Release: 2022
Developer/Publisher: Mister Morris Games
Gameplay Stats: 8.5 hours, 40/40 achievements
I saw this game played on an episode of The Backlogs and thought it looked good! But was it???
Aesthetics: We have a minimal, hand-drwan aesthetic here. I am pretty mid on the visuals but they do convey info pretty well. I think they did a good job with the enemies but not quite as good with many of the bosses. Some bosses are machines that are descriptively drawn so you kind of expect what they will do but 3 of the bosses are just round and don't really clue you in. As far as I know these are the only necessary bosses and they are the weakest in terms of visual design. Otherwise I want to give a small shout out to how far out the camera is, it really sells the idea that you are a small robot. As far as sounds go, the sound effects and music are both fine. I think they fit what is happening but nothing really sticks with me. They weren't distractingly good or bad.
Plot: You are a small creature that wakes with no memory in a strange land that has been cursed by some kind of virulent presence. Later you find out that you have been fated to fix it! Sound familiar? It felt a LOT like Hollow Knight to me. Emulation isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think going this close to the source material felt a bit uninspired. Not that the plot of a metroidvania needs to feel inspired, it's basically just McGuffins the whole way down, but I would've liked more of a twist in the plot as well as the aesthetics.
Gameplay: This is the bread and butter of any metroidvania, the game needs to feel good to play. And this one does! Again, I don't think it really did much of anything new but it did it fairly well. You go around collecting basically the same upgrades as in Hollow Knight and you might be surprised to hear that those are good upgrades so movement feels better over time. The other big mechanic here is that you have a heat gauge that fills up as you use any movement ability other than jumping. If your heat is too much you can no longer do the move! Kinda like the steam gauge in Steam World Dig but it refills over time instead of needing to find something in the environment.
Overall I don't think this game was terribly original, but it felt good to play. I think I would recommend this game over a game that did something original but felt bad to play, but I think I'd rather recommend something that does both, there's no shortage of games around so there isn't as much of a reason to settle. That being said, I am definitely going to keep my eyes open for more from this dev. This is their first game on Steam and I believe this is a very strong first effort.
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