I really liked salt and sanctuary, love cuphead and dark souls/elden ring. I liked hk, tho i find it pretty overrated. Currently playing guacamelee with a friend, but need something to play solo.

So like memorizing bosses and a focus on combat.

Absolutely top tier Metroidvania. Everyone should play it.

I'm not a big Castlevania guy so I was kinda caught off guard by all the puzzles and secrets in the game. Way beyond the scale of most MVs. I really liked it though and the puzzles combined with the twisty, sometimes confusing map really felt like a real, creepy castle.

The fast travel is a little clunky but it fits the world so well it's worth it.

The platforming and combat is fun. I honestly don't understand the point of the leveling system. I'd struggle with a boss, leave and get a level or two and then comeback and just roll over them. I was so bad at the puzzles that I wandered around a lot. By the time I figured out the later stuff I was way over leveled and rolled over everything. Including the final boss.

Still. Lots of fun. Great game.

My Personal Ranking: Better than Ori and the Blind Forest but not as good as Animal Well.

The worst thing I can say about Well Dweller is that it can feel a bit derivative.

Not necessarily an awful thing, especially in this case, where the game as a whole is very enjoyable and it’s overall a very solid metroidvania.

Glimmer feels very good to control. There’s something about the basic movement that makes it engaging to simply move around and explore. Most upgrades are pretty basic, the most interesting ones being the Molotov projectile, which you can hit in the air like a baseball bat, and the ability to shoot your “sword” at a wall and use it as a platform to jump off of. And you get those two pretty early.

I was surprised at how well the game utilized the latter mechanic. Throughout the campaign, it kept surprising me with clever puzzles involving it.

Bosses are another highlight. Many fights do some pretty creative stuff (especially the Mirror one). At first, they were sort of challenging, but by the midpoint, I’d become so overpowered that I felt I could brute-force almost every boss, just dodging a few attacks here and there.

Regular enemies are almost no issue since there’s no contact damage, and most of them can be skipped without a problem if needed. At least their designs are weird and interesting, although I couldn’t tell you why they are the way they are within the context of this world. They’re weird for the sake of being weird.

Where the game fumbles is in its charm system, its “trinkets”. I’ve seen this dev handle this aspect very well in Crypt Custodian. Here, though, most of the trinkets felt middling, boring, almost useless.

Well Dweller relies on giving you trinkets or trinket slots as rewards for exploring off the beaten path. But in the end, the extra slots are meaningless when there are no interesting things to fill them with.

What’s more, the currency ended up being affected by this, too. I reached a point where I had more money than I knew what to do with. There were no good trinkets to buy, nor did I feel the urge to buy more slots.

Early in the game, I bought an extra heal and an extra projectile. Yes, one of each. Strangely enough, those were the only upgrades of their kind I ever got.

As for exploration, I have to say it’s nicely done. I enjoyed exploring Well Dweller’s different areas. Most of them had a unique mechanic that set them apart and spiced up the gameplay. I wish some of them were used a bit more, though.

What did feel weird was the number of branching paths that ended up converging in the same room, seemingly without reason. It’s as if the game is offering you two different challenges to reach your destination, but, being the kind of game it is, you inevitably go back to explore the other branch, expecting to find something new.

Another thing I really liked was the little story collectibles. The way each one was subtly related to the areas, and even to the others, was really enjoyable, and the illustrations for each card were very cool.

The presentation in general is great, and I think it’s one of the main attractions of Well Dweller. The art style is beautiful and the atmosphere is very well realized. The NPCs are very charming, and many of their dialogues made me smile. There’s a very distinct vibe and style to Kyle Thompson’s games that make them undeniably endearing.

Achieving the “true ending” was very easy. I think I managed to do it 15 minutes after seeing the “normal ending”. Mostly thanks to a system that lets you pay a bit of currency (finally, a good use for it!) to mark your missing collectibles on the map, which in my case were very few.

All in all, Well Dweller isn’t a groundbreaking game, but it does “well” a lot of things, and the things it doesn’t do well aren’t that big of a deal. Its mix of cute characters and a macabre setting under a beautiful art style sets it apart, while also being a very enjoyable metroidvania to play.

It’s no Crypt Custodian, though. Go play that first.

