I played 8 Metroidvanias while waiting for Silksong

it's 2024 and silk song still hasn't released it was announced nearly 5 years ago and I don't know what to do anymore play other Metroid vanas wait maybe I should play other Metroid vanas today I'm trying eight different Metroid venas and playing each of them until I reach the credits I'll give you my impressions of the first few hours of each game while avoiding too many spoilers as well as my thoughts on each game after finishing if you're like me and want to find some amazing metroid vanas or which ones you might want to avoid while we wait for silk song stay tuned and enjoy the video all right so first up we have rusted Moss I first saw the game in 2022 and didn't really know that much about it but the art style was reminiscent of Cave Story one of my old favorites and the grappling hook platforming really peques my interest so I put it in the backlog and that's where it stayed for about a a year and that's how it seems to be for most people since the game really hasn't had that much attention so let's give it a shot hey wake up what is talking to me oh Puck my head they'll be looking for you soon we have to keep going oh it's a little eyeball yeah this art style is really cute I love the Cave Story aesthetic the is living on the mountain up ahead we should try bring her any of Tiana's pieces we find WD to move space to jump all right no speed running this one yet got to play through the game first okay so we got ledge climbing mechanics and we can go through platforms by holding down even the projectiles look like Cave Story this is so Cave Story inspired so we can left click to fire or we can hold for a charge shot wow oh there's like a sound to kind of indicate that it's fully charged destroying these machines lets you absorb their Mana press e to use your stored Mana to heal guess so it's kind of like Hollow nightes healing oh you got lots of trinkets kind of like charms I suppose CU we have like an amount that we can equip don't have any unlocked yet though press tab to open the map and we got a Metroid Vania so there's a room all the way up here that's looking kind of suspicious feel like the game might want me to go in this direction and upgrades oo gun level zero unfortunate these guys have like no range they are the Goombas of the game tick ticks what's this oh we got a trinket HP overload what is this trinket to do extra damage SL range while at full HP oh and we got our one of our first obstacles we need an ability for n b Arena Maya you blew up the lab oh [ __ ] I did what I swear I didn't know they were still in there oh my God how could you do this we grew up in the Coalition they were our friends oops they were your friends we've never been on the same side you you can't believe that you're still Fern are you Fern I guess it doesn't really matter my pet is going to shred you now oh my God we'll see about [Music] that okay your your pet is not that strong oh face two okay maybe maybe it'll put up a fight it's got a grappling hook look at that all right sweet we got we got through the grother of the game hi guys what's happen happening wait who the hell is this wait that's the wings on the save point where did you come from I think she was in that human's machine yes sir and it sucked there's like no space to move super smelly I could use a stretch you freed me from the machine so how about a good old-fashioned blessing yes bless me with a grappling hook please yeah this game is definitely silly got silly Vibes oh you right click again to detach the hook you kind of have to like let go as you're uh bouncing upward nice I like that can you wait Can you bunny hop oh my God you can although It's Tricky oops oh you can only do it once before you land okay oh there weren't even spikes down there this one's a bit trickier wait kind of like that I think I just needed to aim a bit further up yeah the the grappling hook has like a length you have to take into account oops oops what are these oh yeah I like that you can shoot while you're grappling as well trinket time manipulator slower enemy bullets ooh okay oh it can't equip both though Oh I thought I would kill it oh okay I assumed this would be like a fake floor or something cuz of the spikes I feel like there's several paths that I could have took but I haven't oh what's this this place is infested with ier they were infecting Fay with this back at the lab the ones they could catch anyway they were testing on some creatures at the lab and that's probably why Fern blew it up it's very toxic though I can only handle staying in it for short moments if I stay in this ier for too long I will get hurt h okay I like this it's kind of like a platforming hazard but it's not like if you touch it you instantly get damaged so pleasant to the eyes and cozy it looks really good like artwise oh [ __ ] oh should not shoot this person oh May maybe I should great witch Elli Maya warned us you were coming Fern all those years pretending to be one of us you make me sick oops oh it's hiker oh oh [ __ ] oops oh it it actually dissipates pretty quickly wonder what happens if it actually uh if the bar gets full he [Music] [Music] three okay that was easy even Titania's power was not enough I have failed all we wanted was just a little more time found it piece of Titania still curious what this Titania is this is an arm isn't it oh this is Titania we need to find two arms two legs and a torso maybe a maybe a head some horns okay yeah good game design so far game is doing a very good job of teaching teaching the game play oh oh there's a jumping spot this game has better platforming than I expected like it's actually oh it's good good platforming put me back to the start not that this is a horribly difficult sequence but okay we got it casual boss fights okay this phase is very predictable at least [Music] [ __ ] oh we got [Music] winds I just launched myself into the abyss [Music] amazing oops oh my God I'm getting [Music] owned yeah did she just [Music] die yeah the boss does have like a lot of HP it's one of the first bosses where the difficulty really spikes up this game I'm really enjoying this game so far it's a lot of fun I think it's designed really well and it's really [Music] Charming [Music] those Wheels seem to deal like a lot of damage in comparison to everything else and like I by that I mean the wheels that I'm shooting out of the [Music] pistol I can just jump up what am I [Music] doing oh my God I almost choked that Jesus all right it's review time I loved rusted