Astalon: Tears of the Earth

I was going to wait until this was on sale but went ahead and snagged it late last week. Glad I did. Finished my first play-through last night and was thoroughly entertained. It starts a bit slow, gets more fun a couple hours in, after an item acquisition removes one particular game mechanic. (I guess you could play without that item or turn it off, but it would slow your progress considerably.) There's backtracking aplenty, but it's not onerous, especially for a game of this type. There's fun secrets to sniff out, precision platforming, and a handful of creepy/grody enemies (mixed in with all the typical ones you see in a game like this), all in a well-designed setting (the gorgon statues and background/side art is freaking great). This one's a winner, and I will be firing it up again soon to try for one of the different endings. I have a few minor quibbles, none of which affected my enjoyment of the game enough to deduct a star: -Occasional controller weirdness (i.e., character keeps moving although D-pad isn't pressed any longer); -I know it runs counter to my review title, but bosses -- except the second one, perhaps -- could use a bump up in difficulty; -It would be nice to have descriptions of what the upgrades do and whether they're permanent.

I've played almost every metroidvania here on GoG and many of them are great. But something I was craving was to feel what I feel when playing Symphony of the night: the cozy sensation that everything happens inside the same castle. And Astalon is the only game here that gave me the same feeling (well, this time around it's a gigantic tower, but you get the point...) Yes, at first it's pretty awkward: the 'souls-like' elements seem to over-complicate things and it's pretty annoying how everytime you die you don't respawn in a bonfire (save room) but instead you appear at the very beginning, the front entrance of the tower. The thing is that when you make some progress you end up connecting rooms in a way that you can reach places that seemed far away just by taking an elevator or a shortcut. It can get frustrating but those who like to explore will really all the hidden passages you can find (if you don't want to explore then go play any of those excellent linear platformers on this site). Of course, as you progress you can get a lot of upgrades, so the game gets easier, just hang on for the first hour or so. Besides the exploration, combat is pretty challenging and there's a lot of platforming too. The game length seems just right. There are many little things that seem a bit arbitrary and frustrating but if you get used to them you are in for one of the greatest metroidvanias on this site.

Most of the games nowadays almost based their quality through graphics but what they don't understand is gameplay is still king. Despite having retro graphics, the gameplay and the response on the control is very nice on this game. The shortcut system is very good too since it provides the feeling of progression. This is a must buy for metroidvania and retro graphics fans. The sound is very nice as well.

Great Metroidvania with old school vibes and a lot of secrets and puzzly exploration. Really couldn't stop playing until 100%

Everything the posts say below is true. It's everything you want out of Metroidvania. I have some complaints: the difficulty curve is weird (the ending is way easier than the beginning), the "good ending" requires some pixelb***ing and you'll reach for a guide. But it made me want the best ending, it made me want to 100% it, it makes me want to revisit it and the characters. I want a sequel! The controls are tight, the power-ups (mostly) sensible, the game design and level design is excellent. It's just great all around. I hope this is the beginning of a franchise, but even if it isn't, it's a modern classic.