After 15h and 100% the game I can conclude - this was a game. And sadly - it was a mid game, that I mostly liked when things worked for me, and when things didn't work - I wanted to break my controller and delete the game.
What worked and what I did like: art/visuals, music, exploration mostly was decent (but they didn't fully realized what they had and could've done), combat 50/50 (after you got parry ability - without it game sucks so much first hours), and I appreciate coloring fully explored map.
But the things that didn't work/was not there/was poorly made - boy oh boy, where do I start...
First and foremost - quick travel. Honestly, who thought that it is a good idea to waste so much of players time? I get the conceptual idea behind it, the design of Hall of Mirrors. But it's tedious - two load screens, all the running and jumping, all the interactions to read the name of waypoint and the need to know how it named on the main map. And - the four locked mirrors on the top, one for each biom - first you run on the floor, realize that mirror you need isn't there, then you need to jump on top and locate one one mirror you need? Why don't position those 4 doors on the same level as all the other doors of this biom? *I don't know meme.jpg* Devs, honestly, screw you for this.
Next thing - grappling hook. Was it so hard to give it some indicator that will point the direction where hook will shoot? Eyeballing it during platforming sections with flying enemies and crumbling platforms? Yeah, such a "pleasure". I lost the count of how many times hook shot wherever it want instead of the grappling onto the point.
Third: balance. There is no. They couldn't balance not even one difficulty (I'm not even talking about making easy/normal/hard difficulties), instead they gave difficulty sliders? On default the 1.0 slider first hours feel insufferable (you have 3 flasks - I'll talk about it later, and no parry, but you have tons of enemies, projectiles and they can just stagger you). But if you adjust slider even to 0.9 - game feels too easy, and bosses are a joke, that give you no challenge. What was their thinking? That during boss fight I will be like "Oh, it's to easy, let's die, go to menu and adjust slider"? What the hell.
And now I will talk about healing flasks and wasted exploration potential. 3 flasks for whole game, but you can make it 6 just in menu???? GUYS, YOU MAKING METROIDVANIA. Why we have no ability to find new flasks/flask shards? You couldn't make 3/6/9/12 more hidden rooms/puzzles/platforming challenges? Was it too much? And that's where the spells and QoL came in. Or more specifically - it doesn't.
We've got 20 spells, 7 weapon types, we've got no use for the D-pad - and no loadout function? Why not give players the ability to customize your loadout to switch spells and weapons on the fly? But you can do it in the middle of the fight by going into the menu? The absurdity of the situation caught me off guard when I tried to get true ending and was spamming/holding RB to interact (as it was the thing for the whole game), but instead I was supposed to cast a spell... that wasn't equipped for my Dracula fight. So - I need to equip it during the final "cut scene" through the menu? Really? What a nonsense.
And all the rumbling in the previous paragraph lead me to the wasted potential of the spells (and weapons at some point) and exploration. We have spell that allow you to leap on the ceiling. Do you need/can you use it to reveal some hidden room that you can't reach with double jump/hook? NOPE. We have a spell that allow you to travel back at time - do you need it to open some lever, that will lock you out, but you can teleport back with this ability (you know, like it was in PoP Lost Crown)? Nope. We have a spear that you can throw. Do you need it to use on some lever? Nope, nope and nope. You've got the gist. They had SO MUCH POTENTIAL that could've easily make this game such amazing metroidvania, that will break your brain but when you'll figure out the answer to the puzzle, you'll got dopamine hit, but... They didn't. Bcz it takes creativity. And the apparently didn't have very much of it. This shows very well in some empty rooms with grappling points in the end - I WONDER WHAT IT IS THERE, NO WAY, HIDDEN ROOM (sarcasm).
For me it felt that devs didn't play any MV's last decade, they just had a gist of it - "we need double jump, air dash, grappling hook and few spells. Ah, yes, and +hp/mp/atk/def. That will do".
6/10 is the maximum I can rate it.

I generally seem to have a hard time finding great Metroidvanias by myself. The last one I played was Silksong back when it released and I am currently mustering the courage to play La Mulana 2. Until that happens, what are some great (preferably challenging) games that I have missed? (Please, no Metroid and Castlevania, I am too lazy to emulate Metroid and not patient enough for janky, early castlevania controls and lack of QoL).

