I find it funny when you beat this game a text prompt shows up saying "You've now unlocked hard mode!" as if this game wasn't already in hard mode. Order of Ecclesia was an amazing time no doubt, solid level design, fun and interesting mechanics for gameplay, the glyph system and the masterful soundtrack all accompanied to make one great metriodvania title. But lets address the elephant in the room, or rather the dominus in the room, this game is too hard. It's definitely a very good game, but lets be real it can be stupidly hard at times. I guess that adds to the charm of it, but I think it was a little too hard for its own good that at times felt like there was a huge difficulty spike for no reason. Now I love a challenge but some of these bosses made me stop playing for a bit, and most of the time I was able to find out the solution through trial and error. Then you have those that NEEDED a guide because no matter what you were not going anywhere. That's the thing that pains me is that I'd like to give it a higher rating but I can't with how this can be a problem with the games overall pacing. I love Order of Ecclesia and Shanoa is definitely a new favorite protag, but I can't deny its flaws. If you're interested in playing this one proceed with caution because its difficulty may be alienating at times but if you push through it you'll find a game worth going through.