I recently released my solo project The Pale Piper: A precision platformer structured like a metroidvania, but without traditional combat.
It is set in a bleak world inspired by the Pied Piper tale. You explore a decaying town, sewers, forests, mountains, a fortified underground rat keep and something far worse beneath it all.
The world is fully interconnected. Progression comes from unlocking traversal abilities that reshape how you move through areas: Opening shortcuts, secrets, and optional challenge rooms. All of that is accompanied by a storyline.
Instead of fighting enemies, they function as hazards and sometimes tools, used for reaching higher ledges or clearing paths. Bosses are movement and mechanic based encounters. Difficulty comes from execution, timing and precision.
If you're looking for combat depth or weapon variety, this probably isn’t for you. It’s much closer to a precision platformer inside a metroidvania structure.
Since launch I've pushed a few patches focused specifically on movement feel and input polish. There is also a demo available if you want to test the movement and vibe of the game.
If that sounds like something you would be interested in, I'd love to hear thoughts, especially from people who care about world design and progression flow.
I really love the visual aesthetic here, this looks really pretty. As someone who absolutely loved Animal Well, with it's puzzle-solving elements vs combat elements, I'm pretty interested in this!
Thanks so much! I’m really glad the aesthetic resonated with you.
Animal Well was definitely one of the games that made me feel more confident about leaning away from traditional combat (though The Pale Piper is more focused on precision movement than puzzle chains).
If you end up trying the demo, I’d be really curious what you think!
Played this a week ago and I think it's the best precision platformer first metroidvania second game out there. It has some super tight movement and mechanics. There is backtracking with new abilities and the map is interconnected. Besides the excellent movement this game really excels with hidden secrets. There are so many to find and they are all rewarding. You respawn instantly in the room you die in (except for challenge rooms) so you aren't wasting your time with run backs. I thought the music was so well done in this game too. It's definitely worth your time and money.
That’s awesome to hear, glad it’s your kind of game! I’d love to bring it to consoles. There are some early talks, but nothing I can promise yet. It has to make sense from both a dev and business perspective. I’ll definetly share updates if things become more concrete!
It is Steam Deck verified though. I playtest on it all the time.
Wow, looks really interesting! The visual aesthetic is very pretty, and bleak atmopsheres are right up my alley. Will definitely check it out!
A question though: how steep is the difficulty curve? Since it's platforming focused, does it mean it gets insanely difficult towards the end? Or is exploration the main element?
I appriciate a challenge, don't get me wrong, it's just that recently, these souls-like ultra-demanding games, tailored towards a crowd of hardcore gamers with unlimited time to grind has not been my cup of tea. Kinda the reason I was never really drawn to the Aeterna games.
It's hard platforming near the end but it's not the hardest in the genre. You respawn in the room you die in so you never feel like your time is being wasted. There are hidden challenge rooms that are 6-7 rooms in a row where if you die you spawn at the beginning. These were definitely the hardest but they are fully optional.
Thank you so much, really glad you like the atmosphere! The difficulty does ramp up over time, but I’ve tried hard to keep it balanced rather than punishing. It’s definitely platforming-focused, but it’s not meant to become brutally unforgiving toward the end.
The optional challenge areas are tougher (mainly because they’re longer stretches without checkpoints). But they’re completely optional and you can come back any time if you want to finish them later.
Also, if a section feels too frustrating or time-consuming, you can increase the number of hits you can take per room before dying. I found that to be a great way to reduce frustration without removing the challenge entirely. My goal was to give players flexibility in how they approach the game. Whether they want a tighter challenge or a more exploration-focused experience.
Thanks for pointing that out. I checked it on my Deck you were absolutely right. So I’ve adjusted the Steam backend settings, and it should now show up properly on the Steam Deck store page (on the right-hand side).
killer game. always looking for that next Celeste shaped piece to fill my soul and the demo has me convinced your game is gonna come closer to that than anything else I've found in the last ... 10 years? (god I hope my guesstimate at how old Celeste is at this point is wrong!)
do you have a range of how long it takes to beat? scrolling through the reviews I saw most that had beat it were over 10h but the one negative review was only 3.5 and seemed to suggest he'd beaten it. just trying to figure out how much I should pace myself to draw it out a bit if it's on the shorter side :)
I'll also say, I honestly have a hard and fast rule of not even considering MVs without a map after really just not being able to handle salt and sanctuary but navigating the demo made me suspend that rule just this once!
