Do we not talk about the level design of Metroid enough? Of Metroidvanias/search action titles in general? Is it not one of, if not THE most important aspect to these titles, both a casual play perspective and those of sequence breakers and speed runners?

This is a game that removes that fundamental part of these titles, replacing it with a random arrangement of pre-designed rooms that essentially exist in isolation. No matter how good one specific bit of design can be, one well-designed landmark, it is an island unto itself, interacting not one bit with the world outside of it. To turn a search action title into a roguelike in this specific manner feels utterly, woefully pointless.

It’s not like parts of this aren’t proven ideas heading in. Randomisers match the same thrilling ‘what power-up will I get here’ feeling that Fight provides, but without the sort of genius level design of a Super Metroid, the ability to skillfully navigate without the intended power-ups are lost, and so a power-up that allows progress HAS to be in the rough area you’re playing within. The concepts are proven, it’s in the execution that they fail.

Some positives. It looks good, and the unpleasant fleshiness of enemies and environments carries the machines vs meat theming of the storyline really well. It feels good to play, power-ups depending, and by the end of a run you feel obscenely powerful, firing endless projectiles all over the screen constantly. That visual and feeling is at the centre of many a quality roguelike, and the creators should be proud of that.

The music is inoffensive, which is to say I barely noticed it. Almost criminal in a search action title, but not the worst thing in gaming overall. There’s just a high bar here.

And that’s… maybe all there is to say. I didn’t hate this, despite the fundamental failure that’s at its core. That’s worth something, but that something only amounts to two stars. If I believed in half stars it may be higher, but I don’t, so it isn’t. Get it cheap if you get the chance, don’t if you don’t.

you absolutely can still sequence break, and you unlock a key retro ability by doing so, but in this game all that really means is ‘I made it through a hot/dark room without dying’.

A grimey game with sluggish controls and even uglier aesthetic but to a point where I'd say it benefits the experience. It contributes to its disgusting fleshy atmosphere and the aggravating experience that is to lose runs time and again. Sometimes the RNG can be absolutely unforgiving, and the exploration is very limited. Judging this game by what it strives to be: a Metroid Rogue-like, I'd say it has positive marks on the gameplay/controls + environment but that's it. No marks for story, exploration or character development. Still can't say I had a bad time, and considering it was made by one guy, I'd say it's well worth a buy on sale

A Robot Named Fight! didn't exactly convince me that procedural generation is superior to hand crafted levels when it comes to metroidvanias, but it's still a technically impressive feat to actually make something like this, especially for a lone developer.
The game itself is quite fun too. I didn't like the movement at first but that's only because the mechanic has to accomodate for a random number of speed upgrades. However, I quickly got used to it.
The random upgrades for progression work really well too, although getting an otherwise useless ability to traverse the terrain instead of a shot modifier or weapon is still kinda lame. That's just how this genre works; not all runs can be winners.

Huh. I had been hearing about this one for years, but put it off as I've with so many games lately, and was enjoying it all the way up until I ended up beating it in 75 minutes and on my first attempt, which just the death knell for any roguelite for me. I need that carrot to chase, that feeling of just one more go and I'll beat it next time, and I'm obviously not getting that here since I ended up hopefully getting very lucky with what I found on my first run. I say hopefully because I hope the game isn't this ridiculously easy for everyone on their first go. I mean, I no-hitted the final boss without even trying and that shouldn't happen in a roguelite.

The game itself is pretty much just Metroid: The Roguelite. Plays and flows more or less exactly as the oldschool 2D Metroids do, perhaps specifically Super Metroid. Same movement pattern with the floaty, spinny jump and same pretty weak (at first) pew-pew pea-shooter, and level design that feels very reminiscent, including hiding things in random blocks in the wall (but with a map marker to tell you where to look). The game is quite successful in generating a metroidvania map, at least in my singular run, and it actually felt surprisingly close to exploring a hand-crafted world. Unlike Metroid, you can find some crazy roguelite pick-ups that allow you to do things that Samus can't. I ended up with some bot I don't know what it did, a bot that collected scrap and turned it into nanobots that attack enemies for me, as well as shots that scaled in size and rate of fire based on my scrap and HP and that also split upon impact. I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't try on the final boss; all I did was hold the "aim diagonally" button and the shot button and I just stood there. The split shot killed all the adds and even shot the bullets out of the air while the boss HP bar slowly drained.

While this game does have Isaac-like unlocks that seem to add and expand to the game (called "The Fleshening" here), and the game is also nicely designed in that it doesn't serve all areas or bosses up in one run and there would have been more for me to explore, but I already feel done with the game now that I've beaten it so quickly, and it doesn't help that I'm not the biggest of oldschool Metroid's combat. I like the exploration, atmosphere and style of Metroid, but I've never liked the floaty jump or the weak gun, and while you do get upgraded to be much stronger than Samus, as per above, that doesn't feel like enough for me to want to sit through the boring first 20 minutes in repeated runs, especially not after having already won so easily.

And, not to brag about my superior skills, but I'm not really sure why people call this game hard. While I obviously lucked out in what items I found, the game is also very cheeseable in that, if you take some bad damage, you can always just walk in and out of a room while killing easy respawning enemies for HP, weapon energy and scrap and be fit for fight in no-time. This is why other roguelites don't respawn their enemies and lock you into combat rooms!

Too short and easy for me, with not incentive to go back and play more since I don't believe that it'll change enough, and it bummed me out that there's no permanent progression system that makes the early game a little more fun with each subsequent run, but it's a competent Metroid-alike that people who can't get enough of Metroid's combat gameplay will probably love.