Have some complicated thoughts on this one. It starts out almost perfectly, recreating the gameplay loop of Super Metroid. The music and sound design is some of the best in the genre and contributes to an atmosphere that rivals some of the best Metroid games. For the first 2-3 hours I was in love with this game.
After that though, the platforming gets jankier and jankier and the exploration gets less and less interesting whilst the map gets stuffed full of bosses. The bosses are all pretty well designed and fair, but incredibly tough. This stopped the metroidvania loop dead in its tracks for me as taking the time to beat boss after boss took longer than the exploration in between. Upgrades are few and far between in the mid to late game and the most powerful ones are locked behind obnoxious platforming puzzles. Along with some pretty contrived puzzles in the temple area the game started to lose its sheen about mid way through. After the temple, the main path is mostly just a boss rush anyway.
The map is pretty great in this and each area feels unique. It feels like Metroid in a way that no other indie metroidvania I've played does. Whilst the game guides you generally, you can go off the beaten track pretty significantly and it feels like a happy medium between Super and Fusion.
I wish there was more focus on meaningful upgrades or that the bosses were more spread out. The main path is satisfying at a base level though. I've heard great things about the postgame but I feel it's a little much for me, I don't really fancy deciphering cyphers and searching the map for hidden rooms for a few more bosses. Some of the bosses from the postgame look really cool, but I'm happy with leaving it where I did.
After that though, the platforming gets jankier and jankier and the exploration gets less and less interesting whilst the map gets stuffed full of bosses. The bosses are all pretty well designed and fair, but incredibly tough. This stopped the metroidvania loop dead in its tracks for me as taking the time to beat boss after boss took longer than the exploration in between. Upgrades are few and far between in the mid to late game and the most powerful ones are locked behind obnoxious platforming puzzles. Along with some pretty contrived puzzles in the temple area the game started to lose its sheen about mid way through. After the temple, the main path is mostly just a boss rush anyway.
The map is pretty great in this and each area feels unique. It feels like Metroid in a way that no other indie metroidvania I've played does. Whilst the game guides you generally, you can go off the beaten track pretty significantly and it feels like a happy medium between Super and Fusion.
I wish there was more focus on meaningful upgrades or that the bosses were more spread out. The main path is satisfying at a base level though. I've heard great things about the postgame but I feel it's a little much for me, I don't really fancy deciphering cyphers and searching the map for hidden rooms for a few more bosses. Some of the bosses from the postgame look really cool, but I'm happy with leaving it where I did.