Cathedral

This is a good game until your 3rd bossfight. I'm sure what they wanted was for the fight to test your capability to read your opponent, but what they got is an enemy that is too fast to hit on purpose, cannot be blocked and is impossible to predict because the windup for two of its' moves is a tilting of its' staff at dslightly different angles. One bad bossfight shouldn't damn a game, but this one is so badly made that it effectively cuts off the rest.

Solid Retrovania. Doesn't particularly do anything amazingly well or have any glaring faults. The controls feel responsive. The puzzles are reasonably varied. It has some neat ideas using oldschool designs. The music is amazing and the visuals are good. Levels are a bit too long and tend to outstay their welcome, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. You don't get many combat options. Checkpoints are sparser than I would like, but thats probably because I've been spoiled. The bosses aren't great but I can say that about most games too. Overall, its a simple Platformer that fans of Metroidvanias and Retro games will enjoy and I don't have much else to say about it.

This game is awesome! If you like the metroidvania genre, and you like challenging games with many secrets and a lot of charm, I totally recommend it. Gameplay is tight and the level design makes you learn each move to the core. I rarely thought the game cheated and most hits and deaths were by my mistakes. That said, sometimes the game gets too hard on some rooms, or missing a hidden item can make the game a lot harder. This is a problem on the beginning, but it gets easier and better later. The game expects you to search for items, and you should totally prioritize getting them over advancing. I played on turns with my wife, and we are both completionists, but sometimes the game got too hard only to find there was some extra collectible that made it easier. We got 100% of the map without any guide, so it's still reasonable (latest versions include a percentage per map which is really useful to not miss anything). You can mark all the rooms you want, so mark them everytime you find something you cannot complete. Some extra items give huge advantanges, while others are minor. Everytime you get a new move there are plenty of places to revisit. Most moves are seen in other games, but they are used here with a special twist which makes the game interesting. Many good puzzles, although there are parts with too many and parts without any. There are plenty of different enemies. Although some are harder copies of previously seen ones, I rarely found them boring. Some of the bosses are awesome, and usually they are a really good challenge. Keep in mind that if you cannot beat a boss because you don't do enough damage or it kills you too fast, you may be missing extra items. Story was ok. Last part of the game was awesome, but we both thought the ending was meh. Some parts of the game are of lower quality, and that's the only reason I can't call this game a masterpiece, but the good parts are excellent. If you love metroidvanias, don't miss this game!!

I know there are several remakes and spiritual sequels to Wonder Boy in Monster World, but so far, I haven't seen any for Wonder Boy in Monster Land, the game that came before World. This seems closest yet, and I'm having a great time with it so far! Super tight retro graphics, super tight controls, quite nice music. I'm just worried that the difficulty will ramp up to... well, 80s levels and perhaps more hardcore than that. I'm old these days, I want my nostalgia but also a bit casual experience! :D