Aggelos 2 review (Switch)

It’s a good few years ago now that we played the first Aggelos. It was a fun game that was heavily influenced by the Wonder Boy franchise and was presented in an 8-bit style. As is the trend with indie games like these the sequel has decided to step up to the 16-bit way of doing things. As such, you can kind of think of this as a Mega Drive successor to the Master System original. Although there’s a few more colours on display here and the sound is much better.

In the beginning things seem much the same as before. You are setting off in a sort of Metroidvana world, although it is much prettier and much more open, looking for new power ups and bosses to defeat. There is a handy X on your map which points the way to your next objective and going off the beaten track normally rewards you with something worthwhile. You also get to stay fairly powerful with not only your sword in hand but a projectile attack which turns the game into a sort of run n’ gun at times. You’ll start to pick up items quickly as well which turns the game more into an open adventure.

An example of this is two things you pick up very early on. First off, you’ll get your angel wings back which let you float at a steady level for a short time. This makes movement much quicker and allows for some devious puzzles to solve, normally involving spikes. The second thing of importance you’ll get is the grappling hook. This allows you latch onto most surfaces and can be deployed over and over meaning you can climb and reach higher areas. This effectively acts as a bundle of different upgrades you normally get in Metroidvanias in one item.

The game also throws a few twists at you. Just when you think you are settling into a perfectly playable but slightly generic adventure it introduces the dark world. At one point you will find that you change from the light side to the dark. This transforms your character and changes your attacks and special moves. Most importantly it means you can travel through the various dark portals around the world into a dark version of the map with new enemies and layouts. You can change back and forth at will and allows of Ikaruga like puzzles to be deployed, something we certainly weren’t expecting.

What’s especially impressive is that everything fits together so quickly and the game runs incredibly smoothly. You are given a lot of things early on, but everything is introduced effortlessly and you never feel overwhelmed. It also means there are multiple ways you can approach the game in terms of moving around and combat which adds flexibility.

Overall, Aggelos 2 is a really good fun, solid game that lacks any real flaws. There’s a lot of thought that has gone into this and it comes into its own as well as keeping the influence of its retro forebears and adding new twists to them. The difficulty is pitched about right as well. If there’s one criticism it is perhaps that despite all this it just seems to lack that small touch of magic that would elevate it to classic status. That said, if you are a fan of Wonder Boy or these types of games it is pretty much essential.

Overall 8/10

Barbarian Saga: The Beastmaster Review (Switch)

Well, it’s been at least five reviews since we’ve looked at a Metroidvania game, so it seems only fitting to give Barbarian Saga a proper look. The game is heavily influenced by the swords and sorcery films of the late 80’s such as Conan the Barbarian and Beastmaster (as your character actually is both a barbarian and a beastmaster). After being forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena you decide to break free and with your demonic soul sucking sword, try to free the realm.

We would love to give you some more details of the plot, but the game is borderline nonsensical due to some poor writing and even worse translation. We often thought that whole sections of dialogue must be missing as characters spoke. This isn’t helped by the amount of text there is. Sometimes showing things is a lot better than reams and reams of text to get through.

The confusion goes for navigation as well as the map only gives you quite basic details with each area somewhat hard to distinguish from the next. There are also no markers or direction points, no way to check the progress of ongoing quests, or even a way to check on the controls for new moves you’ve learned. In a game world this big that is a problem. Even Hollow Knight let you put down marker stones.

The thing that most stands out about the game is how absolutely gorgeous it looks. It has a hand drawn art style and the environments and characters are beautifully illustrated. The cut scenes are equally top draw to look at. Unfortunately, when in motion everything seems blurry and a little undefined. Frequent frame rate drops and juddering also hinder any real ability to enjoy the lavish visuals as they jerk around the screen.

Another let down is that while the game initially seems to let you explore anywhere, you’ll soon find that it is continually funnelling you down a pretty narrow path. A lot of the environment leads you to dead ends without anything of value really being there. Metrodivania games have continually refined and moved away from the idea of pointless wandering in recent times but here there is a lot of level here just for the sake of it. You do get fast travel unlocked from the very beginning at least which is something.

Combat is decent enough. You have a strike and a block and new moves can be learned by finding broken weapons and giving them to the appropriate person. A lot of the new attacks don’t really do too much different though and with the frame rate issues the block can be tricky to initiate properly. Enemies are also varied and interesting to encounter and have a wide range of attacks and patterns. Bosses don’t let the side down either with a challenging yet logical approach to defeating them, the game certainly does some things right.

Overall, Barbarian Saga: The Beast Master has some really nice ideas. The look of the game is beautiful. If it could be updated so that when moving, it doesn’t look like a stop motion movie that would be go a long way to improving things. There is a wider issue with the general level design though and the text translation makes it almost nonsensical. With more time this could have been something a lot better but as it is it’s hard to recommend.

Overall 5/10

Skautfold: Moonless Knight Review (Switch)

We’ll admit to not being aware of the Skautfold series. Apparently, there are a ton of games out there set in this interconnected indie world across a range of genres. What drew us to Moonless Knight was the notion of a top-down action Metroidvania set in alternate ancient Japan featuring demons and samurai’s. It certainly sounded like something different, and it claims to have a unique battle system as well. 

Stylistically, Moonless Knight sets the tone really well. The eerie, cursed environment comes across strongly with some suitably spooky music and mist drifting across the place. The ancient Japanese setting is also handled well enough with the thing looking not a million miles away from Rocky and Pocky if the colour palette had been toned down. If anything, there is a bit too much detail at times and some of textures don’t blend together in the best way. A slightly cleaner design approach would probably have benefited everyone. 

The story goes that you have been sent to retrieve and ancient relic from the emperor’s castle. Upon arriving you find that a luna cult has taken over and now there are cosmic barriers keeping the rest of the soldiers getting in to win the castle back. As such you must head the resistance from within your hiding place in the castle grounds and keep the emperor hidden.

Combat is certainly unique, but we didn’t find it something that ever really clicked or became enjoyable. There are ways to avoid and block attacks, and of course doing so with split second timing creates bonus effects. There are also a ton of different weapons to get hold of and upgrade. But it always felt too sluggish, I do wonder if it would have been better almost as an auto striker kind of game as you have a strength bar which effectively acts as a timer to say when you initiate an attack. It’s also quite difficult to tell if you are making contact with the enemy when striking and keeping an eye on the various armour, strength and damage bars meant we never were never really sure who was winning a battle until someone keeled over. 

When you die you return to the main base with any money you’ve found and are free to go out and explore again. While in the base there are a lot of different characters to talk to get advice or fill in sections of the back story. Unfortunately, this has some of the most frustrating text skipping controls we’ve come across. We read quite quickly but the option when in dialogue is either to let it run at its slow pace or skip the sentence completely. You can go back and then check the conversation log, but would it have been so difficult just to make text appear a full sentence at a time? This, perhaps more than anything else, really took us out of the game experience. 

Overall, Skautfold: Moonless Knight is an interesting idea and if you do end up gelling with the combat then its certainly intriguing and interesting enough to take up a considerable amount of your time. We just found it a bit too slow and clunky though. There’s certainly something good in here but there were too many rough edges for us to really get into it. 

