Venture to the Vile

Very Bri'tish with its tone and artstyle—I have a knack for finding these types of games, apparently. Its differentiator as a metroidvania is shifting between foreground and background "levels" instead of merely sidescrolling. Unfortunately, the game gets to a certain point with its cludgy movements and mechanics that turning off the damage in the accessibility settings is the only enjoyable way to play it.

Recommended BUT... this is an actual hot mess of a game. Game glitches frequently, some mechanics aren't explained, map is ridiculous and combat is held together with duct tape. There's barely any music, the menus suck and the game decided to remove all my healing potency upgrades just because. That said, this has a lot of charm. And it sounds like I should give this a thumbs down but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with this. If you're willing to put up with enormous amounts of jank then this is a fairly unique metroidvania that has some interesting ideas and passion behind it. I liked all the npcs, I liked the art direction, the sewers and the dungeons. Buy on deep sale if you're curious.

Un excellent jeu de style Metroidvania ! Si vous avez aimé Hollow Knight, vous allez probablement retrouver ici une ambiance qui vous rappellera beaucoup ce dernier, sans pour autant être une copie. Les mécaniques sont vraiment intéressantes et rendent les déplacements très fluides. Le gameplay est nerveux, dynamique et particulièrement agréable une fois qu’on maîtrise bien les différentes mécaniques. L’exploration est également au cœur de l’expérience. J’ai terminé le jeu avec seulement 55 % de complétion, et malgré ça, j’ai eu l’impression d’avoir vécu une aventure très satisfaisante. Il reste clairement beaucoup de contenu à découvrir pour ceux qui veulent pousser l’exploration à fond. Les NPC sont intrigants, les combats de boss sont intenses et offrent de beaux défis, particulièrement pour les joueurs qui aiment compléter leurs jeux à 100 %. Pour le prix, c’est clairement un excellent achat qui en vaut le coût. Une belle aventure que je recommande sans hésiter ! Je donnerais une note de 85/100 Bonne partie ! :)

A charming casual metroidvania. One of those that have fantastic presentation (setting, visuals, exploration, soundtrack - that kind of stuff), and simplistic, somewhat clunky gameplay mechanics (controls, traversal, combat). The former is definitely the main selling point here, the latter is doing its job well enough so that you don't drop the game out of frustration. Feels somewhat unfinished though, as the plot is borderline non-existent. It's an interesting setting and the prologue starts with a bang, but for the rest of the game there's below the absolute minimum happening story-wise, both during the main questline and in sidequests. This is [i]somewhat[/i] alleviated by the official comics DLC which reveals characters' backstories and sheds some extra light on the main events, but the DLC is not free so you have to pay extra for story bits that should've been a part of the game itself. Comics themselves are decent though. Still, i think the game is worth buying (at least on a sale) if the setting/aesthetics interests you, and you have a certain level of tolerance for janky gameplay mechanics.

I really enjoyed it. The look and feel of it the fact that it was a bit different to most all stood out like plusses to me. It does take some time to get used to the unique play area and that the map is kind of useless but after a while you realize that it how its meant to be. There is only a few main areas so your meant to immerse yourself in them rather than focusing on a map. I think any of the negative reviews are because of combat its not super fluid but that's okay in some games and this is one of them. The atmosphere and world around you is fun to explore and the 2.5D was done in a very aesthetically pleasing way. If you think you would like it than you are probably correct.. so try it ;-)

The first time I played it, the version was corrupted and I wasn't able to get to the ship or the windmill. When I saw that they had done a few updates, I went ahead and replayed it. This time I played it all the way through and completed all 3 endings. That being said, I couldn't get full completion because achievements wouldn't update when I beat the game with the prisoner's suit on, which I wore for all 3 endings. The game is pretty fun and has a nice length and replay-ability.