Finished Golvellius. Made a map along the way:
The way the game is structured (namely, each map square has one cave) rewards this methodical map-making approach. Felt therapeutic, in a way.
I kinda wish that this was a two button game or that quest items were more useful outside of the overworld context, but it all works well enough for what it is. At the very least, I’m actually wishing this had gotten the Sega Ages treatment.
I think it’s funny that the game has 4 (four!) different modes of movement:
- The overworld (4-way grid-aligned movement, 4-way attacking)
- Autoscrolling caves (8-way movement (slow diagonals), forward-only attacking)
- Boss battles (8-way movement, 4-way attacking)
- Sidescrolling caves (2-way movement + jump, forward-only attacking)
Absolutely bonkers game design. I love it.