This is one of the few games that I've ever played that I would use the word ethereal to describe. The artistic style of this game immediately got me, and was pretty much the only reason that I bothered checking it out. As far as gameplay goes it's a pretty standard action platformer that tries to incorporate cinematic elements. The camera tries really hard to be unique and enhance the overal visual appeal of the game, but it's admittedly quite shoddy in execution. Nevertheless, it doesn't hamper the presentation as the story and visual elements are quite solid and refreshing. I appreciate what this game stands for, and I wish the team would revisit it although it did quite poorly. It's a shame, because visually I feel the only other game I've ever seen that did anything similar was Gris recently. Games as art fans definitely need to give this one a look.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a criminally overlooked and underappreciated gem helmed by director Sawaki Takeyasu, previously a character designer and artist for games like Devil May Cry. While its slightly simpler combat mechanics might feel like a step back for fans of the complexity and intensity of that series, El Shaddai toes the line by providing a sense of novelty and wonder with every level and a colorful, ever-changing world of utter unreality befitting its bizarre apocryphal religious theme. Being ordered around by Lucifer himself on a cell phone will feel like the least unusual thing you've been through by the end of its brisk playtime, and for that feeling alone, it's one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had with a game.

With talk of theme park ride games as of late, it's a great timing that of all the games I am the most excited to play, that I finally get working for me to play, it's this one. Quite literally a christian apocrypha story made manifest into powerful rainbow atmospheric audiovisual pleasure, never really missing a cohesive beat from vista to vista.

And also difficult to gush over in the same light, as pretty much every screenshot is a painting in its own justice, and is pretty much the entire appeal. The story and combat, while supportive and have honestly great bedrock foundation, are treated in a rather ancillary fashion in comparison. Really the game could've done with less of the combat, or at least refine the systems to better match the experience as a whole (more like Chapter 6, which literally does this, or modify the weapons for different modes in general!) because otherwise there's far too many of the same encounter that brings a good amount of it down. The ending itself is also rather anticlimactic, albeit sensible for the structure of where things were going. Hell, you could argue that it ending on a rather softer note makes sense for it, and tbh I'm also willing to take it simply because it implies that the queer relationship between these two lovebirds is far more important than one fallen angel :3. Even still, I felt a rather strong wanting for it to go full Bayonetta/TW101 finale with it. But honestly a lot of this was probably a budgetary issue, which makes the end experience all the more dumbfounding.

I also chose this after re-evaluating my principles and understandings of why I love the things I do, and what I pursue. And El Shaddai definitely offered me a strong, wide-eyed grin the whole way through, to affirm that yeah, video games are p cool actually.

El Shaddai is the most insane video game of all time.

Its biblical story is so bonkers that I would have trouble explaining what's it about if I finished it minutes ago.

But I do know that it is about the Book Henoch/Enoch and its protagonist.

And it uses this myth to be a trip from the very first to the very last minute.
Gameplay is fine and the story is just incomprehensible, but this game is so stylish that any of that hardly matters.

Tenho um fraco por interpretações japonesas dos mitos cristãos: é muito interessante ver como que pegam coisas que são tratadas com tanta reverência aqui e as interpretam de formas tão excêntricas, o que se perde e se ganha na tradução resultando em uma obra quase verdadeiramente alienígena sobre algo que é tão próximo da minha cultura. El Shaddai vai um pouco mais longe ainda por usar como inspiração principal o Kabbalah, que já cumpre bem esse papel esotérico de parecer tão próximo mas tão longe do que sou acostumado a ver. Tento falar disso para sinalizar de que esse jogo é único - por mais batido que seja o adjetivo, aqui merece - sua direção artística, suas inspirações, até mesmo sua jogabilidade, são uma mistura de ideias que se multiplicam em um todo que é muito difícil de comparar com a maioria dos lançamentos da indústria, e valorizo muito isso.

