Do I love seeing games that make their limitations work and this is a nice example of it. I don't know how the 8-Bit Edition compares to the original Unity build, but apparently it even has more content. (Now I know, and I honestly prefer the 8-bit edition because of how at home it feels)
This is a metroidvania mainly focused on its exploration and platforming, with tight controls, good music and nicely detailed graphics for an NES game.
The exploration in particular is really well done, there's a diverse amount of areas with different tilesets and music that house a lot of paths that you will need different abilities to get through, which of course are found by exploring. They're simple stuff like making blocks or bubbles that you can stand on or shooting a bolt, but the former two are especially geared towards your navigation. The blocks and bubbles can be upgraded to make them more versatile and open a lot more of the map, which any good metroidvania has to do. Backtracking didn't feel like a chore, probably helped by the fact that the game isn't too long.
The only aspect where this game is most simplistic is its combat, as enemies are usually just the type that walk left and right, stand and shoot, or do both. Boss fights are pretty simple as well, focused on big attacks but with patterns that you can learn to avoid. None of this is really surprising for a game that's being authentic to what you'd get in the 80s, so I do appreciate how it works without being frustrating.
There's one particular aspect that may make this game very frustrating, especially on the final areas: it's full of instant death traps. Be it spikes, fire, liquids or whatever, these will kill you in one hit and send you back to the last save point. The save points are pretty merciful however, as they're more like resume points that you go back to after dying, so if you die after grabbing an item or unlocking a door you don't actually lose that progress, and I even found myself exploiting this to "fast travel" at some points, wonder if speedrunning uses this mechanic. If you find it too frustrating, the options offer an assist mode that makes you respawn in the same room that you died in, or you could use save states assuming you play on an emulator, which you're likely to do as the physical release is limited.
I really appreciate how they managed to craft something that both feels fresh but also like it really belongs in the console, and it's mostly based on a game they first made on Unity just keeping in mind what limitations would be in place in 8-Bits and I'm glad that they ported it over eventually. If you're not into these kind of games then I think this is a good entry point, and if you do like these, this is a must play. It doesn't use cheap tricks like giant difficulty spikes or anything because it doesn't need to, it's just a meaty package for retro fans.
This is a metroidvania mainly focused on its exploration and platforming, with tight controls, good music and nicely detailed graphics for an NES game.
The exploration in particular is really well done, there's a diverse amount of areas with different tilesets and music that house a lot of paths that you will need different abilities to get through, which of course are found by exploring. They're simple stuff like making blocks or bubbles that you can stand on or shooting a bolt, but the former two are especially geared towards your navigation. The blocks and bubbles can be upgraded to make them more versatile and open a lot more of the map, which any good metroidvania has to do. Backtracking didn't feel like a chore, probably helped by the fact that the game isn't too long.
The only aspect where this game is most simplistic is its combat, as enemies are usually just the type that walk left and right, stand and shoot, or do both. Boss fights are pretty simple as well, focused on big attacks but with patterns that you can learn to avoid. None of this is really surprising for a game that's being authentic to what you'd get in the 80s, so I do appreciate how it works without being frustrating.
There's one particular aspect that may make this game very frustrating, especially on the final areas: it's full of instant death traps. Be it spikes, fire, liquids or whatever, these will kill you in one hit and send you back to the last save point. The save points are pretty merciful however, as they're more like resume points that you go back to after dying, so if you die after grabbing an item or unlocking a door you don't actually lose that progress, and I even found myself exploiting this to "fast travel" at some points, wonder if speedrunning uses this mechanic. If you find it too frustrating, the options offer an assist mode that makes you respawn in the same room that you died in, or you could use save states assuming you play on an emulator, which you're likely to do as the physical release is limited.
I really appreciate how they managed to craft something that both feels fresh but also like it really belongs in the console, and it's mostly based on a game they first made on Unity just keeping in mind what limitations would be in place in 8-Bits and I'm glad that they ported it over eventually. If you're not into these kind of games then I think this is a good entry point, and if you do like these, this is a must play. It doesn't use cheap tricks like giant difficulty spikes or anything because it doesn't need to, it's just a meaty package for retro fans.