A game that takes two completely unpopular genres right now (souls-like and Metroidvanias) that manages, through a completely bizarre and mostly incoherent story mixed with one of the best parrying mechanics ever, to set itself apart from some of the standard and unremarkable games that have been churned out from these genres.
Moonscars.......is about things. You are the clay clone of someone......and some really dark and unsettling things have taken place within this kingdom. That's as much as I really got from the story for this near 30 hour playthrough. Maybe there is a deep and interesting story buried underneath but the game does not make following along with it that easy, using a lot of lingo that just does not make much sense on the surface.
The gameplay mechanics (especially the parry mechanic) does enough to make up for that though (plus, the game as a neat style to it that I kinda dug).
Like many Souls-like games, Moonscars relies on dodging and parrying mechanics. Bad guys of all shapes and sizes will be coming at you from time to time and the easiest way to start mowing them down is to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Dodging won't do much but get you out of harms way and a way to avoid attack damage but parrying is where its at.
Parrying will counter the attack of course and with it, a parrying attack that just feels really, really good to use. It's a simple one button timing thing, nothing that fancy, but it just feels incredible to counter attack enemies with it.
That being said, as you progress through the game, the parry will start to become a bit less important. One of the more annoying aspects of the game while moving forward is how the game "powers" up enemies as you progress and enter new and harder areas of the game.
Basically the game starts to introduce more and more creatures that are immune to physical attacks. Luckily you have a slew of magic spells to help but with magic/mana/whatever you want to call it (this game calls it ichor, because it's weird) being limited, spells won't always kill your enemies with one fell swoop. If you don't have enough, you'll have to get the gauges back up by using physical attacks, that won't actually do damage but will help you get back your ichor so that you can do damage. It stretches a lot of late game stuff out further in a really unnecessary way. If you miss your ichor attack, too bad, if you get hit while performing a spell, also too bad, it's just kind of annoying and tedious when you're in the end game.
The game has some difficulty to it, though your skills with dodging/parrying will probably vary that to some degree, but it never felt completely unbeatable which was nice. Finally figuring out the behavior of a boss and having some luck on your side to get through someone you've died at a handful of times is quite satisfying but never frustrating.
Despite my fondness for Moonscars, it does feel like a game that could be very hit or miss for people, especially in two genres that have really great games already made. It won't be for everyone but it is currently a Game Pass game as of this writing and well worth giving a shot to at the very least.
Moonscars.......is about things. You are the clay clone of someone......and some really dark and unsettling things have taken place within this kingdom. That's as much as I really got from the story for this near 30 hour playthrough. Maybe there is a deep and interesting story buried underneath but the game does not make following along with it that easy, using a lot of lingo that just does not make much sense on the surface.
The gameplay mechanics (especially the parry mechanic) does enough to make up for that though (plus, the game as a neat style to it that I kinda dug).
Like many Souls-like games, Moonscars relies on dodging and parrying mechanics. Bad guys of all shapes and sizes will be coming at you from time to time and the easiest way to start mowing them down is to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Dodging won't do much but get you out of harms way and a way to avoid attack damage but parrying is where its at.
Parrying will counter the attack of course and with it, a parrying attack that just feels really, really good to use. It's a simple one button timing thing, nothing that fancy, but it just feels incredible to counter attack enemies with it.
That being said, as you progress through the game, the parry will start to become a bit less important. One of the more annoying aspects of the game while moving forward is how the game "powers" up enemies as you progress and enter new and harder areas of the game.
Basically the game starts to introduce more and more creatures that are immune to physical attacks. Luckily you have a slew of magic spells to help but with magic/mana/whatever you want to call it (this game calls it ichor, because it's weird) being limited, spells won't always kill your enemies with one fell swoop. If you don't have enough, you'll have to get the gauges back up by using physical attacks, that won't actually do damage but will help you get back your ichor so that you can do damage. It stretches a lot of late game stuff out further in a really unnecessary way. If you miss your ichor attack, too bad, if you get hit while performing a spell, also too bad, it's just kind of annoying and tedious when you're in the end game.
The game has some difficulty to it, though your skills with dodging/parrying will probably vary that to some degree, but it never felt completely unbeatable which was nice. Finally figuring out the behavior of a boss and having some luck on your side to get through someone you've died at a handful of times is quite satisfying but never frustrating.
Despite my fondness for Moonscars, it does feel like a game that could be very hit or miss for people, especially in two genres that have really great games already made. It won't be for everyone but it is currently a Game Pass game as of this writing and well worth giving a shot to at the very least.
Reviewed on Mar 05, 2023