I missed this game when it was released in 2021. If I ever saw it mentioned anywhere, it didn’t register. Maybe because it comes across as a little generic at first glance, one of many retro-style “Metroidvania” games. (Did we ever decide whether to officially adopt search action or keyring?)
It is one of those, but it’s a very good one. I’d guess I’m about halfway through, and I’ve been continuously impressed by the game’s visual style, smooth controls, and exploration.
I can see influence from a lot of different games (such as Legacy of the Wizard, La-Mulana, Faxanadu, Symphony of the Night, and maybe Demon’s Souls), but fortunately I haven’t noticed explicit references to any of them or any obnoxious fourth wall stuff. The game takes its story seriously (simple as it is) and the talking parts are limited, both of which I appreciate.
When you die, you’re sent back to the beginning of the tower. But you don’t lose any progress and you quickly find shortcuts and fast travel options. Reaching a previously inaccessible spot, discovering a new area, or trying out a new upgrade are typical highlights of a game like this and of this one in particular.
You switch between three characters, Legacy of the Wizard style. Which one is my favorite to play has varied with the discovery of their unique upgrades.
Your recent post comparing this to Legacy of the Wizard prompted me to check it out and yeah it’s really good so far.
I like the death mechanics and some of the ways the unlockables smooth things out are pretty novel to me and well done overall. Since healing items are rare and death sets you back to the start this feels more like a Wizardry clone, where I’m steadily chipping away and hoping to get further into the dungeon with each attempt, than a lot of these search action throwbacks where filling in the map is like smearing a brush across a canvas.
Too much dialogue early on but it’s easily ignored and not time consuming or nothin’. It just spoils the vibe a bit, cut that gab down to 10% of its current amount and the game is better for it and might actually feel somewhat ~mysterious~. But it’s not a big deal.
Feel like I’d given up on games like this being good but this one is really good.
Yes, it’s rare that I play a video game these days that I don’t think would be better with less talking, or no talking at all.
Another thing I like about this game is the level of challenge presented by the bosses. They have their unique patterns and they might take a couple attempts, but they aren’t major roadblocks that hold you up when you just want to get back to the exploration.
ill admit im usually a big hater for indies with some budget getting a Semi Famous Guy to do A Single Thing to slap on the box, but mita is a cool pull and they did a decent job carrying his squashed style into the pixelart imo
Starting at the tower entrance isn’t as annoying as it sounds. There are a couple of different fast travel options that you come across pretty early on. And many times I think it would be worse if they put you back at your last bonfire, for example.
That said, when you die in Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity you respawn instantly right in the same room. You can even do it while you’re still alive. And there are no damage numbers in that game, or any damage.
The complaints about this on steam really sell me. One of the people gave the impression that it was more like a MegaMan Zero sort of game setup instead of a metrovania and I hope you can confirm because that sounds really nice.
It is a modern game. It feels like it really draws from stuff like roguelites with the persistent world you can change through play but you start at the beginning every time. It’s really a neat system, and it shows its hand just enough to keep you intrigued as you play.
I did like how everything stays the same but you have to go back to the start when you die. This highlighted the castle’s topology well and created a certain mood. This also only works because you only die from attrition (characters being rather bulky but having access to almost no healing)
Yeah I think this is a case of people complaining about a game not fitting the genre’s established conventions
I havent played MM0 but from what I know they share having separate levels instead of a single interconnected world, and no xp.
Enemies are restricted to little Smash Bros areas and once you finish them they’re gone forever.
Mostly what sold me about the game are the excellent field movement / soundtrack / level variety. Just a joy to move around
I regret to inform you that there’s a little more of this later on, including some weak attempts at humor. It’s rare and not egregious, but I wish they’d mimicked the games they were inspired by more closely in this regard.
Faxanadu had just enough talking to convey the story and conduct business, with no need for the bad comic relief that plagues so many video games. I don’t think Legacy of the Wizard had any talking at all.
That said, I still think Astalon is great. I’ve unlocked several useful abilities and my characters feel a little overpowered. (I’d read a comment somewhere saying that this happens just before you reach an area that’s particularly challenging and things balance out again. I guess I’ll soon be at that area.)
alas, this game went off of a 50% off sale on the switch eshop, uh, 2 days ago. definitely gonna pick this up soon, one way or the other. sounds like something made for one with my interests.
Finished this game last night. I guess there are multiple endings but I don’t see myself going for them because I’ve uncovered 100% of the map and that’s really what it’s about.
What I’d read about a later area being difficult enough to offset feeling overpowered wasn’t true. Even the final boss was kind of a pushover. But I much prefer that to it being a sudden spike in difficulty. (I reached but never beat the final bosses of Cave Story, La-Mulana, and La-Mulana 2. That still bothers me a little but I don’t know that I’ll ever remedy the situation.)
I like the Metroid-inspired area. It’s a blatantly obvious homage but enough its own thing that it works.
There’s a really unfortunate joke near the end but at least it’s in a well-hidden optional area.
The multiple characters in this game shook up the typical Metroidvania formula a lot more than I expected. Instead of “come back here when you get a powerup” it’s usually “come back here with another character”. Sounds similar but it’s really not. You already have access to the other characters so you feel more in charge of the sequence.
Astalon’s other big thing is that all the secret paths, gates and two-sided rooms make the classic squares-with-holes map a lot less informative than it usually is
I got the campfire cutscene where the wizard talks about his idea for how to dispel his secret curse, before the cutscene where he reveals the existence of that curse to the other party members
It was uncanny because the wizard started vaguely alluding to it and the knight immediately replied “You mean your contract with Epimetheus?” It had never come up but he somehow knew.
The knowledge had gradually osmosed into him without being told or even having a specific moment where he went from not knowing to knowing, in the tower’s dreamlike mists of time and memory.
But it was just a bug. A bug that amplified the feeling of mystery: this really is like an 8-bit game
I also got those campfire discussions out of order. I wondered whether they were randomized or tied to specific locations, but probably they are just coded to trigger in the wrong order.
A non-SB friend just played through this game and happened to get the two additional characters in the order opposite the order I got them. I got Mr. Belmont last, and those obviously breakable blocks all over the place were pretty annoying by the time I could finally break them.
I’m assuming that I didn’t get the “good” ending, since Algus didn’t escape his fate. In a way it seems like a better story if he actually makes that sacrifice, but on the other hand given how effortlessly Epimetheus can raise someone from the dead and also how it appears that someone who is added to his collection gets corporeally reconstituted first, it seems a little arbitrary. Too bad the conversation in the hidden area wasn’t about the nature of souls in this universe and what the hereafter is like for souls not claimed by Epimetheus, instead of a juvenile joke.
I also wouldn’t have minded seeing more of this sort of tone.
I haven’t been posting in here, but I did get this game because of this thread, and it is really good. It actually works really well as a podcast listening game thanks to copious amounts of backtracking and quiet exploration. I actually like that about it. The backtracking is frictionless, and there are enough meaningful little secrets and upgrades that you’re never going too long without finding something interesting.
