I understand half the fun of Metroidvanias is revisiting earlier areas with newer abilities. The three-character switching in this game, however, only adds tedium to the formula. I think there was one area a few hours in that I had to use the knight, then immediately go back three screens to get the wizard to unlock the next passage, and then literally the same screen, go back AGAIN, three screens, to go get the archer. That was about when I realized I owe this game nothing more and thanked my friend for his copy. I can't complain about the overall sprite presentation and audio, as it's all very nice and reminiscent of the NES era. I just wish the gameplay had overcome all the technological shortcomings of the era, as well, and learned something from the last 30+ years of game design. Astalon is a huge step backward from Castle in the Darkness, which I understood that one of the devs from that game worked on this one. So, I ended up massively disappointed here.
