Recent reviews by Archagon

Not very deep, but nonetheless, a delightful romp with a fantastic art style. Definitely go with a buddy!

Technically marvelous, beautiful, and occasionally fun, but just not that good of a game:
* Boring writing. This might (unfortunately) be as good as AAA game writing gets, but you're still left with a derivative plot, generic characters, and a narrative that makes little sense. The story beats are tropey and completely predictable, and most of the "witty banter" is just lame jokes. If we were judging this by movie standards, the writing would not even be on the level of a Michael Bay script.
* Extreme ludonarrative dissonance. All the protagonists are mass murderers. In dialogue, they seem dismayed at killing, and yet when they mow down waves of enemies, they just laugh it off and continue as if the entire area were not littered with corpses. You just can't go for movie-style writing while also having arcade shooter gameplay. It's completely looney and immersion-breaking.
* Poor legibility. The game leans too hard into realism, and as a result, critical game cues such as where a handhold is, or whether you're in cover, are difficult to read. It's also not always clear where you're supposed to be going, save for some vague instructions given in dialogue. (But don't mistake this for non-linearity: the game will often block backtracking with little warning.)
* Arbitrary fencing. See that pool of water a few feet down? Jump in it and you'll instantly die, even though you've been to that area before, because you passed through an invisible gate.
* Too much emphasis on being cinematic. There are several sections in the game where you're being chased by something that can kill you in a few seconds. It's supposed to be intense, but it ends up just being frustrating: partly because it's not always clear where you're supposed to go, partly because you sometimes HAVE to die to know that you can't go somewhere, and partly because the camera often ENDS UP FACING YOU in these sections. Who thought this was fun?
* Psychic enemies. As soon as you're discovered, everyone immediately knows where you are, making stealth gameplay frustrating. Enemies also have unrealistically excellent aim, especially with grenades. (Some enemy chucked a grenade 5 stories up and landed it at my feet.)
* Frustrating combat (on Hard). Magic grenades, spongey enemies, Nate constantly picking the wrong cover or grabbing the wrong handhold, bullets magically going through cover, perfect enemy aim even when you're swinging through the air. (What's even the point of those hookholds? All they do is get you killed.) I'd attribute a good quarter of my deaths to poor controls or Nate randomly doing something stupid.
* Offensively simple puzzles. This is "square block in square hole" level stuff. I never had a eureka moment for any of them, just annoyance at the grunt work I'd have to do to get to the next section.
* Ridiculous companion behavior. Your buddies will routinely run into enemy line of sight without them noticing. Nobody ever bothers to shoot or even follow them. They are seemingly incapable of hitting anything. Why are they even there? (There's a chase scene where one of my companions is under direct fire for about 5 minutes without a scratch. I almost had to laugh.)
* Pointless exploration. Sometimes, you'll find a shiny trinket hidden in a cave. That's about it.

This game reminds me why I invest so much time in indie games. Uncharted is shiny on the surface, but ultimately soulless, and the fact that critics gush over it points to the immaturity of gaming as an artistic medium.

EDIT: The epilogue was really well done. I just wish the rest of the game was up to that standard.

One of the most compelling rogue-lites I've played. Really punchy gameplay (think Downwell as a shmup) with hours and hours of content and exquisite attention to detail. Really difficult late game, so you'll need to git gud. It's pretty much the only thing I've been using my Deck for these past few weeks. Can't wait for more DLC!

Imaginative game with some fantastic boss battles, albeit with a bit of jank when it comes to the core mechanics and platforming. A ton of map to explore but the payoff is usually not super worth it IMO.

It took me a bit to warm up to Ender Lilies, but it's an A-tier metroidvania. Plays kind of like a cross between Hollow Knight and Dead Cells. I couldn't really connect with the lore -- it felt very derivative of Hollow Knight -- but the art style, music, environment design, enemy selection, equipment variety, and boss battles are all excellent.

Graphically stunning and mechanically satisfying.

Good stuff — classic challenge platformer gameplay, but with style and story and lots of secrets. The main route through the game is reasonably challenging, but the real difficulty comes from collecting all the strawberries and tackling the B-Side levels. Pixel art perfection: the special effects in particular are just phenomenal. Each zone has unique mechanics for you to learn, so the gameplay never gets stale. Excellent soundtrack!