Overall 5/10

Constance Review (Switch 2)

It was only a matter of time before some of the more interesting games that were bundled on Evercade cartridges started to find their way to other systems. And Biomechanical Toy is certainly one of those. A fairly obscure arcade release, it never received a home computer version, so this really is one for gamers looking to experience a little piece of cult arcade history.

In terms of how the game plays, the Amiga influence is very clear to see. It has the graphical look of all those weird Amiga platformers and also the slightly lose controls that tended to be the characteristic of any of these games not released on consoles. The levels are all set in a surreal sort of theme park/circus and your goal is simply to get to the end of each, blasting as much as you can.

In general, the game plays well. The main character is responsive and the weapons have a good weight to them. The levels are tough but its not as unfair as most arcade games of the time. It certainly seems like at some point there was an idea of porting this to home systems in terms of how it plays as there is a fairness and sort of balance to it. It’s still pretty tough though, just not in that way that most arcade games are designed to suck up all your money.

In terms of extra content there is n’t anything revolutionary here. You get the usual selection of filters and borders and some quality of life features such as being able to save and also rewind. The rewind is always useful as it stops the need for the constsnt reloading you would otherwise have to do. There is also a gallery included and you can listen to the games soundtrack via a jukebox mode. Some more info about tis development would have been welcomed as its so obscure but there’s enough here to peak the interest for a little while.

Overall, Biomechanical is a fun release and one that sits alongside some of the other weird and wonderful cult games nicely. We are always happy to see these more obscure games brought back into the light and the fact it’s a pretty decent one just makes it all the better. The usual reservations will apply for anyone who struggles with these older games but retro game fans and fans of arcades will love it.

Overall 7/10

Nine Sols Review (Switch 2)

Nine Sols came out a while ago but with the release of the physical version it seemed the perfect time to take another look at it. A 2D action platformer at heart it has some light Metroidvania elements and some of the most beautiful hand drawn graphics we’ve seen on the Switch. It attempts to merge Taoism with cyber punk, merging eastern philosophy with sci-fi.

It’s a complicated story to unravel but basically follows the idea that a virus wiped out an alien race, but they somehow managed to store their consciousness in a virtual reality system. If that’s not weird enough, to power the system innocent beings need to be sacrificed to it so their brains can be harvested for power. Or something like that.

Players control Yi, a sort of cybernetic creature that decides he doesn’t want his human friend to be sacrificed and sets out looking for the Nine Sols to defeat and harvest so that he can gain the codes to the Eternal Central Cauldron. Basically, you jump around beautiful levels and hit stuff with your sword, occasionally upgrading to a new skill and taking on awesome boss fights.

That’s doing the combat system a disservice though. Yes, you can bash stuff with your sword but there are also a lot more nuanced things you can also do. An early example of this is the deflection mechanic. If you successfully deflect an enemy blow, you can then dart past them, attach a bomb to them, charge it and then explode it. As you progress, you’ll gain more skills such as a dash, double jump and the ability to send a little robot out to get into places you can’t otherwise reach, a mechanic normally used for shutting down security systems and opening doors.

There’s also a cool grappling hook mechanic which lets you swing around the place, and you can of course wall jump and even run up certain surfaces. There’s certainly no shortage of ways to get around the beautifully stunning locations. It’s a good thing the game looks so great as well as it’s also pretty damn tough. Even early on enemies pack a punch so you’ll need to get to grips with the combat system quickly. If you die, you’ll need to go back and find your body to retrieve any lost experience as well.

Experience is important as there are various skill trees you can expand upon to boost your health and other stats. And in the style of Hollow Knight, you can equip talismans which add other changes and skills as well. When you get a good build together it’s certainly rewarding to go cutting through the enemies and at times, when it’s all flowing together perfectly you will feel like a complete bad ass.

Overall, Nine Sols is a really a very beautiful looking Souls game in terms of its approach to combat. Fans of Hollow Knight or any of the Sekiro games will soon feel at home, despite the bright colours and tech filled levels. It’s certainly rare to find a game with this much depth and such a clear design vision. It won’t be for everyone, but everyone should try it.

Overall 8/10

The Prisoning: Fletcher's Quest Review (Switch)

Here at Retro 101 we are huge fans of Elden Pixels and everything they put out. The Alwa games remain among our favourite indie games, and we have reviewed and rated the company’s entire output. We even had the good fortune to be able to review the physical NES copy of Alwa’s Awakening when it released some years ago. With that in mind we are always looking forward to a new release and The Prisoning doesn’t disappoint.

The concept of the game is that a developer is working through one of his nightmares and fighting off all those pesky inner demons. Along the way you’ll encounter a cast of very meta characters and there are lots of jokes and quips about the development and publishing process. In terms of the game design, what this amounts to is a platform adventure game with some Metroidvania elements. But one that plays more like an Amiga or old DOS platformer than what we are perhaps used to today.

Graphically, the game matches the Amiga aesthetic as well. It’s not a million miles away from something like Rick Dangerous or the original Duke Nukem platformers. It matches Elden Pixels general approach to the look of their games, although this is closer to a Void Hope than the purposely NES and SNES looking Alwa’s games.

The game plays out over one large level with multiple checkpoints throughout. These take the form of a sort of bar kiosk were every time you die you recycle through the vending machine nearby. Death is a near constant as you can only take two hits before expiring. Even that must be earned as right at the start of the game you are naked and unarmed, meaning you have a few tough sections to get through before the game opens up to you and you get your clothes and handy pistol.

The two-hit mechanic also makes boss fight pretty tough as you’ll need to pretty much perfect them to win. Even taking on a weird mechanical horse thing early on proved a tough obstacle as it was filled with attacks seemingly impossible avoid (until we learned the pattern), with and a health bar that stretched across the screen.

Collision detection is also a tiny bit lose which doesn’t help. Several times we found ourselves losing a hit when we were convinced we had avoided an attack. There’s nothing here that derails the experience, but it certainly can be frustrating at times as the game has a pretty high difficult.

Generally, though, the controls are pretty tight and responsive. Your character moves around at a crazy pace so zipping about from checkpoint to check point is quick and fun. Jumping and attacking is also precise, so everything is satisfying and enjoyable. You can warp from vending machine to vending machine as well which adds even more pace to the game. We can see this becoming a popular speedrun among indie games for sure.

Being in the Metroidvania mould you of course start to unlock new abilities as you progress such as a double jump and a slide which makes you invincible for a second or so. This in turn opens new areas to explore. Early on for instance you’ll find your new double jump allows access to a UFO which then takes flight into a short side scroller shooter phase before crashing into a new location.

Despite how many of these games we have played in the past we did find that the approach that The Prisoning took kept things fresh and pacey. It goes to show how slight changes to approach can keep things interesting and having this slightly closer to games like Switchblade in terms of style certainly helps it.

Overall, The Prisoning is another fun title from Elden Pixel that shows the studios unique humour and its ability to take tried and tested genres and add their own twist to them. This game may not have the same impact as Alwa’s Legacy on the wider market but it deserves to. For retro gamers or those who find humour in the subject matter this is an easy purchase.

Overall 8/10

50 Indie Games that Changed the World Review

 

We’ve been covering Bitmap book releases for a fair while now. Most of them compile genres or specific games systems but every now and then you get something a little different. We’ve seen this before with the ‘Secret History of Mac Gaming’ and ‘A Gremlin in the Works’, 50 Indie games that changed the world may not be as far from the usual output as that, but it certainly takes a different view of the industry.

