Astor: Blade of the Monolith

You can't turn off the overly-done camera shaking effect that happens when you use your heavy attack. That means that playing this game means committing yourself to watch the screen shaking every few seconds for hours and hours. No thank you.

Thoroughly enjoyable game. Nice simple hack-n-slash fun. Ran into a few bugs, but nothing that broke my save or set me back too far. It's pretty easy to miss collectibles on your first playthrough, because you'll often progress the mission without realizing, and then you can't go back. And if you want to go back to a level to collect them, you have to replay the missions. All other achievements were easily obtained through normal gameplay. The story is interesting enough to keep you invested, and the art design is cute. You won't find yourself stuck not knowing what to do or where to go, and there are no major difficulty spikes. Game runs well on the Steam Deck.

great gameplay, great story. great graphics. some annoying bugs. couldnt restart from checkpoint and the fast travel map was sticky af. also golem king got bugged a couple times.

Changing review from negative to positive: I actually like this game and fully intend to finish it, I like the combat and super awesome soundtracks. But, why in the word would you not have backpedalling in a action-adventure combat game? The character runs backwards instead EVEN WHEN YOU ARE LOCKED ON AN ENEMY causing you to get hit because your back is turned. Questionable design. (just got an ability that allow multi directional parrying and that mitigates the lack of backpedal, but still) Also, going back to an area for collectibles resets the entire area. You pretty much have to redo everything. This seems to be a major concern for players and still hasn't been patched, do the devs care?

An indie hack-and-slash zeldalike with fun combat, satisfying parrying, decent environmental puzzles, and a solid story? Sign me up. The VO narration and animated cutscenes are well done, the characters are memorable, the villain is very cool, and the progression is interesting. There are some minor glitches, but that’s normal for a game created by a small team. Overall, a really enjoyable experience.

Astor: Blade of the Monolith is rough around the edges, but fun little adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed the game art and the simple yet satisfying weapon combo system. Sometimes I felt like the music lacked a certain oomph for the moments during which it was playing. In general, whether due to technical issues or in general, the music, sounds and narration felt a little understated. The character designs are fun! Love me some stilt-legged soul-powered automata. The golems were also lovely. The emphasis on Diokek culture is understandable, but I really wish we could see more of golem culture, developed in isolation as it is. The sequel hook did not escape my notice, so I am looking forward to that. One day, hopefully. ;) Now I am going to address an elephant in the room, as it were. As a big fan of a LEGO BIONICLE toyline, I could not help but draw parallels in certain aspects of the worldbuilding and the unfolding story, though I feel like it's just a coincidence. We have a race of advanced beings that went extinct, leaving behind a multitude of artificial drones/servitors wearing masks that hold great cultural significance for them. We have a prophecy of a chosen one rising t…