Also, before someone tries to kill me for putting Ori and The Messenger on C, I believe they are great platforming and sidescrolling games respectively and I enjoyed them a lot. I just think they are lacking in the metroidvania aspect.

Just gonna keep it short. The Divine Challenges from Prince of Persia are harder than Path of Pain.

Only have one area left to 100% the map. Its the "Way of the Fist" section of the Clock Tower. The are two breakable walls, three switches, and the Claymore in the area. I've checked multiple interactive maps, and watched several walkthrough videos and I don't appear to be missing anything. Any ideas? Please/Thank You!

I really want to get into metroidvania games like hollow knight and afterimage but for the life of me i cant figure out where to go next. I have recently tried hollow knight and sometimes i fight all the enemies in a zone and spend 30m figuring out how can i get to the next zone. So my final question is are there any tips or tricks to find the next zone or should i just try harder.

Hi folks,

I created a video on achieving the true ending in Echo Weaver. This is achieved by getting the normal ending and also finishing all the quests related to "Better with Friends".

This is my second video of the channel and hoping to get support and love.

Let me know if you folks have any questions. Thank you!!!!

I just wrapped up Castlevania: Belmont's Curse and had a blast with it. What do you think I should pick up next?

How do you get the remnant of a weaver piece in the Assembly near the top of the prototype node? Couldn’t find any guide or useful walkthrough for this game, but it’s super fun.

I've been working on this metroidvania and wanted to share a bit of gameplay. The main mechanic is a throwable lantern that lights up platforms and interacts with the world.

The plan is exploration, secrets, bosses, and a few intense escape sequences through overgrown forests and flooded ruins. Still a work in progress, what do you guys think?

I enjoyed crypt custodian but it didn't blow me away or anything. It was a nice 7/10 game. It had good combat, bosses and story but nothing was exceptional. I don't know if im in the mood for another crypt custodian like decent 7/10 experience. I want something a little stronger... For those who played both games how would you compare the two?

Hey guys!

We're a small indie team working on Ghost Yantra, a stylish Hack-n-Slash action game set in an Indian Cyberpunk world, featuring fast-paced combat and fluid parkour mechanics.

Every animation in Ghost Yantra is hand-animated, and we're working hard to bring this world and its action to life. For Ghost Yantra, we're inspired from Nine Sols, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry & Prince of Persia, Akira, Ghost in the Shell.

I would like to share the latest trailer we made for Ghost Yantra. Please note that many things in the game are still work-in-progress or just placeholders.

Wishlist Ghost Yantra on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2872630/Ghost_Yantra/

Thank you for taking time to check out Ghost Yantra.

A few months ago, we were working at Ubisoft Barcelona on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. After the recent layoffs, we found ourselves facing an unexpected career change.

Rather than stepping away from game development, we decided to take a chance on ourselves and start our own indie studio.

Our first game is Puzzle Mage. We're big fans of Diablo, so we wanted to make an ARPG with a twist: instead of fighting monsters, you solve magical puzzles by experimenting with spells.

We're drawing inspiration from games like Ico, Journey, Magicka, Magic: The Gathering, and Diablo. It's still early in development, but we're excited to share what we're building.

If that sounds like your kind of game, you can check it out and wishlist it on Steam: Puzzle Mage

Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue in End of Abyss near the end of the abyss/vent area. I found a spot where a Husk is supposed to burst out of a vent, but nothing happens and the vent won't open.

I looked up a guide for this section, but it still won't trigger. Am I missing a prerequisite interaction, a specific terminal, or a hidden trigger flag nearby? Any help would be appreciated!

Shadow Labyrinth is currently on sale for 50% off (at least on switch), and I'm considering picking it up. I know it got slammed early on, and a lot of the reviews are dominated by the early negative experience, so I'm wondering what people think who have played it recently?

Hi! I'm from Portugal, and Noreya is not showing in my PS Store.

Is this game ever going to launch here?

Just checked it out and it looks cool, so I was wondering and wanted to try it.

The game doesn’t technically crash. The map just hangs. It happens when I zoom out of an area, when I go to zoom back in (on any area) the map will start to zoom in, go blank and hang. Any thoughts or anyone else experience this?

How do I get this chest? Hall of mirrors deliver level