The Library of Babel

Very cool stealth metroidvania, love the art and lore and stuff. Some very annoying backtracking if you don't get all secrets the first time around though, so beware. Also an annoying achievement to die less than 30 times the entire game (did they change this? I thought it was a tighter condition than that?). Underrated. But also quite frustrating in some areas, admittedly.

It took me over ten hours to finish the game with a 100% achievement completion rate; it was truly enjoyable.

Gameplay can be better, but fun experience!

Unfortunately, while this game has an interesting premise, cool elements and competent art direction (in both visuals and music), the experience as a whole just doesn't deliver. My main gripe has to be that, for a game subtitled "stealth platformer journey", both the stealth and platforming are mediocre. The stealth consists of exclusively red/green light situations where you remain out of enemy sight and hide behind boxes. What defines the enemy line of sight is unclear, as they don't use laser pointers (except for snipers) or flashlights, or any other elements that might help you gauge their cone of vision. They also can't really look beyond the platform they're standing on, so you're relatively safe as long as you're not jumping to/from their platform and kind of far from them. But when you're hiding nearby, even when the hiding spot is outlined as green (safe), you can be detected leaving your cover even when they have their backs turned on you. The only clever addition to this red/green light situation are the laser drones which pass over you but only detect you if you move while they scan. It would've been interesting to see at least one ore two more variations for each enem…

The game was okay until the sewer monster was introduced. The first chase was annoying, but the second was awfully obnoxious, and I decided to stop playing the game to not waste my life.

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