Shantae and the Seven Sirens

After playing Half-Genie Hero I was quite hesitant to buy Seven Sirens. However, this game is a lot more similar to the first three instalments of the series. I really enjoyed it. The transformations were cool, the story and the graphics were charming. To see animated cutscenes was the icing on the cake. Definitely a game you should get on a sale if you're a fan of Metroidvanias.

This game has a lot of questionable design elements, starting with the new monster card system. You can equip up to 3 of the 50 different cards for perks, and most of them are dropped by enemies. See where this is going? Castlevania gets away with this sort of "kill enemy; reenter screen; repeat 500 times until you get what you want" gameplay, because what you're getting is a cool new flaming sword or something; the cards are just perks, many of which are minor, like being able to climb ropes faster. Whee. There are some excellent cards, but most aren't dropped by monsters, so you're farming for HOURS for very minor "rewards". On top of that, dances are used in specific areas, but for half of them, there's no real hint as to where to use them, so you just use them on EVERY SCREEN. Oh, and they cost magic, too, so progress is slow and tedious, if you don't want to miss anything. So, halfway through the third dungeon, I gave up and started over in Full Deck Mode, which starts you with all of the cards. Add two hours to my old playtime (38% completion) and I finished the whole game; cards were just wasting my time. I'd also forgotten to turn off hints, and you know what I got? Things to tell me where to use the dances and nothing else, so keep hints on, too. Game's great if you play the right mode. Aside from that, mechanics are tight as ever, you've got all kinds of new skills and dances, and even some new magic. The world is an absolute joy to explore, with an engaging main world and very well-designed dungeons. They didn't get Jake Kaufman, but the soundtrack is still really good, and not far off the mark. Characters are the usual for a Shantae game, so fun and very lovable. I had an absolute blast with this one, once I got on the right track.

Just wanted to chime in and support the developers with a review. I remember trying out Pirate's curse like 5 years ago and not being able to get into it due to some clunky and questionable UI and gameplay design choices. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this sequel is so much... "closer to a normal game", i dunno how to explain it. If like me you never really were into Shantae series and considered it more of a "gimmick", this one might change your opinion. Just don't expect any real challenge, since the game is quite easy. But it does have a ton of cute and sexy girls - both good and evil. And that's wonderful.

I really didn't like half genie hero and was very hesitant about buying this game because of it. But this game is fanatastic and I'm very glad to see the return of quality shantae games

after that dreadful half genie hero. it is obvious that they have taken what made the pirate`s curse good and added in the magic system from the other games. they even added back the heart squids and the squidsmith. it is interestimg to see some new towns as well.