I couldn't help but write a review of this great game.
Let me start by saying that this is one of the best, if not the best, indie game. Check out the crowdfunding launch trailer and the release trailer, Team Cherry did a tremendous job (yes, we had to wait much longer than promised, but I'm sure it was worth it). These 2 videos even became motivational for me to some extent.
Let's go point by point:
Gameplay
This is a 2D Metroidvania, platformer, similar to Dark Souls, and all the other tags on Steam. This game is very difficult, both in mastering and in further passage. There are a huge number of mechanics and various little things here, for example, pushing back when hitting an enemy, objects, rebounding upward when hitting a nail on spikes and various objects, a delay in the air when using magic, the most important component of platformers is jumping, they depend on how long you will hold a button, windows of invulnerability and even a large (actually very (VERY) large) set of small details that can be learned and mastered only with further passage, because some concern individual bosses and enemies, some concern movement, some concern the burning asses of speedrunners, but more on that later.
Exploring the world of Hallownest is a pleasure: there are many locations here, they are all varied in design, atmosphere, music, even just walking around them is very interesting and never gets boring. About the enemies, I’ll just say that there are 200+ types of them, including bosses, and all of them are as diverse and unique as possible, both in appearance and in gameplay; again, the artists and game designers did not try in vain.
Many abilities, in addition to the most standard double jump, wall jumping. Naturally, they exist for a reason, with their help you find fragments of masks (health), amulets, caterpillars, new characters, lore, hiding places and much more, in general there is a place to stroll.
In addition to nail strikes and magic, there are also amulets that greatly help in combat and in exploring locations. Perhaps none of them are completely useless, all are significant to some extent, but it all depends on your playing style.
Several mechanics from DS: there are benches, like bonfires, where you save, restore HP, change amulets; if you die, then at the place of death there remains a shadow of gg, which you can destroy to return your geo (local currency) and restore the volume of the vessel of souls. Souls are needed for magic.
There is also a very huge map here. And there are a lot of different shortcuts and secrets in it, that to this day, if I watch someone’s speedrun or stream, I’m surprised, like, all this time there was a piece of lore/cache with a geo/secret?! I broke a wall, missed a difficult section: “Was that even possible?!”
And the same with mechanics, when you killed some mob in the usual way, but it turns out you can immediately kill it with a charged blow, or tactics on bosses, or you can collect souls from a rotten egg to restore HP, or using a rotating blows fall faster and so on and so forth. I already said that there are a lot of little things here.
Speedrunners
Your ass will BURN
The thing is, as jumps are usually done in platformers: if the character has almost touched the ground, but you have already pressed the jump button, then if at the moment of landing it is all is still pressed, the character jumps. So this game doesn’t give a damn about what you pressed until you landed. Until you have completely touched the surface, be it the floor or the wall, the game will not perceive your pressing the jump button. Regular players will, of course, also suffer from this, but very rarely. But for speedrunners, if suddenly there is a ruin in platforming or death, then it’s time or everything all over again. You just need to get used to it.
Visuals, music
The game is simply magical! Whatever disadvantages you notice, as soon as you enter the “Green Path” or “Greenpath” location, that’s ALL, YOU JUST CAN’T HATE THIS GAME IN ANY WAY, you enjoy the beautiful 2D picture, animation, awesome soundtrack and except “ "Masterpiece" you can't describe it. Or after listening to "Hornet" from composer Christopher Larkin. The melodies of locations, battles with bosses, the bosses themselves, everything is so beautiful, sounds and looks epic, and they all suit the characters and atmosphere to the maximum. If the music and visuals bring you to tears from catharsis, then someday this game will do it too.
Plot, lore
At first it’s not clear who you are, just some bug, just some other plague bugs, kill them. According to the plot, everything will become clearer: who you are, what is happening to this kingdom, and who is to blame for everything. ENT is healthy here. The better you explore the locations, the more you find various “notes” and interesting characters. There is even a “Hunter’s Journal”, where you can read about each enemy, as well as a “Dream Nail”, which reads the thoughts of almost all beetles, from which you can also learn a lot. There are 375 articles on this game in the Russian wiki, go for it. There is also a small book from the creators of the game, but it doesn’t really tell much new things.
The game is great, a new step in the indie game, 10/10
I recommend this game to absolutely everyone. Who still hasn’t bought it - buy it, for 349 rubles without a discount on the overdose content, you don’t even need to buy anything extra. From the first minutes of viewing the page on Steam, I already fell in love with this game, and, naturally, I have absolutely no regrets about the time and money spent.