rexailos Great minds think alike my guy.
(However, if you play the next game I'm reviewing I'll be officially freaked out).
(However, if you play the next game I'm reviewing I'll be officially freaked out).
The developer later added a in-game map in a update, so the exploration might be less confusing in later runs and as someone who has not played the game yet.
@Rogueliker Yeah, I heard about that. I'm a little too busy to replay the game at the moment, but I'll get around to it eventually.
PunnyPeace
4 months ago