Roots of the mind

[h3]A courageous beetle's journey through subterranean gloom and fungal dementia battling the influence of the mycelium of madness..[/h3] At first glance Roots of the Minds looks like an amalgamation of Hollow Knight and Limbo, and in a way it has borrowed heavily from both while still managing to break out into its own uniqueness. At its hearth this is an old school platformer with basic combat and spells. While the classic elements of a metroidvania are there the map is quite small and after a while you get a much needed fast travel system that helps you navigate the labyrinthine undergrowth where the story takes place. As for the story itself, I found it to be quite vague. A mind altering root has taken hold of many of the bugs lingering in the dark corners of the undergrowth and you, a pesky downtrodden worker beetle, are on a journey to get to the root of the problem and eliminate its malign influence once and for all. On your quest you encounter infected bugs as well as friendly NPCs that allow you to gain upgrades and get side quests done. This vagueness might be connected to the creators' translation of certain passages, but there is a certain flair of cosmic horror in its …

For the longest time I was feeling undecided on this game. Then I tedously backtracked to a locked door after finding the key to it only for nothing to happen and that proved to be the breaking point for me. I cann't recommend this game. However, I do need to address the other elements of this game and why they made this game such a tossup for so long. The game takes a lot of inspiration from Hollow Knight. Too much, if I dare say, from the plot to the music, to the tone. The performance is fantastic and the game felt great to play even as you were limited if your ability to move and fight. That's not a bad thing per se as the game wants to make sure you know that you are a small and insignificant creature as it goes with the lore and is done well. The world is interesting to explore but the map is really limited. You have warping but it costs money and when you combine that mechanic with the limited map you began to have a serious problem unless you have a very strong memory... and there are no bugs like that thing with the warehouse key. The game was neither too hard or too easy, especially as you choose if you want to be a glass cannon or a tank with your upgrades throughout …

Alright

Roots of the Mind is a game I completed almost despite myself. It's got a lot of jank, including some really rough performance even on a fairly high end machine such as mine (7950x, 4080 super, 64GB RAM) where the game, and especially the music, will start to stutter the longer you play. However, it is also really cheap and has some decent enough "puzzles". GOOD! But it does have some missable quests that lock you out of 100%ing your file... NOT GOOD! BUT but it's also quite a short game, so doesn't take too long to replay with what you've learned. OKAY! Your mileage will vary A LOT with this one, depending on your jank tolerance. If there was a "shrug" button for recommendations, I'd pick that, but right now I'm not sure I can truly recommend it.

Gorgeous art but its pretty plain. I felt like currency is too rare even with the charm that drops extra. I never had enough to upgrade my character. Fast travel also costs currency as well which didnt help. Bosses were fine but after the mantis boss I was bored and frustrated with it. I wish there was a way to put map markers down b/c back tracking for secrets was annoying more than fun. Also the fairy that is supposed to identify secret passages for you never worked.

This is a simple metroidvania that takes heavy inspiration from hollow knight. The level design is fantastic, and it's honestly my favorite part of this game. The equipment is really interesting, it has multiple uses in both combat, mobility, and navigation. The firefly (charm) system also gives you a lot of different strategies to choose from. You can swap fireflies at anytime, which makes them a lot more fun and versatile. The enemies move sets aren't very complex, but the level design makes them pretty challenging to fight. Also, the dev actively fixes bugs and problems that are brought to their attention. There are some negatives; there's no way to rebind keys (you can just change the button icons), the english translations aren't great, some text boxes are cut off, and the monotone pixel art isn't interesting to look at. Monotone pixel art can be done well, Unworthy has beautifully smooth animations for example. I had a fun time with this game! Such a small price for a 1-3 hour game is absolutely worth it. 7/10