In terms of content, it’s a fairly straight forward set up. There’s a short preface explaining the goal of the book and what it’s featuring, a foreword by Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell who adds some context to the indie scene and how development works and then an introduction which talks about what indie games are as a wider genre and concept. After that it’s a straight list of the 50 games with a few honourable mentions at the end. Surprisingly, there aren’t any more interviews are other features but then the book is pretty laser focused on what it’s trying to do and as it tops out at an impressive four-hundred and fifty plus pages so we aren’t really complaining.

Each of the fifty games is looked at with a considerable amount of depth. Generally, the games in these books get one of two pages maximum. A few special ones might justify four but here most of the games get around eight pages, split across text, screenshots and art work. Each also has a breakdown of why the game should be considered as a game that changed the world. It’s an impressive amount of focus to put on each title and if you aren’t sat there making a list of games to buy as you go then we would be amazed.

The games included are wide reaching. There are obvious inclusions such as Fez and and Axion Verge but also more modern games such as Vampire Survivors and some you may not be expecting like Among Us and 80 Days. It means there’s a wide range of titles covered from different years and spanning multiple genres. There will of course be a personal favourite left out somewhere but it’s hard to argue with any of the inclusions. The fact that Futurlab’s Velocity is here makes us particularly happy as the game and the studio are vastly underrated and you should probably all be out there downloading it right now. It even means we will overlook the fact none of the Pixeljunk or Bit Trip games are in here.

Despite the mass of pages and games included it would have been nice to have a few features in here. Something on key indie genres would have been welcome – even if it was only a few pages. That might have taken some focus away from the key theme of the book though and it’s not like there is a lack of content here. There is some mention of genres within some of the games covered as well. The piece on Dead Cells in particular highlights how Metroidvania and Rogue games dot the landscape.

Overall, 50 Indie Games That Changed the World works beautifully as a love letter to some of the most creative and innovative games the industry has to offer. Chances are you may well be aware of most of them but there are always those one or two that you will have overlooked. It also acts as a perfect place to start if you want to move away from AAA video gaming or even if you want to jump from retro gaming back into something more modern but which channels that old school aesthetic. We loved it.

Click Here for the Bitmap Books store

*image from Bitmap Books website

Chronicles of the Wolf Review (Switch)

The Switch is awash with Metroidvania clones but that doesn’t mean that many of them aren’t both good, and also capable of putting new ideas into the mix. Chronicles of the Wolf falls very much on the Castlevania side of the spectrum and also tries to take influence from one of the more obscure titles in the series in Castlevania 2.

For the uninitiated, Castlevania 2 is the NES game that tried to create a sort of 2D adventure template where Belmont moved around the countryside and visited various towns. It’s not dissimilar to the second Zelda game or the more obscure Battle for Olympus. It was never universally praised but we have always liked it and playing it via the Switch makes the game an awful lot more enjoyable.

Chronicles of the Wolf keeps the template with information coming from villagers that points you in the right direction of areas of interest. There are often buildings or caves which then act as mini levels and give up an object that allows you to progress further after. There are also some light RPG elements with levelling and the ability to acquire and change your gear.

In its homage to Castlevania 2, it is mostly successful. The game looks great, and the music is excellent and varied throughout. The level of detail on the sprites is pretty impressive and there are a host of different enemies even in the early stages. It is incredibly difficult though. Normal enemies can easily take you down and this does add a grinding element to the game at times which is a shame. This is compounded by a sever lack of places to save. There needs to be at least double the amount of saves in the game and they are placed in really strange locations.

What it means is that after defeating a boss or travelling a large distance you will often die and then must repeat too much of the game to be comfortable. There is a fine balance to be struck with save points and here it’s simply a cause of frustration rather than one of challenge.

For a Metroidvania styled game, your progress is actually quite linear. Sometimes there are multiple routes you can go but one will nearly always end in a dead end pretty quickly, so exploring off the beaten track becomes a bit of a chore rather than something players are encouraged to do in order to find new shiny things. Couple this with the fact saves are spaced so far means it can be a costly and unforgiving experience.

The bosses are well designed and exciting battles though, and they are mostly significant in both their size, look and arsenal. They are also fair to deal with so it gives a good sense of achievement when you take one down. You can see the boss’s health bar as well so at least you get an idea of progress when you are repeatedly being killed. Early on you take on a giant hornet type creature who exemplifies the strong design, it looks great, has some varied attacks but also displays clear patterns for players to be able to work around while still being fairly weak.

Overall, Chronicles of the Wolf has a lot of competition in the market but still has a lot going for it. It’s different to a lot of the clones out there (and the official Castlevania games), in that it’s taking Castlevania 2 as it’s core inspiration and it’s clearly had a lot of care put into it. It’s also a different tone to games like Infernax so there really is room for everyone here. If you are a Castlevania fan it offers something a little different and is well worth checking out.

Overall 7/10

Voidwrought Review (Switch)

This will shock you, but Voidwrought is an indie Metroidvania game on the Switch. It’s fair to say that Nintendo’s hybrid has no shortages of games in the genre (including Metroid and Castlevania), so anything new must really do something to standout.

It’s a good thing then that Voidwrought really does try to do things a little bit differently. The first thing you’ll notice is that the game looks incredible. Everything from cutscenes to the general level design is presented in a gorgeous dark comic book style. To match this, the flow of movement is as smooth as the visuals with the games trademark being that it’s a fast-paced take on the genre. In these respects, it really does stand out in a positive way.

The general look of the design is a sort of comic book inspired mashup of Deadcells, Blasphemy and Dark Souls with a mixture of both technological and biological terrors inhabiting the environments. It definitely has a continually brooding and menacing tone to it that works well with the general bleakness of the game’s difficulty.

The steep learning curve may put some gamers off, the environment is harsh to navigate, and most enemies take a considerable amount of damage before they go down. This is all fine until you end up repeating sections multiple times. There are save points of course but they aren’t that prevalent. One concession to this is that any major object collected, or event triggered, will still have happened when you die and respawn at your last save point.

In a game which is generally difficult the bosses are, perhaps surprisingly, quite well balanced. There are certainly sticking points but once you have learned how they behave they don’t take crazy amount so damage before going down which helps to keep the game flowing.

There are a few issues though. First of all, the plot doesn’t really carry much of an impact. We would struggle to tell you what you are doing and why beyond the obvious Metroidvania exploration. We had no real idea what the overall goal was. Perhaps more concerning, the game also isn’t very good at giving you clear feedback regarding things like getting or damage.

The cartoon style is beautiful, but it does give things a lack of weight and impact, so it can be difficult to know if you are being hit or how hard you are hitting yourself. The health bar is also an issue. There is one of course but it doesn’t stand out that well and there is little other visual feedback to give an indication you are about to die. This led to a fair few deaths when healing was otherwise available.

Overall, Voidwrought succeeds in bringing something slightly different to the Metroidvania template. This is impressive enough when you consider how many games there are out there in the genre. It never fully clicked with us though in the way some of the other games have. That moment when you are just zooming around feeling like a super being never really came and, in the end, the few flaws did start to wear away at us. It’s a beautifully crafted game that runs amazingly well, but it is also perhaps one for gamers out there looking for a more hardcore experience. If you are into the genre though, this is well worth checking out as it’s somewhat unique in a crowded market.

