Just finished Metroid Dread on the new Dread difficulty (Instant death to any hit if you don't know). 100% Clear time: 6:19 (12:30 or so actual play time since the clock rolls back when you die, which obviously happened a lot).
Escue, Experiment Z-57, and Raven Beak were the toughest ones. For Escue, I didn't want to do any sequence breaks to get Screw Attack early so I had to research a better strategy since I've never been able to avoid his storm missile attack reliably. You can space jump over it if you run to the corner and wait until the last moment.
Looking forward to the boss rush mode coming in April.
Monster Sanctuary is a 2d pokemon/Metrovidvania cross where you collect pokemon which then give you new traversal options for the map. The reason that I'm so crazy about it is that it does the pokemon part of the game really well. It's so much more tactically interesting and challenging than the pokemon series that it puts that series to shame. It starts simple with your creatures only having a few abilities and slowly gets more complex until you're building highly synergistic teams to beat the final bosses. Even through the bosses can get rough, the tactical diversity is amazing. On the reddit page whenever someone posts the team they used to beat the game with, it almost always includes a monster that I'd disregarded that somehow was a critical part of their team.
Some of the boss fights can be hard but there is an easy mode if you want to stomp through and the pixel art and music are great. The game was a steal at $20 and now it's $7 and it's practically a crime not to get this game.
Keys for Ghost Song are going out, a game I kickstarted like... 10 years ago and haven't heard anything about for the last 3 or 4. It had a very dark souls meets metroid vibe.
I think I backed it before Hollow Knight even? Which is probably an insane benchmark for kickstarter games, but I'm still excited to see how it turned out.
Ghost Song is pretty good! It deserves a spot near the top of modern metroidvanias. Maybe not in the top 10, but for a single-person project, it's definitely ambitious. It's not an ode to a particular game in genre in the way that Timespinners is, but nor is it particularly interested in innovating in the genre.
The controls, when you first get started, feel a bit stilted, and they're not configurable (which is a bummer), and the animations similarly don't feel athletic or heroic. But the character moves in a steady, deliberate way. It reminds me of Ender Lilies, actually, inasmuch as more forgiving controls would probably butcher the challenge level.
And this game is HARD. The boss patterns aren't complicated, but you are constantly managing limited resources. Is my i-frame dash on cooldown? Do I have enough energy to fire special weapons? Is my gun's heat low enough that I can rapid fire some regular shots off, or is it high enough that my melee attacks are going to do some real damage? Can I even hit the boss without taking damage or should I back off?
If you're a patient, reactive player, you'll probably do okay. If you're an aggressive character you'll probably die a LOT at bosses. Never take for granted that the enemy's health bar is almost at 0 because any boss can chunk you if you get careless and try to finish them off. There's nothing worse than standing your ground to fire 5 missiles and then getting creamed because you needed 6.
The environmental storytelling is top notch. The environments are so goddamned weird, and I'm still not sure how reliable or truthful half of the NPCs are. I think I'm near the end and I still have Big Questions about who I am, what's going on in these tunnels, and who I can trust.
The environmental storytelling is top notch. The environments are so goddamned weird, and I'm still not sure how reliable or truthful half of the NPCs are. I think I'm near the end and I still have Big Questions about who I am, what's going on in these tunnels, and who I can trust.
There are kind of a couple of things going on simultaneously with the game which I won't go over too much because you're not done yet but the ideas are interesting, which is a problem since because it's like a one man dev or something so it's unlikely we'll see any of it expanded upon any time soon.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Ghost Song is pretty good! It deserves a spot near the top of modern metroidvanias. Maybe not in the top 10, but for a single-person project, it's definitely ambitious. It's not an ode to a particular game in genre in the way that Timespinners is, but nor is it particularly interested in innovating in the genre.
The controls, when you first get started, feel a bit stilted, and they're not configurable (which is a bummer), and the animations similarly don't feel athletic or heroic. But the character moves in a steady, deliberate way. It reminds me of Ender Lilies, actually, inasmuch as more forgiving controls would probably butcher the challenge level.
