El Shaddai basically means Almighty God and this game has a heavy, but very stylized, theological theme running throughout.


The game is loosely based on apocryphal tales from Judeo-Christian biblical writings, but it's purely as a backdrop and engine to drive a narrative. There's no preaching or judgement and the story can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of denomination.You play the part of Enoch, a celestial scribe, (who also happens to be an immortal with ridiculous combat skills) tasked by God to venture to Earth and round up six fallen angels prior to the cleansing of the world by flood.


The core gameplay of El Shaddai is that of an ARPG, but a completely deconstructed ARPG.

The whole game is stripped back to a bare minimum. Not in a lazy or cost cutting exercise, but in the precision manner in which a racing team sheds unnecessary weight from a finely tuned machine.


There is no HUD, only 4 buttons (attack, block, jump, cleanse/steal) and the game has a fixed camera.


At first consideration, this may make the game seen simplistic, but far from it, combat is all about timing, range, rhythm and positioning, the more you discover the more depth and layers are added to each encounter.



As well as your fists, you have 3 additional weapons at your disposal, the arch, the gale and the veil. Each one with unique strengths and vulnerabilities. However you can't simply unlock and switch between them, you need to stagger one of your opponents and steal it from them in order to wield. Once in your possession you also need to occasionally cleanse it from corruption as you fight. So weapon choice and maintenance add further depth and consideration.


Combat is remarkably fluid and incredibly precise, comparisons to Bayonetta and DmC are inevitably going to be drawn. While there are visual similarities, El Shaddai is running a lot leaner, rather than throw continual button press combos and specials at you, it hones it's particular brand of combat to perfection.



After a couple of minutes you don't even notice that the game is doing all the camera work for you, it seems to always be in exactly the right place at the right time even as you move around the combat areas. Particularly impressive are slow motion and close ups of finishers and weapon steals.

Visual representation and clarity are important with the lack of a health bar and HUD, both Enoch and enemy health is displayed as physical armour which is gradually knocked away during combat.


The game perspective also effortlessly shifts from 3D to 2D sections in a similar style to NieR Automata; using 2D sections to drive the narrative along, explaining storylines and introducing characters against some of the most sumptuous backdrops and visuals I've seen in any game.

The whole damn thing is gorgeous to look at from start to finish, one of those incredible works of art that make such memorable titles.

All of this in what is essentially a ten year old PS3/360 game, that puts the majority of modern releases to shame in terms of content, presentation and execution.


I genuinely have no criticism of this game, if I really had to nitpick, perhaps some of the 3D platforming can be a little tricky in places due to perspective. But even then I found it so much more fluid and easy to judge than in comparison to some modern platformers.


Every aspect of El Shaddai seems to have been carefully considered, engineered and implemented. Art Styles, animation, camera angles, effects and an absolutely "biblical" soundtrack.

It's almost been approached from the perspective of a high production value movie than a game.

While I doubt there could ever be a "perfect game", if it came down to perfect execution and technical excellence, I would be hard pressed to think of anything to top El Shaddai.

El Shaddai asks difficult questions such as "what if the bible was anime" and "what is the armor rating of wrangler jeans"

Parlare di El Shaddai: The Ascension of the Metatron definendolo un action game con fasi platform sarebbe altamente riduttivo.
Il gioco è un’avventura che bilancia e fonde perfettamente diversi tipi di gameplay: ci troveremo di fronte ad un’esplorazione in ambienti 3D con battaglie in 3D assieme ad un’esplorazione in 2D con battaglie a loro volta in 2D in base non solo alla situazione di gioco, ma anche al tipo di esperienza narrata.
I comandi sul pad sono essenziali e ciò porterebbe a pensare che si ha di fronte un gioco dalle dinamiche semplici, ma in realtà avremo a che fare con un’esperienza quanto mai complessa perché il mondo di El Shaddai risulta veramente particolare nel concept stesso di ogni livello: nulla è realmente quello che sembra.
Ci ritroveremo ad affrontare zone platform molto semplici e subito dopo sezioni più complicate non solo per la tipologia di salto, ma anche per il design ambientale che ci circonda. Capiterà spesso di essere ingannati dalla prospettiva o dal tipo di sfondo e ciò comporterà delle difficoltà ulteriori al momento di fare il balzo. I colori e i disegni di molte sezioni darà addirittura l’impressione di un vero e proprio trip allucinogeno.
Questo smarrimento del giocatore corrisponderà anche ad uno smarrimento del protagonista. Enoch sarà più volte vittima dei piani degli angeli caduti con lo scopo di corromperne l’integrità. Le difficoltà esteriori diventeranno allora difficoltà interiori in livelli e combattimenti che saranno esclusivamente dentro l’anima del protagonista e che lo proveranno nel corso dell’avventura.
Ed è in questo che El Shaddai: The Ascension of the Metatron eccelle: il gioco, infatti, è un vero gioiello del design!
Ogni piano della torre, come anche ogni livello dentro l’anima di Enoch è il frutto di un lavoro magistrale. Nulla è uguale al precedente e nulla è lasciato al caso: luci, colori struttura del livello… Tutto fa parte di un piano ben preciso dedito a far immergere il giocatore nella mente di quell’angelo caduto e del suo modo di vedere sia il mondo che l’umanità.
Questa bellezza visiva si può godere adesso in tutte le sue sfaccettature grazie al lavoro degli sviluppatori in questa remaster: si può dire che l’attesa è stata ripagata!
Ci preme sottolineare anche l’ottimo lavoro svolto sul reparto audio. Non solo gli effetti sonori sono resi molto bene, ma la colonna sonora risulta sempre azzeccata e mai fastidiosa. I brani esaltano anche l’epicità delle vicende narrate all’interno del titolo e sono degli ottimi compagni di avventura.