Overall 7/10

Yars Rising Review (Switch)

Atari’s raiding and revitalising of its back catalogue continues unabated with one of its most bizarre and ambitious reboots yet. Instead of just updating the graphics and mechanics of one of its arcade games, Yars Rising takes the world of the famous Yars Revenge and attempts to expand it out into, of all things, a Metroidvania.

The original Yars does make appearances from time to time in the form of hacking mini games that need to be completed in order to open doors and disable obstacles. These play around with the conventions of the original game but basically amount to charging a meter then blasting a target with a super shot. Sometimes there are barriers, sometimes there are mines to avoid or other enemies to defeat but it all amounts to a single screen take on the original arcade style experience.

These hacking games become more and more complex as the game progresses. But if you feel you have really had enough of them it will let you skip if you fail a certain number of times. On the flip side you can also access them from the main menu if you just want to play them over and over.

The main bulk of the game has players take control of Emi Kimura who has been hired to break into the QoTech corporation. This plays out in the classic Metroidvania style with players exploring the 2D environment and picking up new skills along the way to let them through previously unpassable barriers. There are boss fights as well which normally need to be finished off with a hacking mini game or they will spring back to life.

In terms of design, the environments are a fairly generic, sterile, future sci-fi setting. It does help to keep things clear and easy to see but there’s not a huge variety between the looks of each location which can make traveling around a touch dull at times. Enemy design is very much in the realms of robots and technology which shares the same clear but not inspiration feel (with the occasional Atari reference). In a nice touch, all the characters are voiced, and Emi will chime in with her own commentary on how thing are going from time to time (this can be turned off if it gets too annoying).

Much better, is the general feel of the game. Emi controls well and it’s easy to get her to execute whichever move you are trying. This means you can get a good flow while traveling around the environments, allowing for speedy trips across the map. There’s also a well-balanced mix of action and stealth with a few areas requiring you to hide in doorways or vents to avoid invulnerable enemies. It’s not exactly Metroid: Dread but it helps to break things up and all the mechanics work well. The music is also excellent with a host of jaunty, anime inspired tunes present.

Overall, Yars Rising is a fun and inventive take on an IP that may have otherwise struggled to survive the expectations of modern audiences. The classic Wayforward vibe is in full effect and while this may not be anything revolutionary, it is certainly fun and breezy and there’s nothing bad here. If you feel you need another retro tinged Metroidvania then this makes a good choice, even among the mass of competition of the Switch.

Overall 7/10

Goodboy Galaxy Review (GBA)

 

So called homebrew titles have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Now, we have reached a place where developers can create titles for older consoles and have them fit perfectly into the indie marketplace. Indeed, we think it’s only a matter of time before one of the big developers decides to dive into the world of retro consoles with a fully-fledged retro release.

We’ve covered an ever-growing number of these games including, Micro Mages, Alwa’s Awakening and Witch N’ Wiz, as well as some of the compilation which have made their way to Evercade, who could forget the excellent Tanzer after all? The latest of these to reach our door is Goodboy Galaxy, a platform exploration game for the GBA.

The plot is simple and follows a space dog called maxwell as he fly’s around various planets solving quests and making friends. It’s all one large collectathon, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. Each character you meet along the way will require help in some way (normally finding things) and will then give you their friend card upon completion. Some also give you other items as well to further aid your exploration and allow you to get deeper into galaxy.

Goodboy Galaxy is not a Metroidvania game though, thanks to the well-placed gates around each planet. Maxwell can jump, has a shield which will absorb damage and has a blaster. However, when you pass through one of the gates on each level something will be disabled. This could mean losing your jump, meaning you must think creatively about switches or platforms, or losing you weapon or shield meaning you are much less protected. It’s a gimmick that lasts throughout the game and allows a series of short but interesting puzzle platform sections to be thrust on the player. There are of course ways of getting around these to reveal secrets as well.

It's good then that Maxwell handles excellently. You must get used to the game as it has its own mechanics such as the firing pace of the weapon and the jump working slightly different than how you would expect, but once you’ve played it for a while it all becomes second nature. It’s cleverly done and shows real thought has been put into how players are expected to traverse around the worlds.

The look of the game is classic Gameboy Advance platformer. Bold colours and large cartoon like sprites are the order of the day and you can’t help but smile at the heavy nostalgia and generally joyful vibe. It fits the style of game perfectly, as does the character design which effectively takes animals and objects and puts bigger eyes and jackets on them. Each planet also sticks with the bright feel, while also being distinctive from each other to keep the overall look from becoming too samey.

Overall, Goodboy Galaxy is a fun game that would have easily found an audience if released during the original GBA years of handheld dominance. It’s like finding a hidden gem for the system and hopefully it will find a much larger place when it releases on modern consoles (Goodboy Galaxy is also currently available on the Evercade). There’s a lot of fresh ideas here and if you are looking for something new that seems like something old then this is an excellent place to start.

Overall 8/10

Blasphemous II Review (switch)

 Written by Dan Gill

The Game Kitchen served up a gorgeous-yet-gruesome looking action-adventure in 2019’s original Blasphemous, a title with all the ingredients of a MetroidVania with the difficulty veering towards that of a Souls game. While it was a solid piece of work, it fell a little flat in some areas. The combat became a bit dull as the game went on, and the difficulty at times – especially during boss battles - felt cheap.

Blasphemous II picks up after the events of the first game’s Wounds of Eventide DLC, where the Penitent One is woken to prevent the rebirth of a curse called “The Miracle” which threatens Cvstodia. The introduction is beautifully animated and is the first indication that this is a step up from its predecessor. The game still takes its theme and visuals from Andalucian culture, Spanish architecture, the nation’s Holy Week and huge amounts of Roman Catholicism, and the creepy and surreal imagery from the original is built upon, but more on that later.

Once the player gains control, they’re presented with three weapon choices. This is the first major change to the original, where the only weapon available was the Mea Culpa. While the sword was able to be upgraded, the parry/dodge/attack routine remained throughout. This time combat is much more varied through the fast twin blades (Sarmiento and Cintella), the slow but heavy flail (Veridicto) and a balanced sword (Ruego Al Alba). The weapon you choose ultimately doesn’t matter, since you eventually claim all three during the game, but it will determine your initial progress, since each weapon’s abilities unlock certain areas. This makes progress feel more natural than in the original and feel more in line with other games in the genre. It also makes for more interesting combat. Each weapon has its own skill tree, giving the Penitent One more devastating attack combos and rewards for parrying. The variety offered goes a long way to showing how Blasphemous II betters the first game.

Other features return, such as the Fervour meter, which is depleted when using chants and prayers. Chants are lower cost powers, while prayers are more powerful and tend to deal out damage over a longer period. This can take the form of a trail of flames or a floating ball of miasma, but there are also prayers which offer other abilities, such as fast travel to the game’s hub. Alongside this you also have passive abilities which take the form of rosary beads. On top of that you now also have statues which can be equipped to offer additional buffs. These are found throughout Cvstodia or carved by the sculptor in the City of the Blessed Name (the game’s hub). There’s a lot to manage, but once you take the time to equip the Penitent One accordingly you can make the game a little easier for yourself.