And this game is HARD. The boss patterns aren't complicated, but you are constantly managing limited resources. Is my i-frame dash on cooldown? Do I have enough energy to fire special weapons? Is my gun's heat low enough that I can rapid fire some regular shots off, or is it high enough that my melee attacks are going to do some real damage? Can I even hit the boss without taking damage or should I back off?
If you're a patient, reactive player, you'll probably do okay. If you're an aggressive character you'll probably die a LOT at bosses. Never take for granted that the enemy's health bar is almost at 0 because any boss can chunk you if you get careless and try to finish them off. There's nothing worse than standing your ground to fire 5 missiles and then getting creamed because you needed 6.
The environmental storytelling is top notch. The environments are so goddamned weird, and I'm still not sure how reliable or truthful half of the NPCs are. I think I'm near the end and I still have Big Questions about who I am, what's going on in these tunnels, and who I can trust.
I think its difficulty is going to cause a lot of refunds. There's no gentle onramp at all, you get to the first boss (which is about 5 minutes in) and it can kill you in about two seconds if you don't run out of its attack range every time. I'm finding the boss difficulty really uninteresting since they just feel like a chore I have to get through to get back to the fun parts.
The exploration and environmental storytelling is great though.
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Garlic Breadi'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm aRegistered User, Disagreeableregular
dang, i was interested in ghost song but the difficulty sounds annoying
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Yeah I started Ghost Song but kept dying so I stopped I wasn’t sure if it was that difficult or if I was just not feeling it at the time.
There's an easier difficulty setting, I didn't try it and you can't switch mid-run, but it's there. The default difficulty is right where I like it as a personal preference. When I first fought the last boss of Metroid Dread, I died probably 20 times, but it got easier each time and now I can do it without getting hit.
I feel the same way about the bosses here. But dying 20 times just to incrementally get better is NOT everyone's cup of tea! If a player comes into this game expecting their skill in other metroidvanias to make it a cakewalk, they're gonna have a bad time.
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
The problem I had was the backtracking. I don’t mind difficulty but I want a save point like right outside the boss room
It's also very much a Souls-like in that the game starts out with a challenge, but only because you're starting with nothing - there are some powerful combos and once you figure them out you can just crack the game open.
I just finished The Mummy Demastered on Switch this week. That was a great Metroidvania. It had just the right difficulty level for me, focused less on Souls-like combat and more like Super Metroid, and I think I hit 99% exploration. Really great game, it's a shame it only goes on sale like once a year on Switch and is tied to a failed movie - it really deserves to be played.
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I wanted to like The Mummy Demastered but the death mechanic ruined it for me
The problem I had was the backtracking. I don’t mind difficulty but I want a save point like right outside the boss room
This is absolutely true. Don't make me run 8 rooms from the save point to the boss. At one point fighting Scuttle I failed so much that I was missing a third of my health, so I had to backtrack from the save point to the nearest repair robot, then back to the save point, then to the boss.
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Garlic Breadi'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm aRegistered User, Disagreeableregular
The problem I had was the backtracking. I don’t mind difficulty but I want a save point like right outside the boss room
This is absolutely true. Don't make me run 8 rooms from the save point to the boss. At one point fighting Scuttle I failed so much that I was missing a third of my health, so I had to backtrack from the save point to the nearest repair robot, then back to the save point, then to the boss.
oh this sounds even worse
i might give it a shot at some point, on easy mode, but it does not sound like my style of metroidvania. oh well, not every game has to be for me. thanks for the info, though!
Garlic Bread on
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
It hews even more to Souls-ian DNA than Hollow Knight did.
I finished it? But I assume there are multiple endings. I got, presumably, the bad ending.
I'm not sure what to do with the
pebble. I used it at the top of the mountain to the west of the crash site and it told me I "gained perspective"???
It's actually the mountain east of the crash site. Go to the ledge at the very top of the crash site map, right before zoning into the next area(Ekman's Crossing). Shut down there(edit: use the pebble first) and wait for a bit and you'll see a pretty important scene.
I'm a very old school fan of the genre, with Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night being my favorites, but I'm of the opinion that metroidvanias (or "search action" if you hate the portmanteau) shouldn't be inherently very hard. Instead, they should have a variable difficulty based on your level of thoroughness. A speedrunner or someone who otherwise takes the most direct route will have a hard experience, but somebody who goes out of the way to find every powerup will have a relatively easy time.
