Razalhague
I disliked the combat, felt the story was simplistic and heavy-handed, and hated the chase sequences.
The saving grace is the bash ability. It's also pretty and the non-chase platforming is decent.
The saving grace is the bash ability. It's also pretty and the non-chase platforming is decent.
No major flaws, but not really anything novel either.
I think the game could've used a couple more areas and especially a couple more abilities.
I think the game could've used a couple more areas and especially a couple more abilities.
2022
Absolutely would not recommend this to new players. The reason I'm still playing this is because I know all the heroes and maps so it's just a comfy familiar game. And the way I keep it comfy is by playing low-stress games of Mystery Heroes. The RNGsus giveth and the RNGsus taketh away, and I just do my best with what I have.
2022
Now, there's going to be a lot of complaining in this review, but that doesn't really reflect how much I liked the game. There's many things that could be improved, but none of these are major issues and the core gameplay is solid. Overall, this was quite a nice metroidvania.
First and foremost, the game suffers a bit from having slightly too many abilities and upgrades, and would probably have been a better game if a few had been removed and more time and polish were spent on each of the remaining ones.
Map is large and fairly good, though backtracking is a bit of a chore. There's a bit too many long and windy passages without any shortcuts, and the fast travel system wasn't good enough for most of the game.
Save points are also a little sparse and not discoverable enough. That is compensated somewhat by the lives-system, but it feels a bit out of place and like a band-aid solution. The sparseness is also a problem because by default, the map only updates when you visit a save point. Now, this behaviour is easy to change, but I wish the game had just committed to one and designed the map to suit that one.
The optional platforming challenges remind me of Celeste and I liked many of them, but also disliked many because of how fiddly the timings are.
First and foremost, the game suffers a bit from having slightly too many abilities and upgrades, and would probably have been a better game if a few had been removed and more time and polish were spent on each of the remaining ones.
Map is large and fairly good, though backtracking is a bit of a chore. There's a bit too many long and windy passages without any shortcuts, and the fast travel system wasn't good enough for most of the game.
Save points are also a little sparse and not discoverable enough. That is compensated somewhat by the lives-system, but it feels a bit out of place and like a band-aid solution. The sparseness is also a problem because by default, the map only updates when you visit a save point. Now, this behaviour is easy to change, but I wish the game had just committed to one and designed the map to suit that one.
The optional platforming challenges remind me of Celeste and I liked many of them, but also disliked many because of how fiddly the timings are.
2018
If you don't like going through all your options and optimizing your turn, you will get overwhelmed and lose. But damn, it feels so good when you do figure out a way to not only save that building, but also make the enemies take out each other. Every turn is like a puzzle.
As an aspiring game designer, I enjoyed analyzing this game more than I did playing it. It tries many interesting things, but unfortunately fails on the execution.
I ended up abandoning the game because the final boss (for the path I took) was floorless and I kept accidentally doing the stomp attack.
I ended up abandoning the game because the final boss (for the path I took) was floorless and I kept accidentally doing the stomp attack.
1994
Even though I'm an old gamer and a metroidvania fan, I'd never played this until now as I just never really got my hands on an SNES and emulation isn't really my thing. So, having had this game touted as "peak metroidvania", I have to say I was rather disappointed when I finally finished it. It's not a bad game by any means, but it definitely didn't live up to the hype.
The movement never felt fluid to me. The combat seemed to lack depth, but I'm not sure if this is a problem with the combat or simply because I prefer melee combat to shooting in these type of games.
The only part I really enjoyed was the exploration, but even that fell short as the rewards for it are mostly just endless missile capacity upgrades.
It may have been amazing for its time and a formative experience for many, but it is far from the best in the genre.
The movement never felt fluid to me. The combat seemed to lack depth, but I'm not sure if this is a problem with the combat or simply because I prefer melee combat to shooting in these type of games.
The only part I really enjoyed was the exploration, but even that fell short as the rewards for it are mostly just endless missile capacity upgrades.
It may have been amazing for its time and a formative experience for many, but it is far from the best in the genre.
2017
Warning: this is quite rambly and probably not useful as a review.
So, it's a bit hard to review a game after putting 600 hours into it.