Blasphemous II also retains the difficulty of the original, but the combination of items and weapons you can acquire provide some flexibility when tackling its grotesque enemies.  The Game Kitchen also seem to have adjusted encounters a little, especially regarding bosses. Blasphemous often felt unfair, with very little wriggle room during its bigger fights, but Blasphemous II somehow manages to keep the difficulty, but keeps everything fair. One boss took me multiple attempts to finish, and while initially seeming impossible, I could feel I did a little better on each attempt. The placing of Prie-Dieus (the game’s save points) is generous, and they’re normally close to boss battles meaning retrying isn’t quite the chore it could be (I’m looking at you Dark Souls). The battles range from screen-hogging monstrosities to bullet hell team-ups. They’re quite exhilarating, and there was much air punching and trash-talking (albeit to an empty room) during my playthrough.

It’s not all dishing out damage through. This is a MetroidVania, and exploration is key to progress. I found myself stumped at one point, but that was down to my man-looking at the map, leading me to miss a massive section. As mentioned, progress feels more natural than in the original, and it’s worth digging for secrets. NPCs are tucked away throughout Cvstodia which offer their own quests and/or items, and they add to the game’s lore. Blasphemous II is one of those games that you more you put in, the more you get back, and it’s grimdark world is a joy to explore. The game loop of uncovering those previously inaccessible nooks and crannies you’d expect of the genre is present here and keeps you coming back for more.

Everything looks as gorgeous as you’d expect. The silky-smooth animation, both in cut scenes and in game looks great, and the design of everything from the enemies to the backgrounds really captures that Catholic aesthetic. While nothing explicitly looks like the works of Heironymous Bosch, the design has that same feeling of his work; a surreal vision of hellish creatures and heavy religious imagery. Nothing else looks quite like it. It’s accompanied with a brilliant soundtrack filled with melancholic strings and classical guitars. The atmosphere is foreboding yet light enough as to not feel that it’s being laid on too thick.

There are a few minor gripes. The backtracking can become a little tiresome, especially as fast travel is initially restricted to specific portals, and resting at a Prie Deiu respawns any enemies you’ve defeated, leaving you trying to jump and slide your way past everything to get to where you want to go, but this is standard for the genre. There are also some sections where the camera misbehaves in the sense that it doesn’t know what it’s meant to focus on. These hiccups aren’t game breaking and seldom appear, but it’s noticeable.  This is something that’s likely to be addressed with a patch (and may even be fixed by the time you’re reading this), but really, I’m just nitpicking at this point.

The Game Kitchen stated that Blasphemous II was built from scratch without using any code from the first game, and it shows. They’ve crafted a MetroidVania with plenty of variety, a feasable challenge, a distinctive aesthetic and lots of depth. I came into the game expecting more of the same, and it seems they’ve kept the best bits and tightened up everything else, leaving something that stands among the genre’s finest. Why wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong when you can play possibly the best MetroidVania of the year right now?

9/10

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition Review (Nintendo Switch)

After having success with Mutant Blobs Attack, Drinkbox Studios reurned with this Mexican wrestling themed Metroid style platform adventure. Those who lack imagination may not see the obvious potential of this mix of styles but it helps to create a unique take on a genre now dominated by identikit Samus and the Castlevania clones.

Starting out as a Mexican villager named Juan, players are soon caught up in a strange tale of the supernatural when a long dead Mexican wrestler tricks the devil into turning him into a chicken. He then returns to merge the real and super natural worlds together. Killed while trying to save the girl he loves, Juan is resurrected thanks to a magical luchadore mask and heads off to rescue the girl and save the world.

Graphically, the game does a good job of putting across the Mexican theme with a heavy Cinco de Mayo influence giving it its own unique and macabre atmosphere. The villages look straight out of a western and are coloured to look sun scorched and dirty in the way they do in all the best Western movies. There are also numerous references for gamers to find with our favourite being the 'missing' poster on one building featuring a picture of Manny from Grim Fandango. As you explore the world an enthusiastic mariachi band plays over the adventure, though it might have been nice if they had learned a few more songs. It all ends up creating a world that feels vibrant and new and is likely to draw players in quickly.

In classic Metroid style our hero starts out with only a handful of moves and then gradually acquires more as he progresses. These moves can then be used to access more areas and continue the quest. Most of these are given out by breaking statues placed around the world (which themselves reference Metroid). Most are standard things such as granting a double jump or the ability to break a certain colour block. The one which raised the biggest smile was when we were granted the power to turn into a chicken. In effect this grants the same power as the morph ball in Metroid, but that never allowed you to peck enemies to death.

You are also granted the ability to shift between the real and supernatural realms at will. This becomes an intricate part to solving problems as pillars may exist in one realm but not the other. Things like water can also often turn to lava in one of the realms and the switching offers up some satisfyingly complex puzzles to negotiate.

Away from the platforming the other big focus of the game is the combat. Our hero being a wrestler means he has to grapple and punch his way through enemies. Some of the powers granted to reach new areas also act as new moves and a selection of throws and grapples can also be purchased with gold coins found around the world.

Moves can be strung together to create big combos and it feels tactile and satisfying throughout. Pummel on a monster enough and you can then execute a throw which can be aimed at other enemies to continue the chain. As the game progresses enemies become covered in different colour shields which need specific moves used to break. It can be difficult to remember which move breaks what (and not the easiest if you are colour blind), but we rarely came up against anything that stopped us dead because of this.

The enemies may not be that tough but some of platforming certainly is. Even early on players not used to super quick button presses and timing may become stuck. Often you are required to link at least three special moves together to reach a platform and it only gets tougher. At one point we had to jump block through spikes, double jump, uppercut and then dash to reach a small platform with only tiny margins for error. We didn’t come up against anything insurmountable but more casual players may well struggle in places.

Luckily there are plenty of save points so large areas don’t need to be repeated. The game asks players to pull off short bursts of skill and is very reminiscent of titles like indie darling Within a Deep Forest - in that once you have done the difficult bit it saves soon after to try and counteract frustration.

The Switch version seems even more vibrant and colourful and the pad is surprisingly robust when it comes to those super-fast controls. The difficulty may put some off but we would highly recommend you give it a go as it is undoubtedly one of the best games available on the Nintendo eshop. This is also a decent sized adventure clocking in at around five to six hours with further scope for finishing side quests and searching out hidden chests should you so wish. The Switch version also comes with extra levels, all current DLC and extra moves for the playable characters.

In summary, Guacamelee! Comes highly recommended by us. It manages to take elements that should be well worn by now but turns them into something that seems fresh and new. It’s a great example of the type of creative flair being shown by indie developers and can proudly stand next to the Metroids and Castlevanias of this world.

Overall 8/10

Intrepid Izzy Review (Switch)

If there’s one genre that the Switch is not lacking in, it’s Metroidvania clones. At this point there must be hundreds of them. But the thing is, most of them are actually very good. Now here’s another one to add to the list with Intrepid Izzy moving over from Dreamcast and taking a slightly more physical approach to the platforming and exploration.

Izzy plays out in much the same format as every other game in the genre. You explore, find new skills and then unlock new areas to continue your adventure. There’s a host of arcade style mini games to distract you as well, but basically you know what you are getting. If there is a more direct comparison to be drawn then it’s with the Shantae series, as the look and feel of Izzy feel closest to it.

