I got bored of waiting on the disastrous European PS4 release delays, and decided to buy this version instead because I love the Shantae games. Big mistake. I wish I hadn't. First thing to note are the system requirements: 8 GiB of RAM (!!), and DX11. Say what? Does this game look state-of-the-art to you? No me neither: looks like a port of a basic 2D Mobile title (in fact, since it doesn't use 3D backgrounds anymore, it ought to actually be less demanding than the previous title, Shantae Half-Genie Hero). Well... Nope. Guess again. This game runs like absolute trash. The animated cut-scenes glitch out as though failing to decompress properly, the in-game animations all jitter each time that a new character appears on screen, and there is noticeable lag on button inputs. And then there's the load times... how about 30-45 seconds every single time that you step into a new area. In a Metroidvania! (which is all about exploration). Just shocking that the developers have seemingly never heard of level streaming, in 2020. Maybe you can put up with theses things. I mean, maybe you can just watch the scrambled cut-scenes on Youtube instead. Maybe you can learn to compensate for the lag, and get used to every characters animation spasms. But should you have to? When they want £25 for this disaster? Wait for a patch, or buy on console (which it was clearly designed for). But I do not recommend this version.
A boring, tiresome, awkwardly controlling, poorly designed slog of a game with little or no merits. It seems to borrow heavily from better games such as the castlevania, metroid and Zelda series, but then goes out of its way to separate itself from its inspiration by using contrary mechanics and game design just for the sake of avoiding comparison with its forebears without once gauging why such mechanics became standardised in the first place: because they actually work, and make a game fun. This game is not fun. Thus: getting hit sends you right across the room (knock back damage was eliminated in the NES era because it wasn't fun - and this is 10x worse), the shotgun reload takes about ten seconds when a second and a half would have been sufficient to suggest a slow reload, this is just unusable; There are no maps - either in the overworld or inside the massively sprawling dungeons: no maps (why? Why!); The currency you collect cannot be spent in any way on disposable items, equipment or optional arms, etc. it merely tallies up and unlocks certain upgrades at set tears - there is no choice or sense of achievement; the pick up button always picks up the wrong item. All of the meticulously drawn backgrounds have zero degree of interactivity - particularly inside the buildings, while the overworld is completely devoid of distractions or sidequests to occupy you when not inside of an overlong and repetitive dungeon. The story is awful: just awful, on so many levels. The characters are uniformly unlikable, charmless and wooden, and in some instances outright detestible (and not actually the villains!). **sigh** I could go on. It pains me to write such a shitty review, because it is clearly evident that much time, effort and passion went into this game, and no one wanted to like this game than me: it is bitterly disappointing to me that I cannot bring myself to even like the game much less love it as so many others have. I guess the music and graphics are OK.