A maior parte dos méritos está com certeza concentrada em sua direção artística. Não exagero em dizer que qualquer screenshot aleatório desse jogo tem uma boa chance de representar o supra-sumo da direção artística visual do meio, e sem se prender em um estilo único - a gama de texturas, tracejados e esquemas de cores aqui não é brincadeira. Sem dúvidas é um dos jogos mais bonitos que eu já joguei. Também gosto como que a narrativa do “humano servo de Deus vestido de calça jeans caçando anjos caídos junto do Lucifer kpopper" se leva tão bem na mistura exata de melodrama e ridículo que tal premissa deveria levar.

Infelizmente, o jogo é uma merda de jogar. O sistema de combos rítmicos de cada uma das três armas é interessante, e, quando funciona, cria um fluxo natural de ação bem gostoso de se executar. Porém, o jogo inteiro tem três tipos de inimigos, além dos chefes, que, insultantamente, não só se repetem constantemente, quanto te metem em pelo menos quatro situações por fase em que você provavelmente perderá pra eles (e se ganhar, não faz diferença) - sem brincadeira, o jogo possui pelo menos 20 instâncias de quase “unwinnable boss fights”, em que se você vencer não te recompensa em nada. O jogo também não tem sistema de progressão nenhum, além de um power-up que você libera no meio do jogo. E o pior de tudo é que nada disso seria um problema como é se o combate durasse o quanto deveria - as lutas (todas as lutas, incluindo os mobs já repetitivos) se esticam por pelo menos quatro vezes mais do que todas elas deveriam durar, chegando ao ponto em que você vê o moveset inteiro de todos os inimigos diversas vezes em todas as lutas. Eu sou uma pessoa bem paciente com jogos, e constantemente sentia a vontade de terminar de ver o jogo no Youtube (algo que nunca fiz), já que estava totalmente desgastado em lutar os mesmos encontros ad infinitum por mais de 10 horas.

É um jogo absurdo de lindo como pouquíssimos são, mas se você realmente quiser se submeter a isso, por favor jogue no Easy para que ele acabe o mais rápido o possível.

Despite still being a much debated topic among gamers, I'm fairly certain that many here would agree with the notion that gameplay isn't necessarily the end all be all core of a videogame that validates it in the eyes of its critics, with many well renowned beloved classics owing a fair deal of their reputation and prestige to their presentation and art style, in some cases exclusively so. It's a fine line between the legwork a videogame's interactivity does and the heavy lifting its audiovisual design achieves, some works being so successful in that tug of war that they are able to ride on the coattails of their aesthetic alone. Does El Shaddai pull it off?

Sort of. It's an inspired visual kaleidoscope of arresting fantastical landscapes that reinterpret ancient hebrew religious text depicting the kingdom of the fallen angels who caused the Great Flood through cel shaded watercolored vignettes and bright vivid shades that still stand the test of time. My issues with El Shaddai however rest in its ability to use its biggest strength to communicate the imagery and themes of the source material it tries to interpret.

Putting aside the serviceable combat mechanics that are the bulk of the gameplay experience and reach their apex short of the halfway point, El Shaddai struggles with keeping the player invested in its storyline, hoping that its visual splendor suffices. The disparate tonal shifts, lackluster cast and off the wall liberties the game indulges on, while leading to some successful endeavours like the fantastic rendition of Azazel's domain in Chapter 6, more often than not end up with vacuous and dry shallow confrontations that fail to explore and engage with the text besides superficial tracing of it.

A videogame doesn't necessarily need gameplay, but it's not enough to just be beautiful. In contrast to Okami's reverence for the Shinto religion, El Shaddai is not able to convey the power, majesty and beauty of the imagery it apes from, despite how grandiose and colorful it wants you to see it as. Still, El Shaddai is a curious oddity that baffingly got greenlit during the 7th gen of consoles, and the acid trip is more than worth the price of admission. But you can sort of understand why it never turned into an ICO or a Rez in its proceeding years.

taking inspiration from something "biblical" (book of enoch technically isnt in most judeo-christian canons apparently) may inherently give it a ~serious art~ air, but this game is so sly and playful with it in really fun ways, and never to the point of sacrilege. like lucifel/r is an all black tits-out-in-a-v-neck baddie who relays your progress to god on his cell and at one point implies how long it takes to beat the game and it just works. there's a bit of capcom/clover sense of style at play here, there's a character designer from dmc1 and okami having the same role on AND directing this after all, but i think its smarter about how it employs those sensibilities than any of those games. the protagonist wearing nothing but designer jeans for example has so much to it besides just getting silly w it; a modern signifier as part of an update on an ancient tale, something befitting of a story of angels who see all of time all at once, and genuine veneration of the male form.