It’s certainly a colourful game with bold and bright colours used to create the various environments. Each area is distinctive from the last in terms of both environment design and enemies with the snowy landscape reached via boat being a particular highlight with the constant falling snow. Combat is also satisfying with Izzy punching, kicking and throwing the occasional Street Fighter-esque fireball to dispatch enemies.

If there is a criticism, it’s that the visual style verges a little too close to looking like a flash game. While everything is colourful and the environments look nice, the characters are generic and lack personality.

Overall, there isn’t a massive amount to say about Interpid Izzy. It’s well put together and solid but it is going to struggle to stand out from the masses of Metroidvania style games out there already. If it had arrived earlier in the life of the console (or genre), it would likely make a far bigger splash as there’s nothing wrong here and those who can’t get enough will be well served. It just lacks that something to differentiate it.

Overall 6/10

ScourgeBringer Review (Switch)

Review by Thomas G.J. Sharpe

We each have our own requirements for the one-more-try. Achievement hunting, mastery, speed, a desire to be in the game world just a bit more. ScourgeBringer scratches my particular itches. A beautifully drawn up world, with a characterful character, satisfying controls, and pacing that urges you on with thoughtful progression. ScourgeBringer has been added to my own personal faves of the genre, which admittedly is a bloated sac these days. Hades, Isaac, Caveblazers, FTL, Nuclear Throne and Risk of Rain refuse to be uninstalled from my library. ScourgeBringer is now inducted into this pantheon of effective and satisfying rogues.

A dotty story that centres around a planetary cataclysm caused by a portal-dimensional-hellmouth thing spurs our warrior protagonist to find the source. The prologue is lovingly depicted, and gives a compelling enough backstory skeleton to dangle world-flesh on. Within the crawlin’ thru’ rooms gameplay, a more Enter The Gungeon vibe appears with characters trapped in the interior portal world; shopkeepers bartering in life-blood, or the ersatz currency, with little relationships. Also, an old guide style character who sits in the hub area where you can access the bestiary and upgrade your passive abilities.

In the tried and tested way, when you are defeated you return to the hub and begin again to progress deeper into the mob infested world. Each area, with its own scenic flavour, has a grid of rooms (not very maze-like), with special rooms and regular “battle” rooms, leading to a boss room. As Kyhra, you wield a sword and a ranged weapon, the latter of which can be swapped out for other types. There is a simplicity in the set up that makes this game far more pick-up-and-play than, in particular, Nuclear Throne and Enter The Gungeon, which can baffle the player until you experiment at length. Perhaps, though we don’t have much variety on this end which can feel a touch dry, as this is not at the forefront of the primary loop.

The game, at its slicey-shooty heart, is slicin’ and shootin’. ScourgeBringer shines in its control response. It is succinct and direct, giving a great connection to Kyhra’s action for the player. Concurrently the player feels powerful, yet responsible. To summon the feeling of Doom (2016), would be one way to describe it. Continually, the combat feels that you’re just hanging in there, just about made that move. The immediacy is compelling and addictive. The dynamic music absolutely slaps as well (incidentally very reminiscent of Mick Gordon’s Doom masterwork), whirring up when with enemies, and slipping back to give some sensory respite. A lot is done with a little.

There is an ability tree that you slowly unlock by collecting the ominously labelled Judge Blood. This gives you access to new stat buffs, but also new combos. This blossoms into a modest, but easy to remember move set that feels intuitive. Your smash (essentially a stun in its unevolved form) adapts into a way to deflect back enemy fire, for instance. These small tweaks and additions as you play run after run keep you involved in the arms and progression race. There is also a neat feature where the difficulty is adaptive. Again, keeping you just on the side of challenging.

It is telling that negatives or gripes come down to non-deal-breakers. Some hit-boxes for projectiles felt unfair to me. Maybe there are some telegraphing issues with enemy attacks. Are there a couple too many rooms in this area or that? Could that be solved with a sprinkling of secret rooms I have to bust in to?

These are gripes with more in-common with musings on design choices. Simply put, ScourgeBringer is tight, defined, beautiful, satisfying, and exciting. A great step up from the already fantastic Neurovoider. Heartily recommend.

Overall 9/10

Metroid Dread Review (Switch)

 

It’s been a long road to Metroid Dread. It’s not as if Metroid games even come around every console generation, but the once cancelled Dread has been worth the wait. It’s something truly special.

First of all, it’s a good idea to point out that Mercury Steam where also responsible for the other most recent Metroid game – Samus Returns on the 3DS. Samus Returns really divided fans and critics alike and to be honest it’s too long, the controls are awkward and gimmicky and even the general room layouts don’t really work. So it’s both a massive relief and somewhat of a surprise to find that Dread has removed pretty much every criticism levelled at that game. As such you can dismiss any worries you may have had about the development team. This is not Samus Returns.

As soon as you start playing it’s incredibly clear that a lot of thought has gone into how Samus controls. This has to be one of the most satisfying movement mechanics we’ve seen in years. Samus moves like a dream with everything the player does being slick and solid. At its finest it recalls games like Bayonetta and Vanquish with everything that unfurls on the screen being part of some kind of eye popping ballet of death as one move seamlessly transitions into another. Speed runners should have an absolute ball with this. Again, Samus Returns this is not.

Complimenting the controls, the look and sound of the game set the scene perfectly. The lush opening cinematics are shortly followed by dropping the player into beautifully detailed landscapes to explore. Each area of Dread has its distinctive own personality with ice, lava and botanical areas filled with effects and small details such as the glowing emergency lights on Samus’ suite when she enters a powered down room. The thing looks incredible from start to finish with design of the highest order present throughout. Even the loading screens as you move between sections are gorgeous.

The soundscape is equally impressive. The game moves away from the series trademark of soaring scores and replaces them with more atmospheric tracks that add to the sinister and foreboding feeling that permeates throughout the game. This is highlighted during the EMMI sections which are absolutely chilling and really add to the feeling of erm… dread. If Metroid ever decides to go full survival horror this shows it could probably pull it off.

Speaking of the EMMI, the new gimmick of the game works well. There are seven in total and all are impervious to your attacks until you get hold of a one use upgrade for your arm cannon. They are restricted to patrolling specific areas of the map which are clearly marked with special doors. As interesting as it would have been to have one following you around the entire map like a Terminator, in practice it would have got old fast as the EMMI perform instant kills on you if you get caught. Your only defence is an incredibly short window in which to counter which leaves the machines stunned so you can slide through their legs and run away.

Luckily the game checkpoints well so when you do get caught you can start again from just outside the area. The only real way to get through these areas is to run like hell and hope the EMMI don’t find you. The game does a great job of making your bad ass bounty hunter feel helpless in these sections with the diegetic noise the robots make doing everything it can to make your skin crawl.

Other highlights include some absolutely epic boss fights with beasties that normally take up most of the screen. These can seem imposing at first but every boss has attack patterns which once learned will see you down them remarkably quickly. In general the bosses didn’t stop our progress too much and the only real spike we found was in the game’s final showdown. Keep at it and you’ll get through though and there isn’t anything here that long time Metroid fans will feel overwhelmed by.

