There was a time where this felt ahead of the curve of the Souls-like genre purely for the fact that it existed at all. Bloodborne was out but the market wasn't overly flooded so there was a chance for Malebolgia to stand out. Now a days it's unremarkable but for a first solo project, it has the right heart and idea.
It's sets a great mood and atmosphere and I like it's story. The minimalist art style evoking a Killer 7 look while also understanding glowing green eyes in the near pitch black is objectively cool. Playing this game at the lowest brightness feels appropriate even if it contributes to the navigation problems.
Which realistically, that's maybe this game's biggest fault: Everything looks the same and the map is very unhelpful. As a result I wasn't getting lost so much as just opening the wrong door because I couldn't tell where I was facing in relation to the map. When you have this many corridors that you are expected to loop back through many times it makes things feel like a bit of a slog sometimes.
But I also appreciate the game's commitment to not handholding you into every direction. You get to explore while also knowing the general locations you should be going to without having a marker to tell you. It helps the feeling of wandering a big haunted palace.
For the gameplay as a whole though, it's pretty simple and I can't say I'm upset or disappointed by that. The game is 5 hours long roughly and didn't need to be any longer. You don't need RPG elements, multiple weapons, and an inventory system. The combat is generally functional and has the appropriate Bloodborne pacing but it ends up being way too easy and you ultimately can just spam the heavy attack because it's lunge is so OP. I appreciate the commitment to the many bosses (all of who have unique attack sets), I just wish outside of the bosses there was much reason to really fight the enemies. I usually end up fighting them because corridors are tight or just to engage in combat but generally you can just... run past them and it doesn't seem to matter.
Overall though, I think it's a noble first effort and I've followed the dev for a number of years and watched them grow. I'm excited to see how they keep playing around in the space and at the very least they're one of the few devs making atmospheric games that totally sync up with the vibes I crave.
It's sets a great mood and atmosphere and I like it's story. The minimalist art style evoking a Killer 7 look while also understanding glowing green eyes in the near pitch black is objectively cool. Playing this game at the lowest brightness feels appropriate even if it contributes to the navigation problems.
Which realistically, that's maybe this game's biggest fault: Everything looks the same and the map is very unhelpful. As a result I wasn't getting lost so much as just opening the wrong door because I couldn't tell where I was facing in relation to the map. When you have this many corridors that you are expected to loop back through many times it makes things feel like a bit of a slog sometimes.
But I also appreciate the game's commitment to not handholding you into every direction. You get to explore while also knowing the general locations you should be going to without having a marker to tell you. It helps the feeling of wandering a big haunted palace.
For the gameplay as a whole though, it's pretty simple and I can't say I'm upset or disappointed by that. The game is 5 hours long roughly and didn't need to be any longer. You don't need RPG elements, multiple weapons, and an inventory system. The combat is generally functional and has the appropriate Bloodborne pacing but it ends up being way too easy and you ultimately can just spam the heavy attack because it's lunge is so OP. I appreciate the commitment to the many bosses (all of who have unique attack sets), I just wish outside of the bosses there was much reason to really fight the enemies. I usually end up fighting them because corridors are tight or just to engage in combat but generally you can just... run past them and it doesn't seem to matter.
Overall though, I think it's a noble first effort and I've followed the dev for a number of years and watched them grow. I'm excited to see how they keep playing around in the space and at the very least they're one of the few devs making atmospheric games that totally sync up with the vibes I crave.
Cool atmosphere. In every other regard, it's a failure. Very shallow Dark Souls clone.