Before I Go

[i]---See where this game landed on my Metroidvania Tier List beneath this rec!---[/i] Before I Go was actually pretty decent. It's a metroidvania with an emphasis on platforming where you [i]pew pew[/i] with a ranged attack. It reminded me a little bit of [b]Somber Echoes[/b] with its platforming emphasis and repeating black space in the walls of every biome. Like [b]Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus[/b], the game doesn't treat you like you've never played [b]Hollow Knight[/b] before, so quite early in you will find yourself precision platforming around spikes. I didn't encounter anything too brutal in the platforming, nothing extreme like in [b]Aeterna Noctis[/b], [b]Lone Fungus[/b] or [b]Trash Quest[/b]. I'd say the difficulty of it is more on the level of [b]Silksong[/b] - can get genuinely tricky occasionally, but not masochistic. My biggest gripe with [b]Before I Go[/b] was the backtracking. Teleporters are very spread out, making it a bit of a slog whenever you gain a new ability and need to revisit everywhere to try and find the next way forward. This was also a factor in why I didn't try to 100% the collectables (I finished with 90-something %). There were a few points …

This game is not a metroidvania it is a platformer and it is one to avoid. I played for 4 hours and quit after spending an hour trying to get through the lasers in the temple. I am an experienced platform game player so 'git gud' doesn't cut it. This game is not hard it is just badly designed and implemented which just leaves the player feeling frustrated. This game could have been a gem but the dev screwed up and has left me wishing I had spent my money elsewhere.

I've played dozens of Metroidvanias. It's my favorite genre by far. Before I Go is great for MV fans who love a fast pace exploration without many headaches and fun combat along the way. The game provides several upgrades at a reasonable pace as well. Exploration is rewarded with upgrades and narrative. It's not a long game, but that's what I like.

Enjoyable Metroidvania, with well-designed platforming gauntlets and excellent music being my personal highlights. Less keen on the overabundance of enemies, though this gets more manageable as you progress. Combat was good overall and it's refreshing not to have brick wall bosses - got maybe 3 game overs in my whole playthrough. Also enjoyed the overarching narrative, although some of the dialogue was pretty ropey - maybe got lost in translation.

Great metroidvania in terms of platrofrming. For me, it perfectly strikes the balance between difficulty and frustration.

This game is very addictive. It's the platforming Metroid-esque that kept me going for hours. I wanted to continue exploring, backtracking and finding new abilities to progress into the next area. The art style is lovely, brings a lot of spirituality into the game. The music is eerie and matches well with the theme of the game. The bosses are a bit more on the easy side and too far between but if you love platforming and challenges more then this metroidvania is for you. I think this game could use more color, maybe areas looking a bit different, like I wouldn't mind even an additional biome full of nature. I haven't finished it completely yet but so far I am enjoying it a lot. I definitely would recommend this metroidvania and even would consider this to be the perfect starting metroidvania if you've never jumped into this genre before.