Moss I completed a full playthrough and experienced everything the game has to offer and it took about 13 hours the map is so open to explore with tons of different powers to collect the boss fights are solid and unique and the story was surprisingly interesting with a lot of World building going on that I did not expect effect at all the game just made me smile so much I loved the platforming and I enjoyed the combat a lot too but the game's probably not for everyone it's on the more challenging side of Metroid vanas in terms of platforming combat and even navigation if you're not experienced with these kinds of games you might not have a great time it also plays better with mouse and keyboard controller seems a bit imprecise overall I highly recommend rusted Moss if you're looking for a platformer Metroid Vania with an interesting world which offers a solid challenge the dev's also adding a huge content patch soon with a new character new areas and up to eight hours of extra gameplay which is absolutely amazing post-launch support I love to see that kind of thing next up is pseudo regalia you might have seen iron pineapple play this and this video's format is actually inspired by his Souls like you haven't heard of Series so shout outs for that just like based off the trailer this game is so up my alley pseudo regalia is a 3D retro style Metroid Vania with a focus on movement and nonlinear exploration when I was a kid I was so obsessed with Super Mario 64 I speed ran the game when I was 9 years old that was 25 years ago and I need my dose of movement let's see if this game delivers I'm in a cage look at me I'm a is she n uh not completely oh she's not wearing pants but like understand why some people want pants she looks cold I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall out my cage I hope the princess won't be upset with me H it's a princess caging people what is this is this like a targeting system I can Crouch oh oh he got back flips this actually kind of reminds me of like the okarina of time backflip this looks like a a breakable wall not sure but might be dream breaker press x button SL left click attack freely while moving to Vanquish foes hitting enemies will build up magical power to use it hold B button slf key to heal oh I can also heal with it we got the weapon look at that that's cool oh you can you can attack while back flipping okay that's cool I just tossed my weapon let's break the wall save point oh oh oh yeah this game has like the Super Mario 64 backflip oh my God I love it what's dead should stay dead it's dead it should stay dead what dead should stay dead oh my God got some traumatized caged Goat kids Soul meter is very Gatsby slart Deco too oh my God ouch what is [Music] this can I heal I like that we've got platforming I miss 3D platformer games the last one I can remember that's like really m is a hat in time how long ago was that love how every other goat is just a goat but we get to play as the sexy goat do we need the lumafly lantern don't answer that oh we've got we've got the little poles that you can climb like an sm64 what's this new power slide okay oh oh I probably have to slide under that oh I lost my weapon when I got hit your disguise is paper thin but it'll fool most of them not like it matters you're stuck here like the rest of us now what are these kids saying I wonder if there's something I can do with like throwing my weapon we're back to the start holy crap I am so lost there's probably like one way for me to go and I've somehow missed it oh oh sh oh my God I dashed away but oh oh there's contact damage oops uhoh I keep jumping into it oops oh I jumped too [Music] late oh okay I just faded away is this the key nice Castle Sansa okay new area oh look at these look at these little guys they're just eggs with feet oh this is a an ability indignation higher power gives you increased combat abilities upon reaching power level two the range of your attack is extended at level three your damage is increased oh it's like I get more power based on how high my soul meter is so I want to not heal constantly what are these bubbles kind of like how you have to like move around enemies to dodge attacks so your positioning matters in a lot of games it's kind of like just about hitting like an ey frame button can I like do some kind of oh you can do like a double jump I have to see this again oh I should have went to the other bubble oh you can Bunny Hop oh my God I love bunny hopping this is like giving me boss Vibes listless Library I like the music like I'm being told to climb these bookshelves I bet the speedrun for this game is so [ __ ] cool it's because of the fact that you you can Bunny Hop probably other reasons to is this breaking okay yeah Sun Greaves after a short delay do an air kick hitting walls and objects with it will cause you to jump away can be done up to three times until reset okay where am I going go over there oh okay we're [Music] fine nice nice we got a thing that is HP nice oh I didn't I didn't even notice that my character actually got oh not pants but gaves glad you enjoy the content oh sh oh you can reflect those oh cool oh I don't know if that does damage or not but wait I feel like I've been this way I've not I'm scared there's so many different ways to go my brain oh my God my brain cannot handle this many paths new area dilapidated dungeon okay wait this is where I started no this is is this going to be the dark spot speedrunners don't get Lantern and they do dark rooms true just need to like boost my monitor [Music] brightness you can definitely make it across oh oh it warped me all the way back oh this is just like in Hollow night where it warps you back to the start of the dark room if you take Hazard damage which is it's kind of smart to prevent people from like getting stuck where am I going now the underbelly is this where I'm supposed to be I feel like I've taken the wrong [Laughter] path let me see if throwing the stick and oh oh I I did that totally by totally on purpose um intended yep oh let's can I run oh I might need to actually kill that enemy [Music] that open the gates we made it Ascend in light attack objects and enemies to bounce off them in addition your weapon now glows brightly even in the darkness dark darkness dark darkest of places they've successfully sequence broken so I can attack enemies to bounce off of them ooh oh cool can I oh I can do it on those guys too oops use this spot to like climb up off of enemies oh and it refreshes okay that's really cool it refresh crushes