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
Has anyone else played Grime? This game is brutal.
The Giant of Eyes took me around two hours, spread across two play sessions, and beating him just made me realize I was heading in the wrong direction. Oof.
dang, i was interested in ghost song but the difficulty sounds annoying
Its very annoying because theres a great core here but dumb things like how health tanks work, slippy jumps, no quest tracking and the exp system really make it hard to get into
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Played a little bit of Laika: Aged Through Blood yesterday.
I didn’t get very far but it’s fucking hard early on!
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The GeekOh-Two Crew, OmeganautRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Just started Mummy Demastered and it's pretty fun so far. Only died twice and had to deal with that death mechanic but I'd already gotten used to it from Hollow Knight so it hasn't bothered me yet.
BLM - ACAB
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Raijin QuickfootI'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I hated the death mechanic in Mummy Demastered. It sucks because I liked the game quite a bit other than that.
JRPGs and Metroidvanias are my passion! Currently hooked on Ender Lilies, joining classics like Symphony of the Night, Axiom Verge, and Bloodstained. Hollow Knight and Guacamelee bring unique vibes. Ori's emotional journey and Dead Cells' roguelike twist add spice. Excited for upcoming gems like Silksong and Sable. Let's share the love for these adventure-packed worlds!
I want to go back and play aria of sorrow and dawn of sorrow but feel like maybe not enough to find a used DS
It seems highly likely they'll keep doing Castlevania collections, they've done two already (Aria is already in the Handheld one that's on Switch and PC and etc.) One that has the three DS games in it wouldn't be too hard a port (just need to redo the touch screen mechanics to be suitable for a controller).
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
I want to go back and play aria of sorrow and dawn of sorrow but feel like maybe not enough to find a used DS
It seems highly likely they'll keep doing Castlevania collections, they've done two already (Aria is already in the Handheld one that's on Switch and PC and etc.) One that has the three DS games in it wouldn't be too hard a port (just need to redo the touch screen mechanics to be suitable for a controller).
Konami isn't putting any actual work into anything.
I want to go back and play aria of sorrow and dawn of sorrow but feel like maybe not enough to find a used DS
It seems highly likely they'll keep doing Castlevania collections, they've done two already (Aria is already in the Handheld one that's on Switch and PC and etc.) One that has the three DS games in it wouldn't be too hard a port (just need to redo the touch screen mechanics to be suitable for a controller).
Konami isn't putting any actual work into anything.
But they are hiring people who are. The Cowabunga Collection was very well put together and there's nothing terrible about the two Castlevania Collections or the Contra Collection.
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PaperLuigi44My amazement is at maximum capacity.Registered Userregular
It's excellent. Very satisfying combat and platforming (I need to tweak the dead zones on my controller, though) and you can tag the map with in-game screenshots for stuff you need to come back to later.
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The GeekOh-Two Crew, OmeganautRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Finished off Mummy Demastered a couple days ago. Fun game, but pretty short and fairly easy. I thought I might get frustrated with the "defeat your zombie corpse to get your stuff back when you die" aspect, but I only died twice so it wasn't even an issue. Most of the bosses didn't even require that much work to avoid attacks because I could generally just outlast their health with mine.
BLM - ACAB
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The GeekOh-Two Crew, OmeganautRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I downloaded the demo for Switch and was gonna fire it on up the other day, but it required me to fucking log into a ubisoft account just to play the demo and I did not have the patience at the moment.
Posts
absolutely loved that game. it just felt good to play
Looking forward to the boss rush mode coming in April.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/814370/Monster_Sanctuary/
Monster Sanctuary is a 2d pokemon/Metrovidvania cross where you collect pokemon which then give you new traversal options for the map. The reason that I'm so crazy about it is that it does the pokemon part of the game really well. It's so much more tactically interesting and challenging than the pokemon series that it puts that series to shame. It starts simple with your creatures only having a few abilities and slowly gets more complex until you're building highly synergistic teams to beat the final bosses. Even through the bosses can get rough, the tactical diversity is amazing. On the reddit page whenever someone posts the team they used to beat the game with, it almost always includes a monster that I'd disregarded that somehow was a critical part of their team.
