I’ve been excited for this game since putting in 8 hours into a 2 hour demo a year ago. Its a kings field like made by a 2 person Dev team with a retro aesthetic. I’ve got about 20 hours in and I’m absolutely blown away.
It plays very much like a metroid prime game mixed with kings field. Exploration is the star of the show here just like prime. It seems like every corner you turn there is some secret you missed despite having been down this hallway a million times. The main island is stacked vertically and as you unlock power ups you can reach new places. Pretty much everything you can see you can get to eventually if you try hard enough.
The atmosphere is a gloomy fantasy world filled with weird characters and kind of obtuse lore. Very much in line with a dark souls game. Visually its just stunning with the detailed pixely 3d look and dense layering of the world. Everything is in a ruined state enhancing the worn in feel of the world.
Combat is fine. I didn’t think I’d like it as I’ve come to hate souls likes but I actually dig the kings like combat. Its all about spacing and footwork than dodging and parrying which there is a button for neither. Each swing of your weapon drains your stanima bar and does little damage but charging it up unleashes a powerful strike. You also have ranged weapons that you recharge automatically over time and are great for dealing with pesky enemies or luring them away and picking them off.
There are a ton of weapons across three main damage types slash, thrust, and impact. Enemies have strengths and weaknesses to different weapon types. The weapons level up with use, and some have special secondary attacks.
The only downsides are the music and some confusion on where to go sometimes. . Some areas the music is pretty good but a lot of areas its just bad. Either way the tracks are very repetitive. The nature of the game can leads to completing an area then not really knowing the next goal or where to go. The crunchy visuals can also lead item drops and scenery blending together.
Anyway that’s my long rant about how much I love this game and I’m trying to get everyone to play it. Seriously worth checking out the demo at least.
This game truly reminds me of how games once were. No hand holding, sometimes frustrating but ultimately satisfying, resource management and strategically saving and healing, backtracking and finding shortcuts, and it’s deep in terms of exploration and progression. It’s incredible
Also duck store song goes quack quack quack
A lot of people were complaining about the song in the Steam reviews, and I just couldn’t help but laugh at the “it seems disconnected from the rest of the game” like they weren’t just killing fucking Rat Ladybug hybrids a few hours ago. LOL
A lot of reviews for even just the demo seem to have quite a bit of apprehension because of the “humor” in the game. Tbh the only really funny thing I’ve found is Umbada in the store and the Chef, but even then it’s not really “funny” more like quirky.
But everybody loved sun bro in Dark Souls so it’s not like it’s really THAT out of place to have a little whimsy in a dark world setting.
It’s not, but I think those comments were from hardcore King’s Field fans. I’ve never played KF so I don’t know if there’s humor or not in those games.
I saw similar comments about Lunacid not “having a coherent design identity” or whatever because some of the characters look weird.
Whatever man, it’s a fun game.