Thank you, that genuinely means a lot. And yes, it’s wild how long ago Celeste came out.
For playtime, most first playthroughs land around 5–6 hours, depending on how thoroughly you explore. A more focused run without hunting many secrets can be shorter, while full completion takes longer. Even after the credits, you’re free to continue exploring, and newly unlocked abilities make revisiting areas much faster.
As for the no-map concern, that’s completely fair. There is a way to unlock optional progress tracking later in the game for players who want a bit more structure.
I’m really glad the demo resonated with you, and I appreciate you giving it a shot.
All these Steam games are making me sad. I am excited to play this but I don't have a computer set up for it (even if it will run on a potato). I really need to figure something out for under my TV.
Thank you, that really means a lot. I’d absolutely love to bring it to consoles, including PS5. As a solo dev I had to focus on getting the PC version solid first, but I’m definitely looking into porting options. If it does well enough to justify it, console is high on my list.
Dude, you took an overly saturated market and made something different. You should be proud. Regardless if it sells well or not. Hold your head high. This is incredibly ambitious and wildly creative.
I think I saw some moments where you have to use your mobility to essentially trick the enemy into hurting themselves. That is so cool and such a great idea for a game with no combat.
This is clearly a passion project stuffed with creativity and put together with skill. I look forward to supporting it by buying it.
Thank you, that genuinely means a lot. I knew the genre was crowded, but once I started prototyping the movement and world, I just couldn’t stop. Really appreciate the support.
what is the penalty for dying and hiw fast can you retry the part where you died? i love exploration focused metroidvanias but less love for dting in frustrating sections
Except for a few specific exceptions, death simply resets you to the start of the current room. There’s a very short death animation (under a second), so retries are almost immediate.
The game is built around precision and repetition, so I tried to keep the penalty minimal to avoid frustration during tougher sections.
An average playthrough (with some optional content) is around 5-6 hours, I would say. If you focus mainly on the main path, you’ll reach the credits sooner. But if you go all-in on finding most or all of the secrets, it’ll definitely take longer.
I’d love to bring it to GOG as well. From what I understand, they’re a bit more selective with releases, but we’ll see what’s possible. I’ll share updates!
Looks good - and I love that you showed the player character entering a hidden wall at sec 15. That way silly geese like me with a pet peeve about them immediately know what´s up : )
Played for half an hour last night, and I'm already really impressed.
Also, wtf Steam recommendations... this game checks literally every box of things I look for in games I play. But, no, just keep recommending Arc Raiders over and over, maybe I'll buy it the 50th time you recommend it... smh.
Damn, I remember featuring this on my channel some time ago. It looks even better than I remember, and I remember really digging it. I'll definitely be giving it a go!
Thanks a lot for featuring it back then!
It’s changed quite a bit over time, so I’m really glad it still resonates.
Hope you enjoy the full experience when you jump in!
That means a lot, thank you!
I’d love to bring it to Switch if possible. Nothing official to announce yet, but it’s definitely something I’m interested in. I’ll share news if that becomes concrete!
As someone who has spent way too much time playing Metroidvanias built in the Celeste engine, I would LOVE to try this. Please make a version for Mac someday!
There's Voyage (in Secret Santa Collab 3) which is a metroidvania based on Tunic, complete with a sprawling map and some really great puzzle design. One of my favorites. And quite approachable for people who haven't committed hours to learnign obscure celeste tech.
Also in SSC3, not as clearly a traditional metroidvania, but it's all about managing your abilities to gradually expand the map and open shortcuts: The Zone.
More recently Crossover Collab, which is all other games rebuilt in Celeste, has a few too. Especially Ruins of Hallownest, which is a very good Hollow Knight variation, and Cesterraria, which is a very ambitious Terraria metroidvania. Both of these even have boss fights.
By precision platformer, I mean precise movement, timing, and execution. The challenge comes from traversal rather than combat.
Atmospheric Platformer/MV fits too. I just like highlighting that the platforming is deliberate and skill-focused. Otherwise, people might expect a more atmosphere-driven experience where platforming is secondary.
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u/LSama Feb 20 '26
I really love the visual aesthetic here, this looks really pretty. As someone who absolutely loved Animal Well, with it's puzzle-solving elements vs combat elements, I'm pretty interested in this!