Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

good good good good good good good

Like the other Shantae games, this does its thing very well, but differently enough that I still don't have a favorite. This one has a nice mix of action and puzzle-solving, and aside from a few incredibly frustrating moments - the final dungeon comes to mind - it's yet another great entry in the series. The dungeons, unfortunately, are a bit on the shorter side, which wouldn't be so bad were it not for the fact that you spend more time in gimmicky activities, like an obstacle course and a long stealth section, the latter of which takes longer and is more intricate than the actual dungeon in its area. The upgrades are also a bit more traditional, but still pretty interesting. It looks and sounds mostly like Risky's Revenge - KILLER soundtrack, too; Jake Kaufman does it again! - and the writing is genuinely funny, and I don't say that easily.

Its just good and fun platformer

First things first. I played the entire game under (Arch) Linux using Lutris. The game runs butter smooth with no hiccups, including controller support. The game itself is fun and light. The characters and the levels are colorful and varied. The soundtrack is captivating. The character avatars in dialogues are high-res, while the in-game characters and the backgrounds look old-school. Level exploration mixes looking for secrets, platforming and enemy bashing. All those things are mixed in a successful way, so none of them is neither boring nor frustrating: secrets may require some intuition to be found, but none of them is ridiculously hard. Also, the platforming may be challenging but it never gets to the "rage quit" level, although some sequences near the end require very tight timings to advance. Shantae learns new abilities while advancing in the story, and this leads to some backtracking: you can go back to areas already explored and use your new powers to reach areas there were above (or below) your reach during the first visit. You can only save at save points, which are not excessively distant from one another and always present before a boss battle, so even if you die you don't have to repeat long game chunks over and over again. Overall, a very good game I'd recommend to platformers fans, knowing you can play it on Linux without hassle.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse delivers a classic, metroidvania adventure with a moderate playtime. While it does involve some slightly tedious backtracking and hidden object hunts, it shines with its gorgeous graphics and delightful music. The core gameplay centers on running, jumping, and defeating foes using your hair, which unfortunately lacks that satisfying punch. However, the game compensates this with a variety of abilities you can get later in game. Unfortunately, the very late-game difficulty spike and poorly placed essential items might deter completionists, I had to resort to guides for the last 3 items which I were missing. The controls are precise, and the game maintains a smooth performance throughout. The narrative has a comical tone reminiscent of Monkey Island games. Be prepared for plenty of cutscenes, which may be a hit or miss, but fortunately, you can fast forward through dialogues. Platforming is relatively easy, but there is a sudden spike in difficulty late in the game. The save system is reasonable, with respawn points near pits. Game features battle rooms and a boss fight for each area, and even a New Game Plus mode, but the game lacks achievements and cloud saves. Visually game is reminiscent of '90s arcade games and best console 2D games, although high resolution art is used for cutscenes and the user interface, while the in-game visuals utilize a neat and colorful pixel art style with fluid animations. The characters, both enemies and NPCs, are charmingly animated, ranging from cute creatures to attractive female characters.