Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-

After [b]Touhou Luna Nights[/b], I couldn't resist and decided to dive immediately into its spiritual successor, which is also an unexpected license to see, based on a series that, while it basically codified the Japanese variation of D&D-inspired high fantasy, has been out of the spotlight for many years. The game was developed as a companion piece to a novel that launched a new saga in the [b]Lodoss War[/b] setting (the original creator is credited as having given input to the game), although the plot is quite confusing even for people in the know, and is intended to be so until the end. For the same reason, however, you can still appreciate [b]Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth[/b] even if you are completely new to Lodoss, controlling the High Elf who is basically the face of the franchise. The UI is almost identical to [b]Luna Nights[/b] and allowed me to familiarize myself with it immediately. Once into the game proper, however, I could see that it veers closer to the model of [b]Castlevania: Symphony of the Night[/b], with Deedlit's walking cycle looking outright plagiarized from Alucard's. Consumable items are still selectable along with spells, but pausing allows you to swap weap…

short but good

Goated.

Gameplay heavily inspired by Symphony of the Night, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is another wonderful metroidvania by the Luna Nights Devs :)

Effectively a sequel to Megami Tensei Synchro, if it featured Lodoss characters instead of MegaTen characters. The game runs on an element swap system ala the shmup Ikaruga, in order to damage some enemies, negate some enemy attacks and even heal you. This functions well in the first half of the game, but in the second, enemy placement and behaviour becomes so nonsensical that the effect of your element stops mattering, and boss movements are so erratic and untelegraphed that you win not by anticipating their movements, but by dealing as much damage as you can in order to keep your elements stocked to heal yourself through the deluge of gibberish the game throws at you. In lieu of designing boss attacks that are clever to avoid, the game instead half-assedly relies on the player exploiting this healing, which renders you unkillable if your offense is aggressive enough. It sets a comfortable start and slowly descends into a very unsatisfying and lazy feeling finish. Got on sale for 15 bucks. Wasn't enjoying it and was looking forward to the end, but it was cheap as hell and had some pretty fantastic music featuring alot of old school 90s bass.

This type of Metroidvania is very enjoyable. You can finish the game in 5-8 hours, long enough to not overstay itself, short enough that you can finish in one long sitting.