Some of the boss fights can be hard but there is an easy mode if you want to stomp through and the pixel art and music are great. The game was a steal at $20 and now it's $7 and it's practically a crime not to get this game.
I think I backed it before Hollow Knight even? Which is probably an insane benchmark for kickstarter games, but I'm still excited to see how it turned out.
The controls, when you first get started, feel a bit stilted, and they're not configurable (which is a bummer), and the animations similarly don't feel athletic or heroic. But the character moves in a steady, deliberate way. It reminds me of Ender Lilies, actually, inasmuch as more forgiving controls would probably butcher the challenge level.
And this game is HARD. The boss patterns aren't complicated, but you are constantly managing limited resources. Is my i-frame dash on cooldown? Do I have enough energy to fire special weapons? Is my gun's heat low enough that I can rapid fire some regular shots off, or is it high enough that my melee attacks are going to do some real damage? Can I even hit the boss without taking damage or should I back off?
If you're a patient, reactive player, you'll probably do okay. If you're an aggressive character you'll probably die a LOT at bosses. Never take for granted that the enemy's health bar is almost at 0 because any boss can chunk you if you get careless and try to finish them off. There's nothing worse than standing your ground to fire 5 missiles and then getting creamed because you needed 6.
The environmental storytelling is top notch. The environments are so goddamned weird, and I'm still not sure how reliable or truthful half of the NPCs are. I think I'm near the end and I still have Big Questions about who I am, what's going on in these tunnels, and who I can trust.
There are kind of a couple of things going on simultaneously with the game which I won't go over too much because you're not done yet but the ideas are interesting, which is a problem since because it's like a one man dev or something so it's unlikely we'll see any of it expanded upon any time soon.
I think its difficulty is going to cause a lot of refunds. There's no gentle onramp at all, you get to the first boss (which is about 5 minutes in) and it can kill you in about two seconds if you don't run out of its attack range every time. I'm finding the boss difficulty really uninteresting since they just feel like a chore I have to get through to get back to the fun parts.
The exploration and environmental storytelling is great though.
I feel the same way about the bosses here. But dying 20 times just to incrementally get better is NOT everyone's cup of tea! If a player comes into this game expecting their skill in other metroidvanias to make it a cakewalk, they're gonna have a bad time.
This is absolutely true. Don't make me run 8 rooms from the save point to the boss. At one point fighting Scuttle I failed so much that I was missing a third of my health, so I had to backtrack from the save point to the nearest repair robot, then back to the save point, then to the boss.
oh this sounds even worse
i might give it a shot at some point, on easy mode, but it does not sound like my style of metroidvania. oh well, not every game has to be for me. thanks for the info, though!
I'm not sure what to do with the
Has anyone else played Grime? This game is brutal.
The Giant of Eyes took me around two hours, spread across two play sessions, and beating him just made me realize I was heading in the wrong direction. Oof.
Its very annoying because theres a great core here but dumb things like how health tanks work, slippy jumps, no quest tracking and the exp system really make it hard to get into
I didn’t get very far but it’s fucking hard early on!
Iron Pineapple did a review of it and it seems like a game I greatly respect and am so happy exists with a really interesting artistic vision
That having been said, the gameplay looks like poison to me
These bonus modes you have to beat are kind of obnoxious. This is going to be tougher than I originally thought.
Astalon! Great game!
prince of persia (the new one)
It seems highly likely they'll keep doing Castlevania collections, they've done two already (Aria is already in the Handheld one that's on Switch and PC and etc.) One that has the three DS games in it wouldn't be too hard a port (just need to redo the touch screen mechanics to be suitable for a controller).
Konami isn't putting any actual work into anything.
But they are hiring people who are. The Cowabunga Collection was very well put together and there's nothing terrible about the two Castlevania Collections or the Contra Collection.
It's excellent. Very satisfying combat and platforming (I need to tweak the dead zones on my controller, though) and you can tag the map with in-game screenshots for stuff you need to come back to later.
I downloaded the demo for Switch and was gonna fire it on up the other day, but it required me to fucking log into a ubisoft account just to play the demo and I did not have the patience at the moment.