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

System Shock Review (Switch 2)

It was only a month or so ago that we looked at the System Shock 2 Remaster on the original Switch. Where that added some quality-of-life features and some HD filters it was still pretty much the same game. This remake of System Shock is a much more fully rounded reimagining from the ground up and a very different beast.

We’ll admit to not having played the original game before, or indeed, the System Shock remake on any other systems. In that respect we can’t comment on how this looks and runs compared to a PS5, but then you would imagine it doesn’t look as pretty by the very nature of the console. We are also aware that upon initial release the game was reported to have numerous problems regarding its framerate and some graphical quirks. Even up to a few weeks ago there were plenty of videos out there showing quite considerable stutters.

However, from what we can tell, a large amount of these issues seem to have been solved. We’ve not put the game through a framerate checker, but it is fair to say nothing as dramatic as what has been circulating around has happened during play. Apart from some very brief stutters when loading, the game seems to run in a much more stable way. It is certainly playable and at no point did something happen performance wise that effected gameplay and much of the time we played it in handheld mode.

The only bug we did encounter is the widely reported textures issue. Basically, the first time you load up the game it doesn’t load in all the textures, so you are left with a mix of HD assets and pixelated mush. Details such as numbers on keypads and text for instance are just a pixelated mess. After reloading a save though the issue has never repeated itself.

Now the game appears to be in a stable and playable state it certainly makes it easier to see what the fuss is about. You are a hacker placed onto the Citadel orbital station and charged with bringing down the Ai security system that has started to take control. Failure to do so will see the stations mining lasers used to destroy all of earths capital cities as the Ai SHODAN tries to establish itself as a god. The game plays out as a mix of first person shooting and adventure and there are light RPG elements in place as well which allow you to augment your character and take different approaches to playing.

The real strength of System Shock is the setting and atmosphere. The station is a winding mass of labyrinthian tunnels and hatches. Some of which twist and turn into huge areas, meaning you aren’t simply moving from small room to room. It’s easy to get lost or wander into areas you aren’t prepared for but that’s kind of the point of the thing. You do have map to help you and there is a certain amount of logical progression from gathering keycards and activating bridges and doors. We certainly didn’t find ourselves with no clue where to go as there was always somewhere new to explore.

It's certainly not a fast paced game and you’ll find edging around slowly and quietly to be a much more successful approach to exploration. The station is filled with mutated monsters and security cameras, and you take heavy damage from combat, so it is always vital to be properly prepared for what’s around the corner. Weapons and ammunition can be hard to come by as well so there is always the tension of potentially being overwhelmed by what lies ahead. System Shock certainly hasn’t left its survival horror routes behind.

The story mostly unfolds through audio logs from the crew that you pick up while exploring. As well as giving passwords and combination codes, they also highlight the desperation of the few surviving crew as the fast decent of the station is brought to light. You can certainly see how the DNA of the game went on to heavily influence the Bioshock series. There is also a host of junk and all manner of other items to pick up as well so it pays to search every area, even it does mean spending some time organising your inventory and converting junk into the in-game currency.

Overall, the System Shock remake is an incredibly tense and effective survival horror game. The performance may not be up to the PC or PS5 versions but its certainly running in a good enough state to enjoy now on the Switch 2. It kept us captivated and engaged throughout and there was nothing performance wise that broke that immersion. If you are a fan then it seems safe to get this now, it’s an experience unlike any other.

Overall 8/10