(The only real con is that I'm having a hard time internalizing the controls for some reason. Something about the grab button doesn't sit right with me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe I need to try a gamepad.)

(Update: Yes, DEFINITELY use a gamepad for this! Shoulder for grab makes way more sense than Z.)

Pros:

✓ Phenomenal world-building. The "infected beetle" theme is pretty novel and most of the areas aren't ones you've seen in other games. The plot isn't spelled out so you have to pick up clues from the environment.
✓ Mood is on-point, especially in Deepnest and the crypt. (Arachnophobes, watch out!)
✓ Impossible depth. Every time I thought I'd gotten to the end, several new areas revealed themselves. 20-30 hours of not even 100% gameplay is not an exaggeration.
✓ The beginning of the game is pretty linear, but at a certain point the world branches out exponentially. A real feast for explorers. Reminds me of La-Mulana in that respect.
✓ A massive variety of enemies. Seemingly every screen has some new creature to interact with.
✓ Soooo many boss battles. Some strange horror is lurking around every corner.
✓ Some novel gameplay ideas, e.g. the Dream Nail that (incidentally) lets you read the thoughts of any creature.
✓ Neat sub-challenges: dream boss battles, ghost fights, the arena, caterpillar collecting, and more.
✓ Excellent orchestral soundtrack, if a bit unusual for the genre. Reminded me of Philip Glass at times.
✓ The game really does feel close to perfect, combat and lore wise, in the last quarter. Sticks in your head!

Cons:

✗ Ugh... the controls. Maybe this is a Mac-exclusive problem, but my d-pad would misfire CONSTANTLY. There are many, many situations in this game where you need to slash directionally or trigger a very specific spell to avoid damage, and it felt like half the time the wrong thing would happen and kill me.
✗ The combat in general is pretty slow, at least until you get some of the sword charms. Combined with the languorous, floaty movement, the game just doesn't feel very kinetic.
✗ The freeze-frame effect when you get hit is infuriating. It's like the game is emphasizing how much you suck. Just flash red and jump back like every other game, PLEASE.
✗ The map system is not very well designed. Having to find the map-maker in every zone is bad enough, but then having each area show up as a solid block instead of just the parts you've visited makes it hard to remember later what you've missed. The compass as a charm is also very frustrating, since it's way too easy to get lost without it but charm slots are too valuable to waste. (I ended up disappointedly leaving it on for most of the game.)
✗ Speaking of which: the charms are interesting, but it feels like most of them are pretty useless, and the ones that aren't are relatively minor stat boosts. How about some sword powerups, e.g. poison or electric slash?
✗ Blocky, maze-like environments. The scenery is very nice but navigation mostly involves jumping around similar-looking blocks and punching through walls to previous areas.
✗ I know it's a staple of the genre, but I'm not a fan of the Shade mechanic. I don't want to have to worry about spending or stashing my Geo before every major battle. At the very least, there should be a quicker way to get back to town or to access the bank. As it is, it's nothing but extra frustration.

Overall: one of the better metroidvanias I've played to be sure, but not without some incredible frustrations. 8.5/10.

This is precisely the kind of game that would emerge if the Bit Trip series went 3D. Stunning demoscene-style graphics, non-trivial but intuitive controls, fantastic punchy feedback. The music is a bit grimy and unmemorable, though: lots of drums and dissonance with very little melody or harmony to catch your ear. More critically, the audio cues aren't always evident. I think the best rhythm games can almost be played with your eyes closed, and this one falls a bit short of the mark -- especially once you get to the off-beat stuff past level 3. Still, this game is great fun and a must-play for fans of the rhythm genre!

OK, this game needs more attention stat!

* It's really fun to play, with tons of weapons, creatures, items, and set pieces.
* It succeeds in incorporating the mystery and exploration parts of the metroidvania formula, despite being partly procedurally-generated.
* The pixel art is gloriously good, even without the edge shimmer and other effects. The game world just feels so alive.
* Oozing in style. I'm sure you can see it from the screenshots and trailer!
* Everything feels very, very polished.

I bought this on a whim and I've been sucked in right from the start. Definitely give it a go if you're fond of the metroidvania formula! It's a few steps above the competition for sure.