While we’ve mentioned the Souls influence, the team behind this game clearly adores the Castlevania series, too. We achieved 100% map completion over our four-and-a-half-hour playtime. The game also trends on the shorter end of the genre. A few extra movement options and some combat-focused powers would have been nice. Obviously, a double jump, grapple hook, and an air dash are welcomed additions to any kit, but those being the only real upgrades is a bit underwhelming. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Īs you would expect in a Metroidvania, the game has that loop of exploration, fighting bosses, and finding upgrades to open up new paths, although there is only a handful of upgrades across the entire game and none of them are particularly interesting. You still need to be on your toes for the correct timing, but a lot of the enemy AI can be dealt with through this strategy. That being said, a lot of the fighting strategy tends to be jumping behind the enemy while they attack and slash away, even with some of the bosses. The combat is punishing, and while you can level up and boost your health, strength, dex, and mind stats, you’re only ever a few hits away from life or death. You have access to different weapon types such as sword-and-shield, great swords, bows, magic staves, and our weapon of choice, dual blades (there’s also a whip, but more on that later). Pairing with the grim atmosphere is brutal combat. It’s not enough to fully put us off, but Elderand is certainly not a game for the faint of heart. The worst of it has to be the cult sacrifices scattered around the world (which are optional, but give you items in return) which use some medieval torture devices. The game also revels in its gore while some death animations are the equivalent of a goofy old Mortal Kombat fatality, others are real stomach-churners - for example, the Hideous Disciplinarian, whose stomach bursts into piles of viscera every time you defeat one. There’s also the game's seven areas which look very nice, albeit appropriately oppressive, further emphasising the state of the world. The bosses are gorgeous too, thanks to their size, the spritework really showing off these intimidating enemies. It’s through enemies like that you can feel the Lovecraft influences. The highlight has to be the Hungry Abyss a big disgusting venus flytrap of a creature, who unsettled us the first time we laid eyes on it. The customisable main character - and most humanoids - are admittedly a bit underwhelming, but the game makes up for it in droves with its strong enemy design. The first thing that stands out is the in-depth spritework. However, the worldbuilding impressed us, each of the game's areas feels cohesive, and you can really see the effects of events prior to the game beginning.
Truth be told, the story didn’t do much for us, with a lot of it being omnipresent text flaring onto the screen.
While the story is a lot easier to follow than its FromSoftware inspirations, Elderand also tells a lot of its story through the use of item descriptions, letters found across the world, and environmental storytelling.
This place is filled with a litany of monsters and threats, and throughout your journey, you unravel a tense plot involving a cult, a serpent society, and a village under threat. You take on the role of a nameless hunter who has washed up in a mysterious land with his crew dead and no bearings to work from. Debuting developers Mantra and Sinergia Games have thrown their own hat into the ring in the form of Elderand, which further shows why this mix works, even if this particular concoction could do with being more potent. Games like Salt and Sanctuary, Blasphemous, and - of course - Hollow Knight have successfully taken what makes the genres and mashed them into a mini-genre of their own (although some would argue that Dark Souls itself is essentially a Metroidvania already). And it makes sense two styles of game with a deep focus on exploration and strict difficulty were bound to cross paths. The genre blend of Metroidvania and Soulslike is a tried and true combination. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
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