A fateful night of sorrow and ancient magic changed the life of a young child forever, and with it, everything else as mankind knew it. For 9 long years, the world has been submerged in the deepest of shadows, robbing every object and living creature of their color, their joy, and most impor...
A fateful night of sorrow and ancient magic changed the life of a young child forever, and with it, everything else as mankind knew it. For 9 long years, the world has been submerged in the deepest of shadows, robbing every object and living creature of their color, their joy, and most importantly, hope.
Many brave souls have tried to venture inside the corrupting depths of Talos Castle, a long-abandoned orphanage from which the curse stemmed. All have failed, except for one. Armed with little other than her halberd and sheer nerve, Europa’s daunting quest is clear: enter the castle, find the source of darkness, and return color to the lands before it is too late.
However, this adventure is not for Europa to face alone. In her most desperate hour, Europa encounters Apino, a cute magical bear with the ability to heal, cleanse the corruption and protect his allies.
While exploring the castle, Apino can shoot powerful projectiles at enemies, open locked doors and shield Europa from ranged attacks.
Enhance your battle prowess by acquiring elemental armors. Master the might of lightning, water, earth and fire to defeat a vast assortment of enemies.
Use the elements to your advantage to travel the map dynamically, surprise bosses while you change armors on the fly and perform strong combos. Obtain special abilities to swim against waterfalls, travel underground tunnels or glide through warm air currents to access hidden locations and uncover their secrets.
Meet enigmatic composers that will aid you in your mission. With the special appearance of Michiru Yamane and Norihiko Hibino, both as NPCs and composers of several tracks tuned to 432hz, a soothing frequency used in what’s known as healing music. And there is more to music than meets the eye. Hidden bosses with musical attack patterns lurk in the shadows ready to strike. In fact, music is the binding thread that brings gameplay and storytelling together; from collecting musical notes, to performing a healing lullaby to restore your health, music is all but the soul of the game.
This is a nice metroidvania game reminiscent of older titles in the genre. There are some nice features that add challenge, like swapping suits that you get along the way.
There are some features that reveal it's a small-budget title: The game is missing some quality of life features - for instance, there are "save points" instead of autosaves as in more modern games. This means that when you die, you have to scroll through the same dialogue, etc. This was annoying. Also, some animations are a bit clunky, with just a few sprites.
Important things first: The Crashes and Stutter that people experience are an unintended minimum requirements check. If you do not meet the minimum requirements, oddly this game will run fairly well, but then it will be buggy as buggy can be. I have three PCs. It works great on two of them, but the first one I installed it on was using an OLD budget HD video card and the drivers were simply not up to the task so I could not get through the first few scenes of the game. If you are experiencing crashes or stuttering, please check your hardware and software against the system requirements before you drag this absolute gem through the mud.
I love Metroidvania games and I have played as many as I can get my hands on. For the price, this is more than I expected. Not every Metroidvania needs to be a 100 back-track-athon, and this game gives you enough to want to explore previous areas but also keeps a decent pace through new spaces.
The controls are great and the mechanic of using different armor to move about the game is really cool. The art style is gorgeous and the sound track is a blast.
I have to say the challenge of the Bosses is so much fun and the fact that they are large, full screen, tactical fights, is right up my alley, though I could see how some people would find it difficult and annoying. Being a huge fan of Hollow Knight, having to find the right time to regenerate your health is a big part of the tactics in that game and this one and I love it.
I mentioned the art and music already, but I have to mention it again. This game exudes so much style and talent I really can't put it into words; you have to see it for yourself.
Overall this is a 10/10 for me and I can't wait to see what Halberd comes up with next.
