Although you begin the game at full strength with access to all the important abilities, this only serves as a brief tutorial because you control a man until he meets his demise. From there, the story shifts to Alaric, the man’s son, who has been imprisoned and forced to work in a quarry. After years of hardship and relentless training, he grows strong enough to lead a rebellion and marches toward the castle to complete what his father started: killing his tyrannical uncle.
The controls are solid and offer plenty of flexibility. The basics revolve around movement and shooting, with each mouse button assigned to a different weapon, allowing you to fire them individually or both at the same time. Aiming is rewarded because enemies take double damage when hit in their weak spots, although body shots are still effective enough to dispatch them quickly. Weak points are never highlighted, so you have to figure them out through observation, but they generally follow common sense, such as aiming for the head on humanoid enemies.
Ammo is limited, but there are several ways to replenish it. Kicking enemies grants a small amount of ammunition, while destroying candles rewards either ammo or coins. Because of this, both the kick and the whip are useful alternatives when you want to conserve bullets. Traversal is enjoyable thanks to a jump that can be chained into a double jump, as well as an air dash or a whip grapple you gain later.
Keeping your eyes open when entering a new room is essential because enemies are never present beforehand. Instead, they spawn only after you cross invisible trigger points. This creates constant surprises since you rarely know what awaits until you've repeated the encounter enough times to memorize it. Enemy placements are fixed rather than random, but defeating them only clears the room temporarily. Entering another area through a door resets every encounter, forcing you to fight them again if you return.
This design choice is one of the game's biggest frustrations. If you enter a room from one direction, enemies appear in front of you as expected. Enter from the opposite side, however, and they may spawn behind you after crossing the invisible trigger. If you're rushing through a level, you'll often turn around later only to discover an entire group of enemies chasing you.
Because of this, it's disappointing that the game lacks any kind of radar or enemy detection system. It's impossible to know exactly when new enemies have spawned, and many blend seamlessly into the environment. More than once, I found myself checking the room ahead, only to suddenly start taking damage from enemies that had quietly appeared behind me. Larger encounters are accompanied by some genuinely great music, but even this has an odd flaw, as the combat track often continues playing after every enemy has already been defeated.
Most doors lead to new sections of the castle, while others take you to save rooms where you can save your progress, though not restore your health. Locked doors require keys found inside specific treasure chests, which are the only ones that don’t respawn. Everything else respawns when you leave and re-enter a room, including enemies, candles, and regular chests with health potions or money, making resource farming easy.
Despite all his years of training, Alaric starts at level one without any of the powerful abilities you briefly experienced while controlling his father. Every defeated enemy grants experience, eventually leading to a level up where you choose between three passive upgrades: increased kick and whip damage, additional defense, or a higher critical hit chance. The only upgrade that really matters is Defense. Critical only affects Kick and Whip, while the damage boost is basically wasted since your main source of damage is your guns. If you invest in the wrong upgrades, you can completely sabotage your game because you'll take much more damage and end up getting one-shot by bosses.
Weapon upgrades instead come from a merchant who appears at various locations throughout the castle. In exchange for gold, he sells improvements to weapon damage, fire rate, potion capacity, and the amount each potion heals. Damage and fire rate must be upgraded separately for every weapon, and while prices steadily increase, it's easy to grind money if you discover a nearby chest that continually respawns.
You begin with a revolver before eventually unlocking a shotgun, sniper crossbow, and a few more surprises. The crossbow also serves a secondary purpose by cutting ropes that hold up platforms required for progression. Thankfully, all weapons share the same universal ammo pool, and you can freely equip different weapon combinations in each hand.
Sadly, dual-wielding completely ruins weapon switching. Instead of quickly cycling with the mouse wheel, you're forced to use the number keys. In the middle of a fight, it's easy to press the wrong key, switch the weapon in your other hand, or even pull out the lantern since it's part of the same weapon list. During intense encounters, this almost guarantees you'll take unnecessary hits or die.
Despite checking many of the usual boxes, the game falls short if you're expecting a true metroidvania. The clearest sign is the complete absence of a map or fast travel system. As a result, there's very little incentive to revisit previous areas because there are no meaningful secrets waiting to be uncovered. You can find lore notes filled with background information and collectible coats that provide small stat bonuses, but neither feels rewarding. The only exception are doors that can be broken with a skill you get near the end, and they lead to a second ending.
In practice, the game is much more linear than it first appears. While the castle contains numerous interconnected rooms that create the illusion of exploration, there is always a single intended path forward. Progress usually involves finding the room containing a platforming challenge, surviving a large ambush to obtain a key, or unlocking a movement ability needed to bypass an obstacle. Every other room simply ends with a chest containing health or money.
The castle itself constantly changes themes as you progress, and several locations are genuinely impressive. The low poly art style gives the entire adventure a distinct charm, making each new area interesting even if their primary purpose is to serve as another combat arena. Enemy variety is respectable, but once you've invested in damage upgrades, most fall after only a handful of shots. Bosses follow a similar pattern and block progress to the next section, but aside from a couple of ridiculously difficult bosses near the end, they're all manageable. Each arena conveniently provides ammo refills so you're never at risk of running dry.
As long as you approach it knowing it isn't a traditional metroidvania, the game is fun to play. Unlocking new movement abilities and flying around combat arenas feels nice, and the satisfying movement and fast-paced gunplay is engaging. I just wish the exploration side had been given the same level of attention because the castle itself is interesting enough that it deserved more meaningful secrets and reasons to revisit earlier areas.