your wall jump okay so I already feel like I had a lot of like capability in terms of movement but it's going to give me like a lot more options that I already had and now we can see in the dark areas so there's like a dark room up ahead okay let's doable nice oh we're spinning jump while sliding yes as soon as I got the slide I was like oh man I can't jump while I slide of course they thought of it all right let's give my review I finished pseudo regalia and it took just under 7 hours it's such a cute little game I absolutely loved it my one issue is that it's very tough to navigate there's no in-game map and I was almost in a per permanent state of being lost but apparently the dev is working on patching in an in-game map and thank God for that this game is just so much fun to explore figuring out how to get from point A to point B there's so much freedom of movement and creativity and problem solving this game is all about movement and exploration there's not much emphasis on combat World building or story and that's not going to appeal to everyone the game's really short it has a very Indie vibe in an almost endearing way and it feels almost like a proof of concept for a bigger game which I hope and pray that the dev someday releases but the game's price tag is totally fair for what it is at just $6 I highly recommend giving it a try all right next up is eyelets you might have seen Scurry or relia play this game shout outs to them I've heard this game is just a super cozy chill Metroid Vania and the artwork looks really cute it doesn't have many reviews but the ones it has are overwhelmingly positive and and that's literally all I know about it let's give it a try all right I love the backgrounds I love the art style the environment is so pretty the music's also good oh we got a roll as well it's got like a little cool down oh you can kind of like roll and then Bunny Hop this is the third game in a row we've played with a bunny hop oh my God I'm so [ __ ] blessed love the layering in the background yeah it's so nice pick an upgrade oh this is giving me Super Mario RPG Vibes right now which I love give me any game with a card system it doesn't even matter like if they're actually cards that you collect just put cards on the screen and I'm happy well you know I'm going for the max Health increase oh you like lunge forward when you swing that's interesting so there's no down slash oh you can destroy the grass that's important all right the fact that there's bunny hopping means this is automatically a good Speed game I like the movement oh what's this oh oh you have to dodge roll through okay you can shoot arrows pretty quickly right bumper oh you have to shoot it cuz it's a bubble ah okay oh Boss Arena okay just like a gauntlet oh I like that it shows you how many enemies you have to beat these guys are kind of pushovers oh oh grave crawler oh it they kind of aim at you and then they fly at you wait you get an arrow back with each hits holy [ __ ] that's a lot no it's doing the false night tantrum thing of course I associate it with Hollow KN immediately once again I've cornered myself unwisely oh God okay first tried it holy crap I have no health I didn't even notice how little health I had not even close game gives you a lot of time to react it's not a free boss fight either like there's still some level of challenge which is nice oh is it gone yet oh [Music] ability double jump all righty oh you do a little spin when you double jump I love it that's amazing oh what's this you can use it to move around the island a bit quicker you can only teleport to teleporters you've already passed and only if they're on the same island this seems to be the first teleporter you've discovered so it won't be very useful just yet oh who's this it's a bird person ah hello little mouse are you lost lucky for you I have all these islands mapped out already oh it's the map person if you make your way to this Island's Port you can fly between islands and discover all there is to [Music] see oh we've got the tick ticks they're purple in this game oh what the heck ouch oh this uh this is a destructible block underneath me oh that's kind of awkward I can shoot my bow down I I guess yeah oh you you dash into it from the line and then I double jump after okay oh it's the upgrades are different each time okay now that I've played the game a little bit more more Arrow ammo is pretty strong forming a grapple Dash refills your double jump oh oh I like that I'm curious how much extra damage uh that upgrade adds ah okay so we got some more movement [Music] challenges oh I mean maybe I wouldn't call that a challenge but oh this is like the lift to the other Islands oh it's the guy from from after the boss fight hey I remember you I wish I could repay you somehow for helping me back there ah I know you can use my Airship if you'd like I'm a bird so I haven't really been using it anyway just hop in the Airship and you can fly and discover new islands oh I I I actually fly around it's not just fast travel all right let's go Sky City oh what you know I was so close to defeating the three great beasts the only issue was that I couldn't find Cinder Island so I guess that's where the Beast s so I just need to [Music] touch okay that's cool little movement challenge can I just go down I can just go down oh my god oh hi and what do we have here are you lost little mouse yes you never know who you'll run into oh boy I don't have an attack do I yeah I don't oh it just hits itself okay so I just have to survive okay oh interesting your hpox is pretty small thankfully I think I think the red circle oh [ __ ] I think the red circle shows your hit box and it's hitting itself once again them is that cat versus swish it's a it's a mouse hello there are you looking to tour these ruins I do have a few rules to follow please don't touch any statues and also don't damage the plants H I think there's one more rule I'm forgetting also please do not unleash the captured spirits of 1,000 deadly beasts trapped in a tomb at the depths of the ruins all right so don't touch the grass let's get my arrows back soss this is the tomb of 1,000 spirits well anyways let me go get some paperwork and I'll be back you just wait right here all right bye oh more bullet hell type stuff no oh [ __ ] I was not expecting that I forgot I could roll for a second I was like what do I do no what's it doing now oh boy oh I should have went to the left for that gave more time for the bullets to spread out all right pretty chill boss it just occurred