Has Holla Forums played Hollow Knight yet?
Personally it's my favourite game so far this year. although it has minor issues, mostly technical, the game has presented an excellent metroidvania worth playing.
I beat it recently and here are non-biased pros and cons
Pros:
+Game is very immersive. Hand Drawn Animations are very nice. Sound Effects are well placed, good effects, attention to background and front of screen
+Gameplay is fluid
+crazy amount of enemies and bosses
+ grabs the good things from Dark Souls and incorporates them to the atmosphere
+The Hit the enemies for Soul is a good incentive to smack the enemies. The Soul mechanic in general rewards good gameplay, kind of like Press Turn gameplay rewards hitting weak points. However it can get easy against enemies with adds.
+30+ hours of metroidvania for true ending
+Sound effects are really well placed. Game can be immersive with headphones
+replayability with different pins and steel soul mode
Cons:
- Glitches here and there since game just came out and indie, but nothing game breaking
- Not much elaboration on weapons. Just your nail and spells, and you get 3 spells (howling banshee, vengeful spirit, the down slam) Although the customization mainly comes from equipping pins, a variety of different weapons for standard attack would've been great, or pins that affect your Nail outside of just length
- Coloseum, as well as saving many grubs, don't give rewards. This is mainly because of previous point. There aren't many weapon variety, so there aren't many upgrades to get. I believe more pin notches would've spiced up the game
Subjective:
-I personally dislike the motion-stop when getting hit, since it interrupts gameplay. Same with acid water not being constant damage instead and giving black screen. I understand the spikes since its used for puzzles later on, but the acid water shouldn't black screen. Same with the audio going low when hit, it's silly. The game would be more fast paced with less interruptions.
- Final boss could've have one more phase. Speaking of bosses, many instances where potentials for boss fights (the hive, the 3 guardians, etc) but there was no boss fight. I know it's a barely kickstarted indie game, but still.
With that said this game is still excellent and definitely worth playing. Beautiful, satisfying, non-linear, upgrade hunting, enjoyable simple and clean combat.
I definitely recommend playing it. So pirate/buy/buy-then-refund if you enjoy metroidvanias. It's been a while since I played a proper metroidvania and this one will satisfy.