el shaddai feels truly mythic too in ways that a lot of mythological fiction in games doesn't, not just for the level of its visual splendor but pretty much because of how cryptic and temporally mixed up its story is. what exactly happens doesn't matter as much as it means to make us feel like we are looking into a series of events greater than our logic can dictate to us--maybe to a fault for making us too distanced from what goes on, but i think its still effective in how novel it all is. also the action and platforming parts are functional n fine but obviously in service to showing itself off, and that's ok. really enjoyed this and feel like not enough credit is given to the smirk it wears so so confidently.

A really great art game. It's characters are very captivating and memorable despite their 1-dimensional simplicity in a vague, initially confusing, yet fantastic story. Gameplay is definitely repetitive and combat is totally under-designed, barring it's revive mechanic.

While the priority of this game is definitely its presentation, I think parts of its gameplay are really interesting. Specifically, Enoch's immortality tying into a comeback mechanic. Requiring the player to mash the A button harder and longer each time they die almost gives the game an arcade-y tone. It's not only super engaging, but increases the tension in otherwise monotonous fights. Plenty of games have done it before, but I've never see it within this genre, and it works great.

It's no wonder the game looks and plays how it does; it was helmed by ex Clover Studios devs. It's full of soul, even if it's rough around the edges. At times, the game reminded me of the best parts of Kid Icarus Uprising. There are actually a lot of comparisons to draw between Kid Icarus Uprising and El Shaddai, and the more I think about it the more I want a new Kid Icarus game by these devs (or at least a game that follows the spirit of El Shaddai.)

It's maybe not the best game it could be, but it's definitely one of the most interesting games I've finished thus far in 2022. I didn't even mention how good the writing and characters are. Everything about this game is, unintentionally or not, cool or hilarious. While that doesn't make it immune to criticism, it does mean it offers an extremely unique experience. I highly recommend it.

Full video review: https://youtu.be/RejP5rwsb6o

It’s not often that we get obscure, decade-old Japanese action games ported over to PC – but it’s definitely a trend I can get behind.

Story:
The title – El Shaddai – literally means “God Almighty” and it is also one of the names for the God of Israel. The game itself is inspired by the Book of Enoch and you yourself play as Enoch on a journey to save mankind by preventing the great flood. To do so, you will need to seek out seven fallen angels and enlist the help of Lucifel – and that’s just scraping the surface of the weirdness that goes on here.

Because if I am being honest, most of the story completely flew over my head. The plot structure is kind of simple, but there is just so much heavy-handed religious symbolism here that it’s hard to get a grasp of what’s really going on. There’s all these big names, cryptic pieces of lore handed to you, and the story is constantly on the move, not leaving any time to really get into it.

It’s comparable in its level of absurdity to that of No More Heroes, just not quite as entertaining. I am sure some will like how completely bonkers the story is here, but I could not get into it.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is somehow both clunky, yet satisfying, if that makes any sense. There's this really cool combat system, but then it’s matched with this stiff and badly-designed platforming – of which some is done in 2D and others in 3D. The perspective changes a lot and there’s even some minor puzzles thrown in here and there. That’s probably the game’s biggest strength: its gameplay diversity.

In spite of how clunky the platforming may be – it is at least constantly changing. You’ll go from some 3D Mario-esque platforming level, to some 2D fever dream with big noodle dudes flying everywhere. There are even some parts where it completely drops the platforming for something else entirely – like one level where you’re on a bike speeding down some highway. The gameplay is all over the place like this and while a lot of it may not stick – I was at least never outright bored with it.