to me like maybe the spa doesn't have contact [Music] damage stop that I think I'm glitching The Boss by dealing so much damage CU I don't feel like it's supposed to do those like pillars attack that come out of the ground because the pillars are behind it and I can't see them oh oh I got got an ability nice Cloud shots o shoot Arrows with solid Trails okay we we've unlocked all the movements in the game or all the movement we need amazing I love it that's actually a really cool way to get vertical movement oh we finally get these key bubbles again I was wondering when they were going to reintroduce that mechanic can I just like shoot the cloud thing at them [ __ ] I can just hit them with my sword I don't need to switch to the [Music] arrow we've got a save points all right it's review time I finished eyas in about 9 hours the first half I loved the second half I enjoyed but not quite as much I'm a person who's pretty biased towards games with a lot of mechanical depth and challenge eyet is a chill cozy Metroid Vania and it succeeds at being that very well the whole premise of connecting the islands and creating new avenues to explore is just so smart and creative it's such a great idea for a Metroid Vania because it's a genre known for backtracking and the mechanic makes backtracking feel so much more fresh the way the difficulty wraps up throughout the game is actually pretty well balanced although I found there were some strategies I could use that would kind of trivialize some of the bosses there's a system of collecting cards around the map which each Grant a choice of three different upgrades for your character I found the choices a lot of fun although the pool of choices could have been a bit bigger overall I really enjoyed this game even though it wasn't the perfect fit for me I had a lot of fun with it if it looks appealing to you definitely give this game a shot it's totally worth playing playing okay so the next game is pretty gruesome and gory so there's your warning I heard about infer through cranky Templar so shout outs to him infernox is one of those Love Letters to old retro style titles like Zelda 2 and Castlevania 2 I wasn't super interested in it at first but seeing all the post-launch support adding new playable characters adding a new multiplayer mode got me really interested so let's give it a try young Duke fireborn tired of the violent Crusades finally returns home it seems out of character I enjoy violence this is where fireborn adventure begins oh I got a bandan cool okay thank God we can use dad oh we're going left to start with oh wow what a what a start okay there's a bit of a lingering hitbox on the melee attack limo Nat Okay so we've got XP in the top middle looks like there's also item slots coins and keys and the map there's like an auto completing map which is nice or oh Jesus why is his tongue out well he has to be killed so that's an easy Choice Jesus but I mean he asked for it hey Pogo what is this upgrade oh we can spend XP on stuff okay so there's not like normal level UPS we just spend the XP these eyeballs remind me of the eyeballs from Terraria so far we're hitless we could actually hitless the game at this rate Duke fireborne please Aid Us in battle oh what oh [ __ ] oh oh my shield does uh my shield blocks stuff as duke demand to enter their home oh [ __ ] that's some gargoyle boss time the gate hold the gate what is going on uh-oh uhoh do I run or do I help them oh [ __ ] that that was very close I actually don't know how I didn't get hit there oh Pro problem solved handsome H Hans hello traveler did you know you're speaking to Hans the great oh this is the zot the mighty character yes you see I Hans am a respected member of a certain organization it's kind of a secret I can tell you're impressed if you want to attempt to gain my Prestige we meet in the to hen passage it's like if they give me the option to oh what's this skeleton oh God that's a big boy holy crap okay starting off easy enough priest the chest over there contains our alms for the poor perhaps you would like oh I was going to take it um no I was hoping I could just oh what are you doing that gold is for the needy I am the needy see [Music] you oh what oh I oh [ __ ] I died [ __ ] oops either lose all your progress or keep some of your XP and go so you lose some but you won't be able to select classic anymore I'm going with a casual restart I lost the map progress still that was like the most important part karma for stealing from the [Music] PO okay that was much easier and we're probably supposed to go this way first all right let's do it boys ow ow okay phase two perhaps seems a bit anticlimactic wow okay who what this no one knows why our troubles began about a year ago but since that day this has been here the magic seal locks the door I've seen a gem such as these in vilshire keep before we had to condemn it okay at least we can enter this place now something you should definitely remember yeah that deals a lot of damage okay so you have to kind duck to adjust the height of your shield for some of the ow for some of those projectiles yeah this game's uh definitely like retro style but it has some like nice uh ow modern and stuff too which is kind of nice oh God Shield time okay this this part's a nice difficulty Spike though oh ouch we got a boss oh boy Jesus that's uh something it's going to shoot laser beams out of its belly isn't it oh oh I have to hit the head oh why didn't I expect that oh oops oh my God love the death animations [Music] oops okay that was pretty easy ah so this is one of one of the gem things for the gate yes all right four more I've been to the left oh maybe not all the way oh no I haven't I don't think I've been in here Danielle good night there's a huge monster I cannot seem to damage lurking in the basement you can eradicate it I'll teach you my family's ancestral fighting technique I don't you just use the fighting technique be careful down there I wasn't able to get close enough to hit it oh boy oh hello oh [ __ ] Oops why wasn't I expecting that oh I didn't see the eyeball move I wasn't paying attention yeah stand a bit further back back okay that took way too long Jesus this woman always have a spike pit in her basement or did the boss install it the boss probably had it installed boss renovated the place a little bit all right infernox is actually such a good game I had some confusion with the classic versus casual difficulty I chose classic because I wanted a challenge but then after my first death the game offered a casual