MindSeize

Initial Impression - Interesting story and decent graphics but the game feels more obsessed with difficulty than the enjoyment of the experience. It isn't satisfying at all to use the ranged weapon and you don't move fast enough with the melee sword attack for it to be that rewarding. It is really rough around the edges and suffers from just no clear path on what to do. I just can't recommend this game in the limited amount of time I've spent with it.

This game is decent. Graphics and sound are reasonably good. Play control feels a bit stiff, even in endgame. Bosses can be fairly challenging (partly due to play control maybe). Story is no frills. I do have gripes about the game, much of which have to do with the way I play metroidvania titles. I suppose others would have the same issues, so I'll describe them here. This game emphasizes exploration. It doesn't always hold your hand like other metroidvanias and tell you where to go all the time. Quite the opposite (with a few exceptions). You need to wander around a lot, looking for the upgrades to continue your exploration. This may result in getting lost looking for the correct path more than a few times. I see this as both a positive and a negative. The major gripe I had was with the map. Contrary to other metroidvanias, there is no benefit to filling out the squares on the map. And the percentage shown on the map is not the current map % completion - it is the total item collection % for the WHOLE game. There are no items or npcs who reward you on filling out map%, so it is useless to do so (which is strange for the metroidvania genre). And there are tiles on the map you th…

I played about four hours of MindSeize, and I don’t think it’s a terrible game, but I ultimately understand why people complain about the map and progression. Honestly, I don’t even think the map itself is that bad. The bigger issue is that the game doesn’t do enough to point you in the right direction, and the moment-to-moment combat isn’t strong enough to make wandering around feel rewarding. The combat and boss fights are good enough to carry things for a while, but once progression stalls because it’s not obvious where to go next, the game starts to feel like a chore. If the combat were a little sharper, or if the game gave you firmer nudges toward the next objective, I probably would have stuck with it and felt better about the overall experience. As it is, I ended up walking away. Not awful, but not one I’d recommend unless you’re especially hungry for another metroidvania.

map is crap

[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote] I have said this before and I think I need to say it again: Someone once told me that the impression given by a game in its first two hours is very important, as if the player does not get hooked by something or does not find something that interests them, they are very likely to drop that game and never return to it. And I see myself agreeing with that statement. As time goes on, we find less and less time for our entertainment. Our free time, which seemed to be endless as a kid, slowly becomes a luxury as we tackle much more important tasks and take on more important roles. And all of this is without mentioning the refund systems that allow people to return a game shortly after purchase, if some rules are not broken, should they not want to keep onto it anymore. Therefore, the first two hours of a game are very important. So, if I play a game and find nothing that interests me about it, I'm not going to continue playing it for a very slight chance of suddenly falling in love with it…

Fantastic Metroidvania. Art, music and action are all on point. A bit on the hard side but there's an Easy Mode setting to help if you need it. There are tons of power ups and a collectable finder near endgame to help you get them. Look around if you feel stuck. The dev included multiple paths and breakable passages so you're never truly trapped.