In terms of the flow of the general game it should come as little surprise that it follows the general Metroid format of explore map, find skill and explore the bits of the map you couldn’t explore before. Where it does differ slightly is that at some points the game becomes more linear by funnelling you down certain sections by locking doors. The skills you acquire are both the usual Metroid set mixed with some new additions. There’s a slight issue here in that some of the skills, such as the cloaking device, are used only a handful of times throughout the game which is a shame.

Overall though, Metroid Dread is a resounding triumph. The sound, look, design and control of the game is absolutely spot on. The feeling of exhilaration you get when escaping an EMMI or downing one of the gigantic bosses is unparalleled and the plot is a series high with twists and turns all the way from start to finish. It’s an incredible achievement that in a series with such a high water mark and in a genre which is so oversaturated with solid entries that this stands at very top of the pile. Whether you think it’s better than Super Metroid will likely be based on when you first played the seminal SNES classic but Dread is a game that deserves to sell systems and is an undeniable, remarkable classic.

Overall 10/10

Cyber Shadow Review (Steam)

 

Written by Thomas G Sharpe

Shadow is a cyborg; thus cyber. Awoken from his cyberslumber to defeat a biomechanical menace that needs some cyberjustice. Shadow has some intense cyberglare going on, that even his cheeky robo-sidekick cannot dissuade him from. As Shadow, you slash and jump and dash and fling and slice across Mekacity (which I guess is a blend of mecha and mega, maybe?) in this brutal ninjavania romp.

The two-shot of limited 8-bit visual aesthetic and pitch perfect bleep-bloop music set a nostalgic cyberstage. Playing on keyboard I re-binded a couple of keys to make them make sense and it chucks you straight in. You will recognise the form of this immediately; enemy patterns, timing your jumps and attacks. ‘Nuff cybersaid. OR IS IT…

Cyber Shadow, in measured, slow and deliberate moves, reveals its hand as a progressive evolution of Ninja Gaiden (it’s more direct ancestor than weird uncle Castlevania), not just an imitator. Checkpoints, rather than lives, may irk some cyberpurists, but I found it a well-needed cybersupport. After weeping after an hour of playing Soulsvania Salt and Sanctuary, or never really completing Metroid 2: Return of Samus on my Gameboy as a kid, it was nice to get a bit further into something of this ilk (disclaimer: have not completed Cyber Shadow as I am trash).

Alongside the cybercheckpoint system, which to me only half the time was placed correctly for my patience level, there is an upgrade system. New power-ups and abilities are unlocked at consoles which you pay for using the little tokens defeated enemies cyberspew out. This gave a sense of meaning to defeating enemies for me. Health is obtained from chests, and there are moments of back-tracking into secrets. In short, there is new-ness couched in this old-ness, and it is that personalisation, that mutability that gives Cyber Shadow a kick into something more identifiable, more itself, and therefore more enjoyable.

The sprite work is admirable but sits firmly in the unadorned 8-bit era. Yes, it is cyberevocative and the biomech denizens of Mekacity reminded me of some of Gradius: Interstellar Assault’s enemies, all spikes and giblets in a couple of parts. Animations are stripped back, movements are telegraphed reasonably well, and Shadow controls well. Indecision is not your cyberfriend, and often my inexperience was held up to harsh criticism by my lack of familiarity with platforming. In this sense, Cyber Shadow has strong DNA of its predecessors.

Cyber Shadow’s central thrust, to me, is that it has sacrificed the sweaty-cyberpalmed tension of having one-life-left for the persistence and compulsion of the one-more-go. It may well give more uninitiated players greater access. And why not indeed! A careful, considered and, importantly, fun piece of work like this should be able to be enjoyed on several cyberlevels.

I’d fully recommend cracking on the CRT and jittery video effects, because, why not? And enjoy the mindless story depicted in belting animations, while resisting the urge to snap your cyberkeyboard in half. With a limited-life mode option, slightly more forgiving jumping, and the soundtrack available to stream or download, I may even bump the score higher.

Overall 8/10

Alwa's Legacy Review (Switch)

A few years ago Elden Pixels released a great NES inspired Metroidvania adventure called Alwa’s Awakening. The 8-bit aesthetic was one of the best recreations around and the game itself played much better than the most of the NES games is was inspired by. Unfortunately, it seems to have been overlooked by a large portion of gamers. Alwa’s Legacy is the sequel and sees the series move from its 8-bit roots to embrace the extra colours and processing power of the 16-bit era.

Setting any game in what many consider to be the golden age of gaming is a brave move. But Elden Pixels have proved with Alwa’s Awakening that they know exactly how to make something that both feels legitimate to the time and has an overall quality that is apparent in every aspect of the game. With that in mind we already knew that Legacy was going to be an adventure worth our time.

The game pretty much follows the same layout as its predecessor. You play Zoe again who needs to adventure around the world, picking up abilities as she goes and finding a host of magical stones in order to beat an evil big bad. You know how these things go, the plot is not overly deep or original but the characters are nice and real focus is in the adventure rather than the story.

So it’s lucky that the actual adventuring aspect of the game is excellent. Zoe herself controls well and the general flow of progression is satisfying. There were a few occasions where we got stuck for a while but a look at the map and some quiet reflection soon gave us some leads and off we went once more. It is worth noting though that sometimes patience is key with Legacy as there is little in the way of hand holding with regards to your next objective. Villagers will offer advice but even that can lead you to some dead ends.

On one particulate occasion we had just trekked around to get a key to enter a dark catacomb only to then be told we needed a light source. No problem, we had been given a hint to a location and off we went. The only thing was when we got there the guy we had been told about didn’t have any further information and the head scratching began.

Still, if you are going to be stuck wandering around a world it’s nice that this one looks so lovely. The 16-bit style has been well implemented meaning there is a consistent thematic look but also that each area has some of its own characteristics which stop things becoming monotonous. It’s also really nice to see one of these games that embraces a bright colour palette. Everything else that comes out at the minute seems to be trying to out ‘Dark Souls’ itself in the levels of gloom it can put on screen. This is nicely complimented by some great music that may well spark a few retro memories of their own – especially in the castle.

Alwa’s Legacy does do things a little different to your standard Metroidvania in that a lot of your abilities are gained fairly early on. Yes, you will be picking things up that allow you to run across spikes or breathe under water but your main three spells are with you for much of the game. In order to get around and solve puzzles Zoe can create a block, a floating bubble or a bolt of lightning.

These three can also be combined in a few ways and the real core of the game is about using these mechanics together to hit switches or get through obstacles. The skills can be upgraded by collecting orbs from around the world but apart from making unbreakable bubbles much of the game is traversable without doing this.

Overall, Alwa’s Legacy is a beautifully designed follow up to Alwa’s Awakening. Its expands and develops on ideas and concepts present in the first game while also presenting a different enough experience to make revisiting the original feel worthwhile. There’s not a bad element in Legacy with everything coming together in an assured and nostalgically comforting way to produce a game that thrives on the spirit of adventure and fun. There’s an absolute deluge of this type of game around at the minute but Legacy has a look and feel that really does make it stand out from the crowd.

