SENTIENT STEEL

While graphics might not convince you, this is one of those games that surprises you once you start playing. Gameplay is flashy and pretty cool. Your primary weapon is a blaster, which you may continuously fire while dashing around by holding down the button. You also have a sword, which you can use for a stronger strike and to destroy stuff more quickly. Other moves include dash, which allows you to overcome gaps, and grab, which is only applicable on surfaces where wall-running is possible. Special abilities are connected to flowers. Almost every stage has one flower component, and if you gather three of them, you'll obtain a new flower. It is possible to outfit up to three distinct flowers. You can activate special attacks, heal, and do a lot of other things with flowers. But only when you have sufficient energy can you make use of them. You might have enough energy for just one power because they can take a lot. However, eliminating and shooting enemies can restore energy fast. As you complete missions, more areas open up on the map you're moving through. A mission is a pretty straightforward mix of platforming and shooting where the objective is to reach the end and destroy…

Going to be honest in that platformers are most definitely not my kind of game; however, this looked interesting, and it feels nice to support a 'real' indie dev (looks like a near-solo project, small budget). All the mechanics are introduced in a way that makes sense, without being shoehorned, and the levels are all a good length without overstaying their welcome. It would be easy for it to become repetitive, but new mechanics or new ways to use the existing mechanics are inserted often enough for it to stay fresh and engaging. I have a feeling this would work great for speedrunners, which I am definitely not, but I can see a lot of replayability in that. The little shooting sections offer a really nice change of pace, and the bosses are fun. It works great in local co-op, the camera does a good job of keeping both people in-view, and there's good fail-safes in place for when one of you falls behind (or falls, full stop). The dev has clearly put thought into how to make it enjoyable for both players, and it shows. I have yet to test it with remote play, but I can't see any reason it wouldn't work. Considering how rare it is to find an indie game with a working co-op feature, it…

Fun gameplay, I really enjoyed the wall running while fighting with with a sword and gun simultaneously, it felt very freeing. I really like the artstyle, it feels quite nostalgic with beautiful colours and shadows for the day night cycle. Looking forward to learning more of the bioflowers technology abilities.

Sentient Steel is like dry chicken. Is it good? Kind of... but it has a lot of downfalls. PROS: +Great soundtrack. Easily the best part of the game. Catchy tunes, they don't get in the way and they're worth listening to. +Solid environment and obstacle design. For a platformer, this game has a good visual style that's pleasing to look at without being too busy. +It has customization in the form of which upgrades you buy and equip, and I like that. CONS: -Everything feels stiff. The jumping, the combat, completing levels. Nothing feels as good as it should on paper. The trailer sold me on the amount of moves you have and freedom of platforming, but WOW is it slow to actually play. The first half hour is spent waiting for something actually fun to happen, and then world 2 is a marginal increase at best. -The game claims to be fast-paced when it is not. You have a dash, but it feels awkward to use and oftentimes doesn't land you in the place you want to be. The SHMUP sections are the worst example of this, though. They introduce enemies at a snail's pace, and it doesn't even feel satisfying to destroy them. -Story and Main character design are lackluster. I just played it and I coul…

So, a platformer made to be speedrun a lot an test your skills since the minute 0. Nice platformer with the basics, but still makes challenge the core of the gameplay. Yeah, you can get to end the stages, but can you do it fast? Maybe. Can you do it without getting hit? That can ce a challenge. Can you get them both at the same time? well, my friend, that's the main challenge you gotta resolve. The controls are fairly good, shoot for attacking at adistance with lower impact and slash for something more risky with higher reward. Maybe i can get some problem when i feel that the movement speed could sped un a little, but mayybe because i want to feel that speed for the speedrun challenges. Art is.. Fine. Not a masterpice but cool, i would try to manage some kind of wath to belnd the current style with some hogh contrast colors so you can get better discerning shapes. Also i kinda missed on the start the places where you can slide a la Sonic Adventure 2 style, but hey maybe i was just confused, at least on the first level, form there it was way smoother and got better the movement and flow on the game to get to different areas. Nice game, with their natural flaws, but i will try t…

First impressions are a high quality experience, that surprises the player with little details included by a loving developer! Visually it's really nice, and surprisingly polished! A great wee gem! 💎