Cathedral

The game controls great. The movement is easy to pick, medium level of difficulty to master and versatile as hell. The game is reminiscent of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Zelda 2, Shovel Knight and Rogue Legacy. It sure does not reinvent gaming but is such a solid game through and through. I do not think you can go wrong with this one as even full priced it is well worth it!

Solid platformer where you'll enjoy everything from start to finish. I think the checkpoints are perfectly fine where they are but I would be okay with fewer checkpoints. I play with my DS4 controller and have no problems at all. The game instantly recognizes when you switch between keyoard and controllers. Yes, the button icons change once the game sees you input with a different device. The music, I may be biased here since I'm a musician, but has been nothing but tunes I really like to listen to. When I get lost or am confused, it's nice to have some music that's great to keep your spirits up. Difficulty wise I can't comment on, as I don't really judge these types of games on difficulty, unless it's braindead easy and that's not the case here. Would I recommend this game though? If you like platformers, great music, and just overall fun for hours and hours, totally worth the full price. It's even resonably priced as well unlike most games today. This is one of the best platformer's to release from my recent memory. I am look forward finishing this game, the next one in the series if there is one, and you should definitely consider picking this game up.

Pretty good metroidvania game, feels like a Wonder Boy type, but withoout transformations. Actual skills and upgrades that you get are pretty minimal, but there is a lot of interesting and exciting platforming opportunities that you can do with them. Fighting is simple, but it feels just right. That's the best that I can say about Cathedral - it feels good to play. The map is huge, secrets are everywhere, bosses are tough (Not that much, 4-5 tries max). But by the end I think it goes on a little too much and there is quite a few weird design choises. If you want Wonder Boy type game than Aggelos is a little better one for my taste.

There were a few things holding this game back from being truly great. First and foremost. The graphics and controls are both very good. Sometimes the controls can be a bit annoying, but the developers did a good job overall. The storyline is mostly generic and repetitive if you've played platformers and metroidvanias like this in the past (dark atmosphere, dark characters, fighting evil, but also teaming up with dark forces, etc). The music was decent overall, but there were a few really annoying tunes that played in a few stages. The composer actually thought it was a good idea to speed up and slow down the tunes in order to make a 'cool' effect, but it mostly annoying and actually made me think my computer was malfunctioning when I first heard it. Lastly, the game relies FAR too much on fetch-quests and backtracking. The checkpoints are often unfairly laid out, and the warp points are an absolute joke. I also found quite a few of the sections really difficult when it came to navigating. Sometimes I would get lost for quite a long time and when I finally ended up finding the solution, it often ended up being the result of some annoying moon-logic puzzle like a hidden door, room or breakable brick. Overall I would say that the game is worth picking up, but it could use a lot of improvement.

Don't believe what many players and critics say. This game is one of the best metroidvanias I've ever played, maybe the best here on GoG so far. The world is quite big and each area plays differently, some are more about fighting, others have many puzzles (which are mostly on the easy side), others are more about platforming, etc. But my favorite aspect of the game is that it's very challenging but never unfair. If you read many people complaining about how the game (or a particular boss) is kicking their asses, it's because they went into an area or boss without the right equipment. And for me, that's what made Symphony of the night (the first metroidvania I played) amazing. In Cathedral, exploration is actually very well rewarded, a lot more than in other games of the genre. If you take your time to find all the hidden items, you'll stand a pretty good chance of defeating the bosses without suffering so much (they will be a challenge anyway, though, this game is not easy as the Castlevanias). Upgrades really make a difference here and so do town banks, which you should visit often to save all the money you can, because you'll have to buy some of your gear. If you don't care about graphics or story but want a metroidvania that challenges you and rewards exploration, then you'll love Cathedral.