I really enjoyed this Platventure; right out the gate, you can swing upwards and move while attacking, and movement is very fluid. The backdash is a little weak, but it doesn't matter too much, because your shield bar is restored by striking and killing enemies, so keep up the heat, and you'll be fine. That might be the bigget selling point for me; every game is trying to be Dark Souls now, and I greatly appreciated a game that rewards a fast, aggressive playstyle. Some of the later bosses do get to being a bit quick for the recharge to work well, but there's an instant recharge that you can use the moment your shield runs out; it can be a bit much trying to pay attention to everything, but the game isn't brutally difficult at any point. Mobility upgrades are fun and interesting, and level design lets you transition very fluidly between modes of travel; everything just feels GOOD! There aren't any RPG elements or item drops or anything, but to me, that's a point in its favor; no grinding or praying to RNGzus that you FINALLY get that last item you wanted. It's not without its occasional frustrations, but it's pretty easy to overcome them.
The visuals are quite pretty, with lovely particle effects, elaborate backdrops, and excellent spritework... with the occasional object that looks a little chunky, but it's few and far between. The music is interesting; not something I'd necessarily listen to outside of the game, but certainly unique, and it works well with the atmosphere. The story works pretty well with everything else, and I liked all of the characters, even if there is one in particular who isn't fleshed out all that well; he has a history with the main character, and she's certainly got some feelings about that, but none of it is ever explored. It gets everything right where it counts, though.
If you're into this genre, definitely give this a look!
It looks amazing, I really like the protagonist even though the story and the character arc leaves a lot left to be desired but whatever, I can take a simple story any day of the week if it's well done. That's the good, the bad is almost everything else.
Unfortunately the gameplay is just tedious. You know how for example in other Metroidvanias you can get around more easily the further you progress the game? Or have a teleport system? Yeah this game doesn't really have that. Going through areas again just never becomes a flawless experience, it's always somewhat annoying because the same enemies that were a nuissance in the beginning of the game still remain the very same nuissance at the end of it. You have a main elevator that doesn't connect to 80% of the areas you go to so you always have to walk seemingly endless miles to get to a room you may have missed. And did you happen to find a room that you couldn't solve just yet because you missed something? Better write that s*** down in OneNote or else you'll forget where or what it was you missed. Fucking Zero Mission or Fusion on the GBA had a system in the game that showed you where you might have missed something. But implement that and people might notice that there really isn't a whole lot beyond the pretty pixel art and the ok soundtrack.
My favorite though was putting like 20 rooms in front of the final boss with their only purpose being to show off hideous portraits of their kickstarter backers. You HAVE to go through these rooms btw. It's MANDATORY to beat the game. Not hidden or displayed in a charming way, just kinda piled on top of each other.
Disappointing mess. I never write reviews but this genuinely irritated me
Müsst Ihr wissen.
This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!
{{ item.rating }}
{{ item.percentage }}%
Awaiting more reviews
An error occurred. Please try again later.
Other ratings
Awaiting more reviews
Add a review
Edit a review
Your rating:
Stars and all fields are required
Not sure what to say? Start with this:
What kept you playing?
What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
What’s one feature that really stood out?
Did the game run well on your setup?
Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language.
Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed.
Inappropriate content. Content contains gibberish.
Review title is too short.
Review title is too long.
Review description is too short.
Review description is too long.
Not sure what to write?
You cannot save your review due to the following reasons:
You need to select star rating
You need to enter review title
You need to enter the content of your review
Show:
5 on page
15 on page
30 on page
60 on page
Order by:
Most helpful
Most positive
Most critical
Most recent
Filters:
No reviews matching your criteria
Written in
English
Deutsch
polski
français
русский
中文(简体)
Others
Written by
Verified ownersOthers
Added
Last 30 daysLast 90 daysLast 6 monthsWheneverAfter releaseDuring Early Access
Your review should focus on your in-game experience only. Let the game stand entirely on its own merits.
Avoid noise
To discuss topics such as news, pricing, or community, use our forums. To request new games and website or GOG GALAXY features, use the community wishlist. To get technical support for your game contact our support team.
Critique responsibly
To keep our review sections clean and helpful, we will remove any reviews that break these guidelines or our terms of use.
Ok, got it
GOG Patrons who helped preserve this game
{{controller.patronsCount}} GOG Patrons
Error loading patrons. Please refresh the page and try again.
