Gastova: The Witches of Arkana

A failed kickstarter project. This was originally supposed to be a metroidvania but the game went into dev hell and in a desperate attempt to salvage this they turned it into a boring linear megaman like game. Don't buy this, there are so many better games out there for you to play instead of this.

It's like if Rabi Ribi were no good at all. I don't know what the story is with this game's early access; maybe there's very good reasons that this feels like the most half-assed metroidvania ever. But I'm judging it based on the product I got, and it's not worth your time. I could write an essay dissecting the flaws in level design, progression, story, exposition, map navigation, movement, collection... but it's really not worth it. Mechanically, the game is fine. Hitboxes can be a little janky, but your character moves well, jumping is responsive, dashing is fast, it's fine. It's just that there's no real reason to play this when there's a universe full of metroidvanias that deliver on the empty promises from this game.

Surprisingly addictive, difficulty feels balanced, and the art style is fun. There's also a lot more content than you'd expect coming from an indie title, with all sorts of secrets and areas to discover. My favorite part was learning some of the movement tech with the dash ability. This game has all the things you'd want and more from a "metroidvania-esque" platformer. Cool game.

The game is not bad... But it's pretty boring... Maybe I gonna give it another chance in the future.

It’s a pretty simple Mega Man-ish game but it’s kinda charming. Gastova is a delightful protagonist, any character whose motivation "I thought I wouldn't have to do anything and I'd get paid for it" is okay in my book. A little too easy at first but turns more challenging in its second half. It has a few minor issues and some rough voice acting but it’s still pretty decent

[h1]Gastova is running errands...[/h1] [h3]History[/h3] An adventure about a young witch, full of humour and a heart-warming message. We find ourselves in a mysterious world with a variety of biomes. Each location has its own mini-boss and main boss; [b] I enjoyed the story, but it does have its flaws, and many of the characters aren’t fully developed, whilst there’s not much information about the world.[/b] 6/10 [h3]Technical section[/h3] The graphics are entirely pixel-based; there weren’t any particular issues – everything ran smoothly and looked great. 10/10 [h3]Gameplay[/h3] Let’s start with the least pleasant bit… There’s no levelling system, so you’ll always have to play with just one outfit that heals your character exceptionally well. Yes, there’s an outfit system, different weapons, various spells and pets, but you’ll end up using just one or two builds focused on healing all the time. When you start tackling the zodiac-themed bosses, it becomes a tedious grind of collecting scrolls, and you’ll have to teleport back and forth to fulfil all these conditions. There used to be a shop where you could level up your character. But the developer thought it was too casual an…