I wrote in a review a while ago for A Girl and the Robot what a shallow copy of Ico it was and simply playing that instead was better than the unimaginative clone that came many years later. The thing is that wearing your inspiration on your sleeve isn't always a bad thing and in the case of Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (who named this? Were they trying to get a good scrabble score?) I think it's obvious Symphony of the Night references are somewhat to the game's credit for making it a fun little Metroidvania title. Having said that though the way the titular character Deedlit moves, her first few steps, her backdash leaving a ghostly shimmer, the long hair, She's almost a palette swap of Alucard from Castlevania. There is taking inspiration, then there is getting out tracing paper.
Still, it does bring some unique mechanics into the game on it's own merit. Deedlit can swap between two different elements regardless of the weapons she wields of fire and..wind?. This is used for both fighting enemies and finding their weakness as well as puzzles and bosses where being on the right element being hit by it allows you to escape unharmed as well as build up spell power. It's a cool little system that in some ways reminded me of aspects of Ikaruga. I wish they leaned into this mechanic a little harder though with more creative puzzles, platforming and bosses using it, maybe an extra element to boot rather than just the two. It's a clever interesting little system giving it a unique selling point, it's just kind of underbaked.
The rest of the game is a pretty standard affair of exploring and backtracking to unlock the map getting new weapons and armour and fighting bosses. Some of the bosses as mentioned above are genuinely pretty good fun, though you can abuse the elemental mechanic on some of them far too easily. There is a dragon that only throws fire at you you can be immune to in fire mode that constantly generates you mana so you just spam spells in his face whilst invincible for example. A few more require tricky changing of elements and timing between attacks to hit which I enjoyed far more and would have liked to see developed further for more memorable fights.
That's my issue generally actually, the elemental aspect could be better, the fights could be better, the map could be more interesting. It's a good game, I had fun with it but it feels like missed potential wrapped up in a completely nonsensical story for anyone not familiar with the manga or anime I presume.
Still, it does bring some unique mechanics into the game on it's own merit. Deedlit can swap between two different elements regardless of the weapons she wields of fire and..wind?. This is used for both fighting enemies and finding their weakness as well as puzzles and bosses where being on the right element being hit by it allows you to escape unharmed as well as build up spell power. It's a cool little system that in some ways reminded me of aspects of Ikaruga. I wish they leaned into this mechanic a little harder though with more creative puzzles, platforming and bosses using it, maybe an extra element to boot rather than just the two. It's a clever interesting little system giving it a unique selling point, it's just kind of underbaked.
The rest of the game is a pretty standard affair of exploring and backtracking to unlock the map getting new weapons and armour and fighting bosses. Some of the bosses as mentioned above are genuinely pretty good fun, though you can abuse the elemental mechanic on some of them far too easily. There is a dragon that only throws fire at you you can be immune to in fire mode that constantly generates you mana so you just spam spells in his face whilst invincible for example. A few more require tricky changing of elements and timing between attacks to hit which I enjoyed far more and would have liked to see developed further for more memorable fights.
That's my issue generally actually, the elemental aspect could be better, the fights could be better, the map could be more interesting. It's a good game, I had fun with it but it feels like missed potential wrapped up in a completely nonsensical story for anyone not familiar with the manga or anime I presume.