FunktionJCB wrote: ↑Mon Aug 04, 2025 12:48 pm
I couldn't disagree more.
Obviously, a new game would always "modernise" a few things, so I was never expecting the formula to remain as it was in the 16-bit era, and I can understand some people disliking some of the changes, but I played it with no expectations, and was surprised at how much fun, and fluid, combat and traversing the stages was, especially after a couple of upgrades.
I wasn't expecting the formula to remain similar to 16-bit games either. I wasn't expecting anything from the game honestly.
I'm just judging the game on the fact that playing just it isn't very fun (to me). It comes across as a chill casual game, rather than a skill based action game. But it also doesn't seem to tap into any of the things that can make a chill casual game fun and engaging (see Symphony of the Night etc.)
I read your feedback on the other thread, and I don't understand what's the problem with the game having a dodge mechanic? Even in terms of setting/plot, you're a Ninja, wouldn't it make sense to have some agility skills to avoid attacks?
Yeah it would make sense, but it would make sense if those agility skills were actually skills, and not just the press of a button.
I have no issue with dodge mechanics, but I do have issues when a dodge mechanic is basically just a win button. You can fight every enemy by dodging behind them all the time to prevent getting hit by their attacks and then just mindlessly spam attack until they die. Even the boss fight of the demo works the exact same way - and their only idea for how to counteract that is by occasionally giving him super armor and making a blatantly telegraphed attack that *can't* be dodged through for some reason (but is very easy to jump over).
This has the effect that every enemy encounter feels like the same thing, and going through the stages fighting the same enemies over and over just felt like repetition with a complete lack of challenge.
Admitted, this is only the first stage and the first boss of the game. But if that's what they are giving me to judge the game by, that is what I will judge the game by
Also, about "backtracking", it really doesn't appear to be a necessity, you can just proceed as you want, and complete the stage. That's what I mostly did. The "backtracking" is there if you want to explore every nook and cranny, and maybe find an extra fight or item. But, unlike what we usually get from "metroidvanias", there was never a moment in the demo where I had to go back, in search for an item/skill, in order to progress.
I don't really mind the optional rooms where you can pick up extra stuff. While they weren't particularly entertaining, those *can* be fun to explore on a first playthrough and then ignore afterwards. Shovel Knight did that and it worked well.
When I'm talking about backtracking, I'm talking about those blatant "you can ground pound here to access a clearly visible chest" locations. But you don't get the ground pound until after beating the stage, so the game specifically asks for you to systematically go back only to get those chests.
It's a very rigid and mechanical implementations of the "open up new areas as you progress" design of the Metroidvania genre, and pretty much the worst way to do it, because there is no player agency involved at all - it's just padding the game.
For a recent metroidvania that does it really well, I highly recommend Afterimage. It even has those exact same "it's obvious that you need to groundpound here" locations, but the way they are distributed it never feels as rigid. There are also many other skill gated locations that are much more vague and genuinely surprising once you get the required tools.
That game also has a dodge move that's used much better, especially in boss fights.
I really enjoyed the demo, and personally, I'm ecstatic that, in the space of less than a month, we have quality 2D revivals of Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, plus Salamander III and a Yuzo Koshiro Mega Drive shmup.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you liked it. We don't all need to share the same tastes.
'tude
"SHMUPSCHLAMPE.com's most popular Robert Z'dar lookalike" agrees with me.