Combat:
The combat may involve maybe three buttons at most, but it utilizes those to their maximum. As in, the literal timings of those buttons lead into different strings and such. Spamming basic attack may do one string, but delaying the press of the 2nd, 3rd, or whatever button in that string will lead into a new one and so on. Then there’s the fact that these can be combined with your block to do even more attacks. And then there’s the fact that there are three entirely different weapons to use and they each have their own special ability. What started off as some simple and – quite frankly – boring combat quickly evolved into something much better, something with actual depth. And this is only bettered by the sheer amount of bosses the game throws at you.

Playing on normal difficulty, I still struggled with numerous bosses and had to constantly make use of the revive feature to keep going. Overall, the combat is definitely not bad. It can be a bit repetitive at times, but I grew to appreciate it’s “simple, yet nuanced” approach and it was easily the highlight of the experience.

Graphics & Music:
Looking past its age, it’s a very colorful and diverse experience. Some levels go for that “heaven-like” look, with environments designed of clouds, white architecture everywhere, and super-bright sunlight. There was one 2D level that had a cool stained-glass background and even more levels that I straight-up can’t explain. The designers definitely had some fun here and it makes for a really vibrant game.

The music is some good stuff too. It’s composed by Masato Kouda and Kento Hasegawa, whose works collectively include Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, and Wild Arms. That same level of quality translates here to El Shaddai, with epic orchestral themes to match the game’s epic scale. I listened to the soundtrack well before actually playing the game and will continue to listen to it in the future – it is that good.

PC Port:
This is yet another one of those “I’m glad it’s finally come to PC, but I wish they did more with the port”-kinda ports. The game runs well at 1440p and looks great at that resolution, but it is still capped to 60 fps. It plays flawlessly on controller, but does not include keyboard and mouse controls of any kind. That and the loading times are a bit long and I did run into one crash that I was able to reproduce.

It’s a serviceable port at best, hopefully one we can see improved with some future patches, but that might be a bit too optimistic. Still, I would say it’s the definitive way to play the game now at least – performance and visuals are far better than what the game originally had on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Overall:
El Shaddai is a bit of a unique one. On one hand, you have some really nicely done combat – simple to pick up, yet with a nice sense of depth. On the other though, the story and platforming aren’t really that good and the PC port is a bit barebones. It’s honestly a bit of a hard game to recommend given just how weird it is, but it’s definitely a game I’m going to remember – if not for that very weirdness.

EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is not a very good game. It attempts to be a Devil May Cry-esque action game with combos and the unique gimmick of stealing enemies' weapons to use against them. The controls can be kinda floaty at times and take a while to get accustomed to. The story is bat-shit insane and kinda difficult to follow due to the lack of any real substantial exposition.

That being said I kinda love this game. The artstyle is the first to pop out at you - it does it's best to feel like what the forces of heaven and hell imagine the mortal plane of existance to look like and it does a damn good job at that with a mixture of harmonising, light colours and incredibly abstract environments and character designs. The design of the player character and the angel helping him feels jarring at first but when you realise they're agents of heaven just wearing some jeans and a shirt with some plate armour, the intent of all these design choices all kind of clicks in your head.

The flow of combat takes a while to get used to and honestly is probably the weaker parts of the game. Stealing enemy weapons and cleansing them feels satisfying but it can be easy in some of the later stages to get overwhelmed and some bosses will intentionally kick your ass with little to no explanation that it was supposed to happen.

The story itself can be very hit or miss depending on how literal and expository you like your plots to be - you play as Enoch, the biblical scribe before the flood, and your task is to hunt down seven fallen angels to stop the flood from destroying the world. On your first play through there is absolutely no way you're going to catch all of that and it feels like the game is being intentionally vague and hand wavy at the best of times. However, if old biblical lore through a modern Japanese lense is your kind of jam then I'd recommend you at least check this game out. If nothing else your eyes will enjoy what they're looking at.

I almost gave up with this after the couple first chapters. The gameplay just ain't very good and it forces you to fight the same enemies over and over again with mostly cosmetical changes. I did keep playing it and I'm happy I did. There is something magical here with its insane story and visuals. It's not for everyone but it is at least unique.

The PC port sucks tho. You can't change the resolution anything over 1080p or it zooms in and makes it unplayable. Force some SGSSAA so your eyes wont bleed.