Overall 8/10

Cathedral Review (Switch)

 
Another day and another pixel art styled Metroidvania appears from an up and coming indie development team. There are so many of these types of games now that it’s becoming difficult to stand out from the crowd (You also have to wonder why Konami hasn’t sub-contracted out to one of these studios to make a new Castlevania game but we digress). Cathedral is the next in this long line to stake a claim for your attention. The thing is, after this one, developers are going to have to try an awful lot harder because Cathedral is a bit special.

You start the game inside the mysterious old Cathedral of the games title with little understanding of what’s going on or what your mission is. Shortly after this you will escape and head to a nearby town. The town’s folk will help to fill you in on the games law and from there you undertake a vast adventure to defeat a particularly big bad in the best traditions of magic and fantasy.

The game throws you early on in terms of how it plays. Initially, we were pretty convinced what we had unearthed was effectively Shovel Knight the Metroidvania. The art style is similar and our hero knight can even do the Duck Tales bounce with his sword. The longer we played though the more we realised the game was very much its own beast and one that seems more influenced by Rare’s Wizards and Warriors trilogy on the NES (but much smoother in terms of how it plays).

It’s also fair to say that it took a few hours to get into. To begin with we found it difficult to judge the edges of platforms and the general inertia of the knight which had us falling to our death over and over. There are also some pretty heavy colour blind issues surrounding health bars and some on screen objects. But after finding a few items and giving the game some time everything simply clicked into place and all our initial problems just faded away.

When we said the game was vast we meant it. It clocks in somewhere between twenty and thirty hours to beat depending on just how much exploration you are doing to get all the extra items. It’s a good thing then that the many locations feel unique and different both in terms of design and look and each begs to be explored in full.

Traversing between locations can be a bit of a pain if you take a wrong turn but there are a number of teleport points around to make things quicker. That said, there were a fair few times we got a decent way through an area only to be blocked from progression because we didn’t have a particular item and then needed to trek all the way back. There are frequent save points in place as well which is handy as the game can be tough and repeating certain sequences of rooms over and over when you just want to get back somewhere can be frustrating.

Minor issues aside, there is something magical about Cathedral. It’s the first game in a very long time where the world seemed to contain a genuine sense of wonder and mystery to it. It calls back perfectly to the adventure games of the 8-bit generation where hidden objects and rooms where packed into every corner. The locations are so beautifully created and diverse as well that it means you are always driven to keep going and uncover one more mystery.

Enemies, bosses and environmental hazards are also wonderfully varied throughout. There are some repeating creatures but generally there is always something new to take on and even enemies that are graphically similar often act in different ways depending on your location. Puzzles are also varied and range from stopping poisonous waterfalls to moving platforms in order to keep progressing. Before long you'll also aquire a spirit helper called 'Soul' who can be used to move the odd block around for you. 

Bosses come in all shapes and sizes from small but relentless gargoyles to huge floating eyes and each falls into the challenging but beatable category. We rarely found our progress blocked for too long as though we may have died a lot there was always the feeling that we would get the beastie in our next encounter. 

Another minor quibble here is that sometimes bosses are a few rooms away from save points which adds some unnecessary trudging around. A slightly odd design choice related to this is that your knight doesn’t spawn with full health (unless you buy upgrades), but there are often healing statues near the save points. This means if you are dying often you fall into a monotonous cycle of respawning, going to heal then trudging back to the monster to try again.

Overall, Cathedral is a magical realised adventure game. We have highlighted some small issues in design but the vast majority of your time spent with the game will bring about a feeling of mystery, joy and the urge to push ever onward that many players may not have felt for a very long time. It encapsulates what made 8-bit adventure games so good while also ironing out many of the issues that they were often hindered with. We love a good romp through titles like Wizards and Warriors and Battle of Olympus but Cathedral does it better. There may be hundreds of Metroidvania games out there but hardly any of them can hope to be as accomplished as this. It’s a classic and the new indie standard in the genre.

Overall 9/10

Axiom Verge Review (Switch)

There was a time when ‘Metroidvania’ titles were flooding the market. Recent trends have a seen a move towards the super hard ‘Rogue-like’ game and with no new Castlevania or classic Metroid on the horizon gamers have been at a loss as to how to scratch their map filling itch. But fear not because Axiom Verge has made it Switch and it’s a little bit special.

The brain child of one man studio Tom Happ, the game follows the long twisting story of a scientist who awakens in a strange world after he dies in an accident. It’s certainly closer to Metroid than Castlevania but there’s also enough of a difference to not make it seem like one of those carbon copy knock offs you used to get called things like Poc-Man or Space Invaded. Considering the lack of this type of game around at the minute and the fact the last proper 2D Metroid was back on the 3DS there’s certainly a gap in the market.

If you’re not familiar with this type of game then let us explain. In Axiom Verge you explore and leap around the various landscapes shooting monsters and looking for useful objects. Upgrades normally give you a new move of some kind. In this case the first few you find add a drill for destroying certain types of wall, a high jump and shift scrambler thing. These objects then allow bypassing of certain obstacles and exploring further. You basically keep going until you meet a boss or hit an area where you clearly need something to progress and it’s wonderfully addictive as your little map constantly updates and fills out the layout of the areas.

Of course, you have to want to explore and Axiom Verge does a good job of keeping you locked into it. The environments are beautifully realised in their old school pixel style and each area has a unique look and characteristic. Enemy types also vary widely from area to area and the accompanying musical score sets the scene perfectly. The game also does a good job of keeping interesting looking things just about out of sight so you are always intrigued to go back later and see what they are.

The bosses you come up against start off large and proceed to get bigger and badder as the game progresses. They all require decent dexterity and brain power to overcome and this is a throwback to the shoot the 'glowing weak spot’ of old days. We didn’t come across anything crushingly difficult but you do need to be your toes. The difficulty level in general is set just about right. There is the odd spike here and there but our exploration was never stopped for too long. It can be annoying to be sent back a long way to the last save point but you do keep your exploration progress.

The save points are spread around each area and see our hero entering a pod which regenerates their health. These aren’t exactly everywhere so you do have been careful when exploring as there can be a bit of distance between them. We did find this a little frustrating to begin with but once we found a few upgrades it became much less of an issue. The one thing we really would have liked to have seen is the ability to teleport between save points. It was the developer’s choice not to integrate this but it would have solved the frustration of realising you need to be all the way over on the other side of the map.

There isn’t much hand holding here either. Don’t expect map markers of flashing squares to guide you to where you need to go. We didn’t really have much issue with this as you nearly always have to go to the bit you haven’t been able to explore yet so it wasn’t exactly rocket science to work out what to do next most of the time. If you do find something that looks interesting the Switch version allows you to drop a little reminder marker there for you to come back to later.

Level design is strong throughout, which is good as there’s a serious chunk of game to get through here. It’s massively impressive to think this has been created by a one-person team as it has the production values and feel of something made by a much bigger collection of people. It’s filled with moments that you’ll remember and it seems to have been so carefully created that you can’t help but marvel at what has been achieved at times.

Overall, Axiom Verge is a highly impressive game. It remains original enough while playing off core values of classic games to keep away feelings that you’ve seen it all before. It offers up surprises and fun new things to play with at regular intervals and gives players some big beasties to test themselves against. It’s a well thought-out game that has moments of genuine brilliance among a core of all round good design. It’s very easy to recommend this to fans of the genre as there hasn’t been a Metroidvania this good since Zero Mission.

Overall 9/10