TL;DR: It's good.

El Shaddai is basically an "art game" with good gameplay. It's 40% platforming, 50% combat and 10% walking simulator. There's a heavy focus on the visuals/atmosphere and storytelling. It's really unique and the closest game I can compare it to is Nier Automata because Yoko's games tend to also mix genres and have good combat. Overall, it's a great experience and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a game that offers something different.

We need to talk about El Shaddai.

El Shaddai came out in the United States THE EXACT SAME DAY THAT SKYRIM CAME OUT. I remember being interested in the game through magazine articles, and I called my local Gamestop to preorder it. It wasn't really so much a 'preorder' as it was a reservation, since they were only ordering two copies of the game. I picked up my copy on release day, and they asked me if any of my friends might want to reserve the other copy. They literally couldn't get rid of the other copy.

El Shaddai's release date killed any early impact the game might have had in the west. Of course there are still fans, reviews were made, journalists did articles over it... But it was basically kneecapped before it even had a chance. I was SHOCKED to see a PC version on steam, completely flabbergasted. The port is not perfect, especially for keyboard players, but from a little bit of research it seems that the creator of the game uploaded it on his own and relied on community interactions to provide accessibility options at all. This is a 10+ year old console game, it plays like a 10+ year old console game, but the fact that it's even available at all speaks volumes about the passion and love for the community that the creator has.

That does not go unnoticed, and is immensely appreciated.

By today's standards, the gameplay and visuals seem about average. In 2011 there were very few things like it. It's ethereal, it's beautiful, it's composed with the visuals in mind first and is an incredibly artistic experience. Not that it's not fun sniping down enemies with your Gale, but the combat is secondary to the environment, the music, and the feeling of everything around you.

I think everyone should play El Shaddai once to see what came before some of the artistic games we have today. It's wonderful, it's symphonic, it's absurd, it's frustrating, it's gorgeous, and it's something that I will never forget.

Also there's an enormous meme culture for El Shaddai in Japan and those videos are HILARIOUS.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a sumptuous experiment, with great visuals, art design and outstanding musics. It may appear weak on the gameplay side but being a port of a 10 year old game developed for PS3/X360 there is very little to complain. If you like relatively easy action games and have a thing for biblical themes, that's the game you want to pick up.

For the complete review in italian you can check out our site:
https://denjinden.com/recensioni/el-shaddai-steam-recensione/

No problem, Everything is fine.

大丈夫だ、問題ない。

Lemme tell you a tale.

It took place 360,000...
no, 14,000 years ago.
Well, to me, it seems like only yesterday.
To you, it could be tomorrow.

It's the story of a man,
Known by 72 different names. Hmm, what shall I call him...
When I first met him, his name was...
...Enoch.
And, even then, he wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do.
Not even me.

But...
He was a pretty good guy.

(on a serious note this is the only non-Megaten game that feels disturbingly close to a Megaten game and I heavily recommend it to any weird obscure game enthusiasts out there)

If you're having problems with health pickups, particles, and enemy projectiles: Go in to "Screen Setting" on the launcher, Advanced, and turn Multisampling down to "No Multisampling." An odd solution, but fixed my game's issues.

Edit: As of 9/9/21, the developers are currently looking in to this bug.