Speechless. I was left speechless by how tight the gameplay is. I don't know how to put it into words other than "it feels like money". For every cut corner made to the visuals, presentation and so forth, you can feel it all reinvested hand over fist into the gameplay. Those of you familiar with backdash crouch canceling from previous Iga-vania's will be pleased to learn that the movement tech is back, and yes, it's superior to simply moving forward. I played throughout the entire game on KB+M, slain every secret boss, and had very few gripes with the setup. The most I could complain about the controls would be that right-click targeting feels a bit wonky, and using the Invert spell command (W+S+Space) felt inconsistent. I may have been inputting it wrong, mind you. And just to be thorough, I will also say that I had some trouble inputting the directional commands (quarter circles and such) using WASD. If it makes you feel any better, rhythmically tapping S and Q to backdash crouch cancel feels better on keyboard than controller. All of this aside, it feels like a genuine successor to Iga's Castelvania titles, and a worthy one at that. Mechanically, it's a greatest hits collection of Symphony of the Night, and Aria of Sorrow. Tight level design (aside from Den of Beasts and a few other end-game dungeons), a myriad of unique spells, extremely fun and challenging bosses, eureka moments for progression that reward you for paying attention to details, awesome weapons that can further differentiate themselves within their own sub-category, and meaningful character upgrades made the past 23 hours I dumped into this game feel like mere minutes. It's worth mentioning that there're some bugs here or there, but nothing critical that screwed my game up. Either way, I'm glad this game is a critical success, it deserves it. Hope Iga has plans for a sequel; he's made a believer out of me.
Hob, as buggy as it may be, has been an endearing joy to play as Torchlight developer Runic Games steps out of their comfort zone to marry a fistful of ideas from both Ico and The Legend of Zelda. A duplicate of neither previously mentioned game, it depends on its own twist with these ideas to fulfill a cozy, laid back, atmospheric experience. An attempt to weave combat, exploration and puzzle solving has resulted in a Runic putting a strong foot forward, though at the cost of lacking refinement. Being a fan of action games, I'll focus primarily on combat. For as much as I love this game, this is where it's first obvious frays are revealed. Your base, initial kit of skills is anemic: one combo, a dodge, and a sword slam that lacks utility. Though the act of combat is smooth and tactile, there isn't much in way of depth, even after you unlock your arsenal of expanded tools and their (admittedly useful) associated skills. Power punch, shield, warping, and grappling all play a familiar, albeit limited, role. Grappling is far too situational, and enemies with metallic shields can play an impressively boring match of turtling with you. The combat is also counter intuitive those more adjusted to high APM play, so be prepaired to arbitrarily pace yourself due to high commitment animations in a game that boasts a speed cloak. Combat aside, exploration is where the fruit of their labor pays off in spades. Each new zone has atmosphere for days, punctuated by a gorgeous unified art style, with secrets unveiled through satisfying your natural curisoty, and rewarding your penchant for being observant. Naturally, this ties in with the puzzles, the primary core of Hob's general design. Unlocking the world through brain teasing, one-solution-puzzles is powerfully satisfying the first time though. However, it only serves as a test of movement optimization the second time through. This hinders experimentation and replayability, yet at the same time, it remained fun all the same.
