Posted on: November 11, 2022
yellownumber5
Verified ownerGames: 261 Reviews: 10
One of the better Metroidvanias I played
I'd say this is more Metroid than Vania. It distinctly reminds me of Metroid Fusion as far as pacing, the otherworldly sci-fi atmosphere, and gameplay. It does start out a little slow, but certainly gets better as you find upgrades. There is a simple leveling system that lets you tweak to fit your playstyle between a gunner or melee, plus a few handfuls of items and weapons that can be mixed and matched. I personally found melee to be slow and clunky compared to gunning, but I also didn't focus on leveling up that play style. It uses the Souls system of gaining experience, which I wish by now would die a slow death in the video game world. I never liked chasing down my dropped experience, but because the Souls games made it popular it has infested way too many games. At least this game is challenging but not punishing so it wasn't controller-throwing frustrating to die and have to recollect dropped experience. The world-building and story are pretty great, and several NPCs wander the world with their own story. I do wish there was some expansion on the overall universe. There's a grand cosmic story of life after death in the background, plus the planet you are trapped on has other nefarious biological evils driving wayward travelers mad, but mainly Ghostsong's story arc is focused on helping out a band of marooned shipmates. I wish it would have gone a little further on the larger narrative it teases. Maybe in a sequel someday I hope? The atmosphere, music, and sound design is very alien and gooey. The New Game+ still has some value, expecially as on my first run I still had a lot of blank spots in my inventory for items hidden around the map, and getting a refresher on the story is a nice way to fill out gaps in the backstory that were easy to miss the first time around.
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