What begins as insurmountable odds, fighting against the controls and difficulty with sparse saves, eventually gives way to a satisfying and almost addictive metroidvania adventure. The island feels massive at first, you wonder how you will ever survive it, but then you find a slightly better sword, maybe pick up a piece of magic, and then the rest of the game snowballs until you are bowling over every enemy.

The only things that really hold it back from being great for me are the too-similar environments and a frankly near-impossible penultimate boss fight that I can really only see defeating by cheesing. The whole game has a claustrophobic and elegiac look that seeps in over time, and when you do find yourself outside under the stars it feels like a real fresh breath of air. You will run into other people here and there who feel so trapped in this world, it can be haunting just how hopeless it feels. The score does a lot of lifting and perfectly matches the visuals and style. A pretty fantastic game overall and is the kind that I'd really like to see a fresh perspective on if From were to ever return to this series. A remake could do wonders.