respawn option which I selected for the sake of convenience but this fully switched the game from classic to Casual not just for the death punishment it gave me an extra life additional save points and reduced penalties for dying and I couldn't switch back to Classic without restarting completely at first I was a little bit annoyed by this but ultimately it didn't make much of a difference since you can purchase a ton of extra lives anyways and the bosses I faced in my playthrough were we're kind of pushovers but that's not the best part of the game what I enjoyed most about infernox wasn't the combat although it was fun it was the world and the puzzle solving and the choices you can make I don't want to spoil too much here but I love the different paths you can take with each Quest infernox offers such a unique experience the music slapped the artwork was great the deaths were really cool and I could honestly see myself playing it more in the future if you can stomach the gruesome art work and definitely recommend giving infernox a try all right it's the time we've all been waiting for that's right it's gooe Keeper Time this game stood out to me because it has a neat Vibe the character looks like Grimace doing a Samus cosplay and six out of seven of its Steam Reviews are positive let's try it out okay let's let's do this oh what an interesting place it's very green and I am very purple oh right trigger crouches oh I can just roll right off the bat just going to roll everywhere how about that press a to jump up all right we'll do can press X to shoot oh I have the dash already you start with the dash imagine the bragging rights if you made it yeah put it in my gamer resume goo keeper Iron Man mode that would be at the top above Hollow Knight any% World Records press X to shoot enemies left trigger to lock your movement oh to aim I guess press to use your special ability what the heck is that oh it's a little goo tether press to see the world map also where the heck am I I look like I'm in an attic with like a bunch of old boxes and [ __ ] in the background I am so confused all right uh that's the map oh it's a save point the chair I guess or the bed you are the gooe keeper hero of shroom Mast you must go out and save all of the goo they were all taken by evil creatures to prevent access to the living black tar I love this the way that this room is laid out kind of makes me think of like a Metroid Vania vertical room not Metroid Vania Metroid specifically what the is this enemy what the hell is this thing or these These are spikes aren't they well guess I'll go up all of these like mushrooms and stuff it makes the environment like so busy not even playing the game but I already feel lost I am extremely lost right now oh there's like a portal in here what the heck I guess this is like a waypoint the fall speed really builds up very quickly and there's like screen shake when you land oh my let's go toward the boss I assume if I die I'm going to lose all my progress just making that assumption bow Beetle amazing oh my God that attack came out so quickly okay I just kind of walking back and forth amazing and I still I still don't really get the special attack like it's just my regular attack with a bit less range but it deals way more damage and I can use it at the same time as my basic attack so I just like spam both buttons all right boss time oh my God those projectiles are so fast oh I can't Dash through the projectiles there's no eye frames feel like the boss is just kind of moving around randomly like like it's not actually programmed to attack where I am it just kind of runs to a side of the arena and shoots you have gained the hammer amazing what the enemy just teleported away that's a powerful Hammer dude trying to trying to farm uh wait wait Crouch is still on right trigger so I'm dashing and crouching at the same time even though I rebound the Crouch to left trigger you've gained large beam I like it large oh this is this is a trinket I don't know what they're actually called in game I'm calling them trinkets shoots a larger more powerful beam oh oh it's it changes my special thought it would Chang my basic attack okay that's cool you you get hit so fast like one attack you can get hit like five times if you're not careful oh I killed it instantly that was very quick turns out if you just Mash your buttons you can kill enemies very fast yeah I feel like so I feel like the bosses should have a bit more HP because they so far they die very quickly and you also die very quickly okay as you might have noticed I didn't love the game it actually gave me a headache which might be the first time A Game's ever done that to me but doing some more research I found out this game is the first game made by a married couple and their cat is part of the team and I like that there's a lot that's good about the game but but the movement in particular really needs some work there's also a lot of camera glitches and I would personally double or triple the amount of invincibility frames after getting hit there's a lack of feedback with some things like taking damage I would also give the dash invincibility frames by default you shouldn't take damage while traveling with a Teleport some enemies need better more clear telegraphs in terms of visual and audio and enemy projectile speeds are generally too fast to dodge especially with the large size of the player character some environments like the Omega Lair looks really nice but most were way too busy there's just too many environmental objects placed in the foreground the music was generally kind of tough to listen to especially combined with the loud repetitive ambient tracks layered behind them and the game wasn't balanced very well for example with the energy Shield upgrade most bosses could be killed without even moving on the bright side I think that with a few weeks of work polishing the game you could have a decent cute Metroid viia but right now I can't recommend it okay just want to make a quick note that the dev has released a patch which addresses a lot of the issues I talked about which is really great to see I haven't played the game again since but it's great to see the post-launch support okay next up is kiaro skuro this game actually looks like a really aesthetically pleasing chill Metroid Vania I saw it on Steam and was pretty interested it's been in the works for about 3 years and there's a demo available but the game isn't released yet so I decided to wait for it to release until the dev reached out and offered to