The last 500 hours have been great, though that does also involve mods (randomizer in particular).
On one hand, I do remember having some negative feelings on my first playthrough, and I almost didn't bother with the true ending.
On the other hand, this was my first metroidvania in years and I wasn't prepared. I diminished my experience by looking things up on the internet and being put off from going into a certain important area and getting stuck and this wasn't really the game's fault.
It's not perfect, but it kept pulling me back to finish it, and to finish the true ending, and to try out mods, and to get 112% completion, and to do steel soul, and to get all achievements, and to do PoP, and to do some speedruns (107% under 5 hours with a route I designed myself).
Once I was done with the things I wanted to do in Hollow Knight, I tried to find other games like it, but at this point I was so in love with the game that all other games felt bad. Took me a while to recover from that, but the whole experience was absolutely worth it.
So yeah, it's my favourite game. It's amazing, but I'm gonna take away half a star because there are a couple legit problems with the game.
So, it's a bit hard to review a game after putting 600 hours into it.
The last 500 hours have been great, though that does also involve mods (randomizer in particular).
On one hand, I do remember having some negative feelings on my first playthrough, and I almost didn't bother with the true ending.
On the other hand, this was my first metroidvania in years and I wasn't prepared. I diminished my experience by looking things up on the internet and being put off from going into a certain important area and getting stuck and this wasn't really the game's fault.
It's not perfect, but it kept pulling me back to finish it, and to finish the true ending, and to try out mods, and to get 112% completion, and to do steel soul, and to get all achievements, and to do PoP, and to do some speedruns (107% under 5 hours with a route I designed myself).
Once I was done with the things I wanted to do in Hollow Knight, I tried to find other games like it, but at this point I was so in love with the game that all other games felt bad. Took me a while to recover from that, but the whole experience was absolutely worth it.
So yeah, it's my favourite game. It's amazing, but I'm gonna take away half a star because there are a couple legit problems with the game.
1997
Trying to look back at this objectively, it's not particularly good as a game. Of the three win-conditions for a race (drive until finish line, wreck all opponents, kill all pedestrians), it's wrecking all your opponents that is almost always the best strategy since they don't really have a defense against that. AFAIK only you can fix your car, so it's not even that hard and victory through destruction is pretty much just a question of time.
And yet, I had a ton of fun playing this as a kid. The value of this game isn't in the challenge, it's more in the aesthetics, the fun of a physics simulation, and the freedom of a sandbox.
Also, the soundtrack rocks.
And yet, I had a ton of fun playing this as a kid. The value of this game isn't in the challenge, it's more in the aesthetics, the fun of a physics simulation, and the freedom of a sandbox.
Also, the soundtrack rocks.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Not as good as the first, but still a very good game. My biggest complaints are the linearity of the second half and the difficulty spike near the end.
I do like some changes to the first game, like no insta-kill pits or spikes, and better build variety. Each of the three weapons has a different play style, and I think there's more meaningful choices in the equippable items.
But some changes I do not like. I feel the new art style of the cinematics clashes with actual game's style. Exploration doesn't feel as good, particularly in the second half where entire areas just pop into existence once you're done with the previous area.
SPOILER WARNING from here onwards.
The atmosphere feels worse as well. In B1, I liked how the ways of the Miracle were mysterious and inexplicable. Things seem much more straightforward in B2. Take Anunciada for example. She fills a similar role to Deogracias, but where he was just a scholar afflicted by the Miracle, she is some sort of divine being. A divine being in a Blasphemous game, I expected there to be more to her, a connection to the Miracle perhaps, some hidden motives maybe. But nope, she's just a straight up good guy exposition machine. She just doesn't feel well integrated into the world.
Expanding on Eviterno The Difficulty Spike, I think the problem is that he invalidates too many playstyles. You can't riposte, a lot of prayers won't hit because he's too fast, a lot of attacks won't hit him without you getting hit in return. There just aren't that many viable strats against him, and I think this is a significant problem in a game that promotes build variety.
Comparing the two games might be a bit unfair as I didn't play B1 until it had already received all of its post-release content, while I played B2 at launch. But it doesn't seem like any post-release content for B2 would address my complaints.
