There's just nothing here that feels novel or unique or interesting. Every idea and every mechanic is just an industry standard taken from better games, there's no twist or hook anywhere to be found, there's no unique selling points, there's no... soul? It's very odd to see this sort of powder-coated approach to game design in a metroidvania, a genre that normally doesn't get this industrial treatment.
As an example of how this game seems very polished but lacks individually attentive craft: There's a super bar in this game, because of course there is. If you do one of the counter attacks with a long animation, it will increase exactly as it's supposed to: a little increase on all the smaller hits in the animation, then a big increase on the final big hit. The industry standard rules of gamefeel have been applied here.
And yet it feels supremely unrewarding to fill that bar; there's no juice. And the UI design is actively confusing about whether you have a full bar or not, and about when exactly you can spend that resource (especially in the heat of middle-of-the-road combat). This went through all of the quality control procedures but nobody took a lapping stone to it, if that metaphor makes sense.
As an example of how this game seems very polished but lacks individually attentive craft: There's a super bar in this game, because of course there is. If you do one of the counter attacks with a long animation, it will increase exactly as it's supposed to: a little increase on all the smaller hits in the animation, then a big increase on the final big hit. The industry standard rules of gamefeel have been applied here.
And yet it feels supremely unrewarding to fill that bar; there's no juice. And the UI design is actively confusing about whether you have a full bar or not, and about when exactly you can spend that resource (especially in the heat of middle-of-the-road combat). This went through all of the quality control procedures but nobody took a lapping stone to it, if that metaphor makes sense.