send me an extended demo to show off an extra chapter of the game so I told them I'd give it a try let's do it chapter 1 the catastrophe o I like the art style the particle effects look really nice the lighting looks really nice I like the music press a to jump hold it to jump higher so we have have we have kind of like a variable jump height the jump button and we start with a wall jump nice obtained Thorn press X to swing your thorn in the direction you're facing oh there's like a combo if you uh hit X faster it pauses you in the air if you swing while you're in the air so you can kind of like jump up and smack enemies a bunch of times I like that also have uh directional attacks up and down as well I love this game's Vibes we got a kind of different area new enemies ouch what's this pick up press y to throw an equipped Health Lumen or strength jar I don't know what kind of Jar I got so I only have two health or can I take two hits and survive the enem is underwater interesting oh I can swim enter oh I didn't realize I could enter those doorways the lighting of effects are so pretty and I love the minimalistic color palette like it's so good it looks really nice especially for gooe keeper yeah the sound design is really satisfying too oh what was that you only hold so many jars at a time oh that was a health jar but it seems like I also oh there's fall damage oh my God I did not expect that oh that's not fall damage that's a hazard oh did the game crash it crashed well that's okay this is a Alpha version of the game oh you can see there's like a little bar underneath my health I think that's I think you kind of like have Hive Blood by default so you just kind of regenerate HP over time yes okay okay I was like right before the save point when I crashed stretcher hello there young one have you seen my dog I don't think so H it's okay keep an out for him will you nice mustache dude oh it's the witch doctor person oh all right see you what's happening oh it's the dog mark bark do seems to be missing his owner it's time to take do home obtained do oh goodness you found him thank you for bringing my boy home as a token of my gratitude please take something for my lost and found chest over there gladly what the heck is this A rock obtain the strange fragment press right analog stick to dash in the direction you're facing oh we got the dash we got the dash from saving the dog the most important thing I like the way the Dash feels the Dash feels pretty good so you need to use a resource to dash in interesting it's limited by your lumen no I don't think so oh [ __ ] that's an enemy thought that was like a an item or something ooh it's a whale Atlas ooh a visitor I don't get too many of you around here are you lost uh a little bit friend of mine and I have been working on something recently to Aid Travelers a map if you will oh the map person is a whale in this game how did a whale map out the area this game definitely has like a slower pace which is kind of cool oh you can Pogo these amazing oh it's a plague doctor guy again so it's you who's been following me are you after the light too with the Rare Element we have here can't let anything happen to it okay we're fighting amazing oh he killed me oops oh [ __ ] cool yeah combat's better than I thought it's definitely a lot of fun who are you what are you doing here I'm sorry I didn't realize that I have a bad case of sleepwalking oh cool area it's all blue little purpley oh it's a tree evil tree this is like the spooky Halloween zone pumpkins like how you kind of retain a bit of speed after you do an air Dash that definitely makes the air Dash feel better how are you doing oh [ __ ] balls [ __ ] okay yeah I really I I I've been enjoying this game's music a lot too oh what's this pumpkin Prince my father always used to keep this Grove so docile no one dared question him about this or that no matter you will not be sticking around much longer all right let's fight [Music] then oh okay timing your slashes can be kind of tricky oh what's happening oh [ __ ] ouch ouch nope what's happening you can kind of stun lock the boss a little bit yeah that boss got bullied okay thank God this is the right spot wait who the hell is this doctor I couldn't stop him he's too strong the Bandit he stole my boat stole your boat Dart why would he need a boat I think he's weak to the aqua elements he acted we knew each other and that I could trust him Rose I'll be waiting for you on the other side of the water be careful oh this gives me oxygen okay I'm curious what is down underneath here oh I don't have the element to destroy that yet oh obtain the aqua core it appears you're now able to breathe underwater oh oh and I got a new spell I can destroy the blue walls nice oh that was a short swim Rose this Expedition won't be easy the Arctic Cliffs are treacherous you must proceed with caution I'll find a safe path for us up the mountain all right I enjoyed kios curo and let's start with the good visually the game is beautiful I love the color palettes the particle effects and lighting effects and the character and enemy design all looks great the music is beautiful and pleasant to listen to It's got an interesting story that definitely had me hooked wanting to know what would happen next but game wise is where some more flaws started to show for me now keep in mind this is a very early pre-release version of the game so issues are to be expected so first I don't like that the dash is tied to a resource also because it seems like the hard mode just reduces your health it made things feel more punishing and tedious but not actually more difficult the particle effects from hitting enemies kind of obscures things and makes it tricky to see when enemies are attacking comboing enemies also doesn't work too well because hitting them usually knocks them back outside of your range I'm also not sure about the game's healing system you know I like the Estus system I like the focus system I appreciate that they're trying to do something different but I'm not convinced it works that well but I think the dev's done an amazing job with the game overall and I'm really looking forward to kiaro sko's full release okay next we're going to try Fairy After lights I first heard about this game because a bunch of the testers were from the hollow Knight community and the game just looks absolutely beautiful but it doesn't have many reviews it seems like no one's playing the game even though people generally seem to enjoy it and I just felt awful for the devs so I really want to