Even though this review has been mostly about the negative aspects, I want to reiterate that I still liked the game a lot.
I do like some changes to the first game, like no insta-kill pits or spikes, and better build variety. Each of the three weapons has a different play style, and I think there's more meaningful choices in the equippable items.
But some changes I do not like. I feel the new art style of the cinematics clashes with actual game's style. Exploration doesn't feel as good, particularly in the second half where entire areas just pop into existence once you're done with the previous area.
SPOILER WARNING from here onwards.
The atmosphere feels worse as well. In B1, I liked how the ways of the Miracle were mysterious and inexplicable. Things seem much more straightforward in B2. Take Anunciada for example. She fills a similar role to Deogracias, but where he was just a scholar afflicted by the Miracle, she is some sort of divine being. A divine being in a Blasphemous game, I expected there to be more to her, a connection to the Miracle perhaps, some hidden motives maybe. But nope, she's just a straight up good guy exposition machine. She just doesn't feel well integrated into the world.
Expanding on Eviterno The Difficulty Spike, I think the problem is that he invalidates too many playstyles. You can't riposte, a lot of prayers won't hit because he's too fast, a lot of attacks won't hit him without you getting hit in return. There just aren't that many viable strats against him, and I think this is a significant problem in a game that promotes build variety.
Comparing the two games might be a bit unfair as I didn't play B1 until it had already received all of its post-release content, while I played B2 at launch. But it doesn't seem like any post-release content for B2 would address my complaints.
Even though this review has been mostly about the negative aspects, I want to reiterate that I still liked the game a lot.
2020
It's a pretty good game that I would characterize as puzzle/stealth. My main complaints are the length (4.5 hours for me) and that it doesn't explore the potential within its mechanics enough. There's a decent variety of abilities, but it felt like the game breezed through them too fast. I would've also liked more variety in enemy encounters.
2022
Very cool idea. I wish I liked this more, but between the mediocre writing/worldbuilding and kinda frustrating gameplay I just can't.
2021
I'm just disappointed in this game. I kept hoping it would get better because there's potential in the mechanics and occasional moments where it's fun, but fundamentally it's just too damn repetitive.
Also, for a game where fluid movement is this important, it's way too easy to get stuck on level geometry.
Also, for a game where fluid movement is this important, it's way too easy to get stuck on level geometry.
2016
Nowadays people act like OW1 was a perfect game and OW2 made everything worse.
But I remember pirateships. I remember Paris, Horizon, and Anubis. I remember shield-watch: shooting at Orisa's shield until it broke, only to be replaced by Sigma's shield, and vice versa, until the thing that broke was me. I remember... and amid the grief for all that was lost, I am grateful that these things are no more.
But I remember pirateships. I remember Paris, Horizon, and Anubis. I remember shield-watch: shooting at Orisa's shield until it broke, only to be replaced by Sigma's shield, and vice versa, until the thing that broke was me. I remember... and amid the grief for all that was lost, I am grateful that these things are no more.
2013
The game's difficulty comes mainly from: A) old style jump controls (ie. you can't change trajectory once in the air, except with the double jump), B) somewhat newbie-hostile level design that results in plenty of trial-and-error gameplay, C) unforgiving health system where you lose gear when you take damage, and D) long distances between checkpoints.
And yet... this isn't as rage-inducing as I would've expected.
It kind of reminds me of Celeste, in the way that you first need to figure out a sequence of actions, and then execute it with little room for improvization or mistakes. Also in the way that you will die a lot. The difference is that Celeste has waaay more checkpoints, an interesting story, and actually enjoyable fluid movement.
While I've never beaten this and have uninstalled it several times, it has never made me go "I'm never playing this again".
And yet... this isn't as rage-inducing as I would've expected.
It kind of reminds me of Celeste, in the way that you first need to figure out a sequence of actions, and then execute it with little room for improvization or mistakes. Also in the way that you will die a lot. The difference is that Celeste has waaay more checkpoints, an interesting story, and actually enjoyable fluid movement.
While I've never beaten this and have uninstalled it several times, it has never made me go "I'm never playing this again".