Trash Quest

Very short and charming metroidvania with a heavy focus on platforming. Unfortunatey it is plaqued by some quite annoying runbacks to difficult platforming segments in the later parts of the game.

'Tis fine for what it is and how cheap it is. I don't know what not having checkpoints adds to the game but also most runbacks aren't long enough for it to matter and there -are- checkpoints before bosses anyways so. The combat is... fine, I'm not a huge fan of gunny shooty games and I think the button mapping is strange but you get used to it. A few bosses have attacks that don't quite feel fair but it's all. Fine. I can't say I disliked it? But it's also not particularly interesting or memorable and not very long, either. If you really need your metroidvania fix for cheap, then I guess, sure.

I knew about Thrash quest's one respawn point mechanic before buying it so the first thing i checked is if i could cheat invincibility with cheat engine. I could, so i played the whole game with it which obviously gives me a skewed perspective on this game. But i can confidently say that if i had played it the intended way i would have absolutely hated the experience. Some of the optional platforming sections are brutal, and the postgame stuff would be nigh impossible. There's checkpoints for the bosses, which would be very helpfull since they're pretty challenging if you were only able to tank but a few hits. However the real difficulty is definately found in the (precision) platforming gauntlets. These were actually devilishly cruel at times, especially in the postgame content. Even with invincibility i got sent back to the entrance of each room when i hit a spike which made it much more manageable but still challenging. I think that with the cheat the game was actually pretty fun, it basically had a celeste structure this way to allow many instant repeats. Obviously without the depth of movement mechanics that celeste had but still enough to keep it interesting. The platforming…

I got this game for 60 cents, thinking it would be short and wouldn't have too much to offer besides maybe an hour of gameplay. The more I play, the more I realize it's a pretty big and decently interesting game. The pixel art is cute and surprisingly clean, it doesn't get confusing between what is and isn't a platform. Movement is smooth and fast, without the character feeling too weightless, and the abilities are fun to use. The hover ability was an interesting concept, took me a bit to get used to but it's cool. Combat isn't crazy though, you're mostly here for a fun short platformer with some minimal shooting here and there. I did love that it saves right outside boss rooms though, it'd be really tedious to go all the way back from the main spawn point. It's not perfect: the music loops tend to get annoying if you stay in an area for too long, and there is only one respawn point, besides the ones outside of boss rooms, which are only for that instance. But for its price, especially on discount, this is a steal.

A short and sweet metroidvania with simple mechanics and challenging platforming. The one checkpoint mechanic sounds like something that could get frustrating but everything is so tightly placed around that central location and shortcuts open aplenty making it real quick and easy to get back to where you were to try the tougher platforming sections again without much pain. The base game takes less than 2 hours so even with the backtracking when you die it's an easy clear in an afternoon. That said, the platforming is tight, fast, and precise. Some sections will take some work to get through and the Salvation "DLC" (included and accessible in the post game after reloading your save) has even harder platforming right out the gate; so something to keep in mind if difficult platforming isn't your thing. The bosses are mostly just bullet hells. They aren't anything crazy mechanically, but they provide just enough of a challenge to not be an easy one shot first time through. Their patterns aren't difficult but they'll take some learning and luckily while there are no other checkpoints in the game besides the starting one, during a boss fight it does drop you right outside the boss roo…

This game made me smile so hard. It's super cute, the music is really good, and it's a Metroidvania!