Sundered®: Eldritch Edition

If you like slashing through hordes of enemies in a beautiful environment just like i do, then this game is for you! I really enjoyed it thoroughly. The sounds and graphics blend well with each other giving the game a real thrilling athmosphere. I also found the controls quite good (played with keyboard) but you can just rebind it as well... Sure it has some negatives like the repetitiveness after each death which came from the randomized room generating. And the loading times between the bigger regions for the same reason. Also the game likes to throw Hordes of enemies on you at any given moment. But with the constant evolving of your strength and skills you can feel satisfied hacking through areas you struggled before, now without a scratch. Exploring deeper and further each time. Also the boss fights are gorgeous. It pulled me in looking in its world, and it absolutely worth it. (PS: mastering the cannon proves to be quite useful if you struggle)

My experience seems to be much better than the general impression I got from reviews. In buying the game, I made a bit of a leap of faith (mostly triggered by "if you're a metroidvania fan [which I am], buy it" in some reputable magazine). I am thoroughly surprised in a positive way, I like this game really much. It now occupies a similar place to Dead Cells in my recent game roster, and in many areas I find I like it more, it's definitely a memorable experience in many ways. The best comparisons I can draw are to Dust: An Elysian Tail, and the mentioned Dead Cells. As to Dust, I find the general style of graphics similar, in being "fluent", impressive, beautiful. Also the fight feels similarly "liquid flowing" to me, notably with a lot of it happening high in the air. The controls (keyboard) feel great; and I don't need to be pixel-perfect, which is a plus in my book. Story-wise, I find it somewhere in between. There's certainly much more of it than the rare, repetitive glimpses in Cells, but it's also not as detailed and personal as in Dust (which was a league of its own in this area). As to Cells, I find the randomness differs very much in expression here; and not worse, as sometimes claimed, just different. For me it conveys a kind of ambient solitary emptiness of the corridors, but still alive, as proven by nicely paced irregular waves of enemies. Like the rain in Scotland: it may not be raining *now*, but you better be on your toes as I tell you, it *will* be raining *soon*. Overwhelming as they may be initially, I'm slowly growing to affectionately call them vermin, as my character shakes them off absent-mindedly in the earlier areas - while the newer ones seem scary again (at "Normal" difficulty, ~50% in). The music and graphical "vistas" are another highlight. I think things may have been improved since earlier versions, e.g. boss fights now feature an explicit visibility marker. Finally, death feels much better than in Cells, even somewhat waited for!...

Quality: 4/5 - mostly enjoyable. 3/5 if you're more picky. I've had some noticeable framerate dips in some places, but other than that the game runs smoothly and looks beautiful. The gameplay variety is lacking and some things could be better, but the core is nice if you take it for what it is. The game is tagged as metroidvania roguelike, but what it actually is is a bullet hell platformer with some progression and exploration. The main challenge of the game is in surviving and grinding out waves of varied enemies that attack you from all sides. Each wave consists of multiple types of enemies with a horde of each type. The attack types and other perks of the enemies create interesting challenges. Exploration follows the metroidvania formula, but the environments are boring and samey, and finding a way from area to area is never a puzzle. When you explore certain areas, you trigger a wave. If you stay loo long in one place, you get attacked by a wave. And then another wave. And then another... It's not a game of slow methodical exploration. You need to keep moving and killing enemies. Like in a bullet hell. There's a progression tree, with skills/perks that give you bonuses to stats, but it is more about your own skill and precision in combat. You need to constantly dodge and attack at the same time, and avoid making mistakes and getting hit. Just like in a bullet hell. The movement is not as fluent as it could be, but it serves the gameplay well enough. It allows you to move around fast and fluently enough to avoid getting ganged up on and to be able to attack enemies where you want it. It's not about methodical positioning, defensive play or spectacular combos. You need to move fast, make decisions quickly, maintain good situational awareness and take care of multiple things simultaneously. There are no items or ranged attacks, only sword + a powerful "finisher". Sword attacks have simple combos. You can attack in the air, and they do suspend the fall.

So I'm not a huge platformers fan, but I do own quite some of them, both in the metroidvania-style and beyond that (notably, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Shovel Knight and Cathedral). I must say that Sundered has really stuck with me. Unlike what other reviewers wrote, I quite enjoy the amount of mobs there is, and for exactly the reason others dont like it. It IS a spam fest, and you ARE required to concetrate and react well. That being said, I must say that dying is A LOT LESS punishing than it is, for instance, in Hollow Knight. And through your spending "money" you improve your character, which means that even if you suck a bit at platformers like I do, you are making progress instead of being thrown back like half an hour of grinding if you die. I also REALLY enjoy the graphics. At first I was a bit weirded out by the movement animations (jumping in particular) but after like 1-2 hours you basically forget that anything about it felt weird earlier. But other than that, I did dig the atmosphere from the first moment on, and have not stopped doing so. The mix of vegetation and industrial style really appeals to me. A reviewer wrote that you are carefully initiated to the different kinds of moves as you go along, and I couldn't agree more with that. While I initially thought Hollow Knight did a good job with it, here I feel really taken by the hand, and I mean that in a good way. Because at the time you learn a new ability you really have to have mastered what you already had before. Finally, another reviewer wrote that "positioning matters". This I experienced just before writing this review, where I have died repeatedly because I did not understand how I had to position myself to beat a particular boss. At a discount, this game is an absolute steal(!). But the more I play it, the more I believe that the game is ACTUALLY worth the full price. Considering that it is an indie game, utterly beautiful and a breeze to play, the devs totally deserve it! Great job!

I bought the game on console because as beautiful as this game is i wanted to enjoy it on a big screen. This game was for me a blast. I love the gong spawn mechanics. The fact of having a dark background with stunning visuals and not too many enemies to implement a relatively peaceful dark mood and then suddenly a horde of enemy comes totally flipping the atmosphere to a fight fest is for me a great idea. It's an amazing game, the bosses are great, the music and art are astonishing and the gong mechanics makes it really unique My only regret was the final scenes. If they were great I would have runned the game in the 3 possible endings but in the end I decided not to. Maybe in feew years I'll return It's very often massively discounted. For the price tag, it's a no brainer, you can't find so much quality/$