highlight this game let's give it a shot I like the color palette the abyss Hollow night copy question mark I'm just is is that me I'm just a like a little blob oh I've got eyes in a face let's go left instead that leads nowhere okay why I can attack oh what a what an attack that is interesting oh what the heck I'm getting whisked away into the skies Taffy Reef okay in a new area this background is really pretty we' got like a variable jump height as well based on how long you hold the button oh they drop a little currency oh oh God ouch there's something underneath my health as well oh what's this this is terrible whatever am I to do oh you startled me who are you mysterious one you don't know who you are that's a shame indeed did you lose your memory in an accident perhaps you don't seem to understand the current situation no I do not oh a little St stained glass images nice ventia once ruled over Illumina bringing peace and Order maintaining the light in this world but alas The Fearsome crev one day Broke Free from the imprisonment seal with his immense power of Darkness crev destroyed lucentia took her core and kept it for himself I know how to restore the fragments but I can't do it alone since both of us have the same purpose why don't we work together I hope you don't mind me giving you a name how about Kemo I think Kemo suits you no I don't like that name what does this do oh that oh that's used to like open doors I guess okay so that's that's just used to like summon platforms oh it's a big fish going through the sky there's a bunch of them what is that maybe it's a key perhaps ah yes it is all right let's find the other key it's probably down here here's the key thank you so much now I can continue my travels the name is Talia I'm a traveler Who records anything and everything on my journey is this a map person oh it's a map person ah I like the map artwork as well oh skills inventory lore right bumper to absorb engines or energies not engines I totally misread that H how do we get through the spikes here the creature seems to be able to walk through the spikes right yet right there you see I'm capable of controlling those creatures oh it's it's friendly amazing we have commandeered the enemy okay I like that mechanic oh so that's what the resource is for because it used one of my green crystals yeah the game is cute I like it so far oh you can even move it up and down oh you can move it all over the place amazing we are now up on the bridge oh it's a big big guy oh oh the bridge broke unfortunate not to worry I can help I also have the ability to control the environment Jesus let's use my ability and make a run for it wait how does this work oh what oh I move it left and right and there's a bar at the Bott bot of the screen I didn't even see that okay just rebate the bridge oh I can hit right bumper to like make the platforms swap that's cool dear me what on Earth is going on I'm trapped between these Boulders and cobwebs I was oh no she's here she's back at her Lair quick you guys better hide before she finds you let's go but be careful Kimo okay this looks kind of like a boss Arena yep attack the ruin stuck above to make it fall H what oh G's telling me exactly what to [Music] do no streamers try to pronounce your username ouch I didn't even realize I took damage and I was at one HP oops oh okay okay interesting all right we killed the big spider and are absorbing its dark energy it was I who created you little one holy [ __ ] what is that you might not recognize me or even see me as quite different from you however you are still a part of me I guess okay the wall jump feels pretty good I like the wall cling State you can just tap left get out of the wall jump that's good looks like we've reached a new place Kemo oh there's more there's more fish I like how there's like flying fish in the background of these areas it's really cute I had no idea you'd be able to use spider legs after defeating the giant spider how incredible another boss room probably this impr presentence I have a bad feeling about it make sure you're prepared before we go further yeah I'm ready I guess oh another spider esque character oh oh it hit me I think yo Shelby oh what he just throwing rocks at me ouch I tanked that one with my face um oh it's dead defeat noia cool okay I finished fairy afterlight after 7 hours and I didn't love the game it's a shame because it's so beautiful it's even better when you play it than it is in the trailer the music is so pretty and I loved the character design the game has a lot going for it but it's bogged down by an overall lack of Polish especially with regards to the combat feeling so imprecise and awkward the sound design and audio balance was also flawed it's like one of my videos with numerous actions lacking any audible sound effect for example there's almost no feedback when you take damage so you'll sometimes just die while you still think you're at full health the platforming was mostly enjoyable in that department it felt kind of like budget Orie but much like ory in the blind forest fairy afterlight isn't much of a Metroid Vania even though it's advertised as one it's really linear and there's nothing to find around the map other than scraps of lore so the openness of the game just results in getting lost because it's sometimes way too unclear where to go next also they spent the entire game making the protagonists kind of morally ambiguous or sometimes extremely evil so I just didn't really care what happened to them and subsequently didn't care about the overall plot and that's a shame because it seemed like they put a lot of effort into crafting an interesting world that ultimately never captured my attention also I really think this team should make a game where their artwork and music and presentation can shine something kind of like grease rather than making something more gameplay focused like Ori in the blind Forest because Fair afterlight didn't really do it for me next is a game called bloody hell this is a bullet hell that looks kind of like enter the dungeon but with some nonlinear exploration and unlockable upgrades to navigate to New areas of the map so it's a Metroid Vania and it's also free to play and has overwhelmingly positive reviews and was apparently made by a team of students in the Netherlands so this game just sounds really awesome I'm excited to give it a shot hey asrael dear wake up God has summoned you oh boy you must go see him dear here he's up there and open the golden gates for you just enter through them okay