You know those flowcharts for “What movie should I watch”, or “What game should I play”? Imagine one for search-action games, where the first box would ask if you've played Super Metroid. With that obligation out of the way, the question would be why you enjoyed it. If it was for finding fun new abilities and items, then go to Symphony of the Night. If it was for the action or atmosphere, go to Hollow Knight. If it was just for the joy of going on a journey, Ori and the Blind Forest would be the place to go. No matter what aspect you enjoyed the most, the recent explosion of the genre means there’s at least one game that fully focuses on it, which puts me in a tough spot for recommending Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. It’s a game that can’t be placed anywhere near the top of the chart, a game that focuses more on being generally pleasant rather than focused. There certainly is a lighthearted mood to enjoy, but the zones are the unimaginative roster of grasslands/temple/ocean/jungle/ice/fire/etc that wouldn’t appeal to those wanting a thick atmosphere. There are a couple fun abilities to use, but the majority could be viewed as Samus’ powers simply broken into pieces. Your lion form has a dash that lets you charge through certain blocks, the pig form has bombs to break other ones, it’s the same stuff you’ve seen before presented in a superficially different way. The challenges are a little more difficult than the average game, but it’s never due to mechanical skill comparable to Hollow Knight, but rather little “gotcha” moments like an enemy swinging in from off-screen to knock you into a pit at the end of a lengthy platforming section. It’s not that any of this kills the appeal though; if someone told me they were interested in the game I certainly wouldn’t dissuade them, it’s just that I just find it difficult to imagine who that sort of person might be. The best I can guess is someone who just loves the genre, but has already played all the classics. So, I give it my recommendation… but only after you’ve played all my other recommendations. See you in a few years!
3 Comments
Not at all, the point of the flowchart analogy was that you would need to have played other genre staples before my recommendation would arrive at this one, not that a balanced perspective makes the game flawed. If someone wanted to start the genre, this wouldn't be the first game I would suggest. Whether I set them on Super Metroid or Shantae, it wouldn't be my second suggestion either, and so on. The only time this would be my recommendation is after most of my other, stronger options had been exhausted. People can choose to play a game for any number of reasons, but recommendations usually tend to follow a much more simplistic structure of "If you liked X or mechanic Y, you should play Z", and that's the paradigm I'm addressing here.
Alright, that makes more sense I think. Enjoy the review like!
FrozenRoy
2 years ago
It also feels like the answer somewhat comes into play itself here, because as you put it it has a lighthearted and pleasant tone to it, with a cute art style, and none of the three games you mentioned have what I would call a "lighthearted tone". I imagine there's probably a notable target audience for "I feel like playing a Kirby flavor game, but as a Metroidvania", to use an example of how I'd put it. Aesthetic can be a powerful tool to pull people in, after all. In addition to being a new entry in an old Sega-published franchise, with The Dragon's Trap being one of those surprisingly popular 8-bit sorta titles.
I'd say that's part of what drew me in, anyway: It visually looked cute, sounded reasonably fun, and I'd been interested in the other Monster Boy games, so I picked it up at an affordable price.