let's go see God oh God's just a big eyeball Azrael Thou shalt fulfill a holy motion for thine God thou doth this by eradicating mine greatest Nemesis and former Ally Satan okay accomplish thine holy Mission and the shall receive the greatest reward now goeth and satisfy thine God oh oh all right I just got cast off into hell the achievement go to hell hold to shoot okay oh my God where is that eyeball Jesus o just blew it up do I go inside so I'm collecting bones as a currency oh I feel like this is an arena make them s oh god oh there shooting [ __ ] from staffs I like the enemy design like I I really like the eyeball doors is there like a Dodge roll there's like a little bit of uh like the gun is not perfectly accurate there's like a variable that make makes it like a little bit inaccurate so it's going like a bit off of where I'm aiming oh boy we got to kill these eyeball dudes I don't know if I trust God though God just kind of casted me into hell unlocked the dash you can now dash over gaps and bullets so we got the ey frames oh that was not good oh the skull can be filled with rage once you've gathered enough rage you can hold down e to heal dealing damage and feeding the skull Hearts will generate rage ah oh what's this guy boy Azrael it's you how are you doing man you were sent by God eh I also came down here just to beat the living daylight out of Satan myself anyway good luck here as let's see who can beat Satan first eh oh last thing I would advise you to interact with those crosses on the ground they serve as a gateway to heaven and you can return on them when you die oh that's the checkpoint I got to say this game is very wellmade for a free game and and for students as well I guess I need to go back to heaven and buy something to break those walls oh we can buy some different upgrades this upgrade will summon a shield around you that will protect you from incoming projectiles this upgrade will allow you to collect more bones in the wild INF Fromm corpses this will allow you to move faster ooh I assume those little squares on the bottom right of them are how many slots they take panting asrael asrael my sweet baby they fell down they fell into hell Jesus find them Asel find them all please I beg of you we we got to find some grub equivalents this is kind of like a Metroid deania map but like a different perspective which is kind of neat how they still have that style of map oh asrael you should know that if you're feeling a bit lost you can always open your map by the way there's some big ass dude over there okay it's also marked on your map I could beat him easily but you know I wanted to leave him for you to gain some experience in the field oh very considerate thank you oh there's there's the big ass dude let's fight them Jesus got a large chest [Music] sir very interesting attacks charg oh fully fully charged once the skull is filled with rage you can press Q to use your ultimate ability after activating press left Mouse button to slice up demons def judgment what what is happening I guess you can kind of like bounce between the enemies by clicking on them okay defeated pork chop demon slaughtered very nice good little tutorial boss and we got a thing this Blood vial makes your bullets travel faster you can equip it at an alchemy table got to find an alchemy table to equip things that's probably the alchemy table so is this like the charm type system but it's like Tetris to equip things I like it I like it that's actually pretty cool so now I've got faster bullets oh and they look different cool abolish their assistance oh God oh God this looks like a secret ah oh it's it's a chicken one out of 18 [Music] okay oh there's a little Shield got a circle strafe or can I just roll through oh my God not if I'm immediately going to get hit fast Define judgment okay you can definitely take damage quickly in this game if you're not careful unlocked the charge laser use holy power to charge up a massive laser that can shoot through rocks and shields oh can I destroy rocks with this yes I can there's rocks right here for me to destroy oh I didn't real I can go down here have I been down here oh I've not is this a boss well I'm just zooming oh [ __ ] Magie [Music] what oh I have to hit the crystal like they have the Mine card in the fight oh [ __ ] he got like a Little Rock Shield oh I oops let's heal up real quick just in case oh it's hiding cool yeah the game's really well made and it's is also really unique too like I haven't seen a metroidvania in this style so I definitely recommend this game okay bloody hell lived up to the hype I played through the game it took about 3 hours and I would have never guessed that this game was made by a bunch of students it's a blend of two genres resulting in a unique concept which they pulled up off really well all the elements of the game are solid the artwork and the music are great the combat is a load of fun and there's tons of areas to explore I didn't care too much for the story or the writing but it took a back seat to the game playay anyway my favorite part was the blood vial system it's such a clever idea and it was so much fun to strategize around fitting the blood vessels you wanted onto the grid it would have been nice if the game was a bit longer but I mean it's free and it's already a game that my opinion is worth paying for huge shout outs to the devs for making this all right if you're still watching that's it for today there's going to be links in the description to the steam store Pages for each game I wanted to make this video because there's so many Metroid Vania devs who deserve the exposure but just don't get it so go check these games out and if you enjoyed the video feel free to subscribe or let me know how you felt in the comments anyway that's it for me see yall next time hope you have a great 2024 hopefully with silk song [Music] [Music] included

Channel: fireb0rn

Views: 304,488

Keywords: hollow knight, hk, hollow, knight, thk, metroidvania, metroid, vania, castlevania, castle, metroids, platformer, action, playing, dumpster diving, steam, steam games, games, indie, independent, game, 2d, adventure, non-linear, exploration, review, reviews, new, silksong, silk song, release, rusted moss, pseudoregalia, islets, infernax, goo keeper, chiaroscuro, faerie afterlight, bloody hell, spoilers, trying, what to play, backlog, sale, iron pineapple, games you haven't heard of, soulslikes, souls likes, similar

Id: -Zyp3ADcvPA

Length: 81min 20sec (4880 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024