It has often been told that Lin Manuel Miranda got the idea for Hamilton when reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton on vacation and thinking to himself "how is this not a musical already?". Well, the creator of this game clearly read (or watched one of many adaptations of) Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and thought "how is this not a Metroidvania?"
The premise is absoutely wild: you are Ebenezer Scrooge, post Christmas Carol. Because you were visited by the three (four, counting Marley) spirits, you have the ability to communicate with the spirit world in a way that others can't (you also have the ability to perform a backdash for some reason). As a result, other repentent spirits who were not saved during their mortal years send you on some fetch quests and, in exchange, lend you their powers to dash through spiritual gates, double jump, bash through walls, etc. in an effort to save the soul of another living industrialist who has lost his way and is mistreating his workers.
This is a great one to play during the holidays, as along with the obvious Christmas Carol themes, the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous, hand-painted London scenes full of Christmas trees, holly, etc. If you've had enough of Metroidvania's in spooky castles and grimdark tunnels, this is one for you, as one of the four main areas is basically the streets of Victorian London.
The enemies are a mix of the real (factory security and police officers) and spiritual (ghosts with absolutely bonkers names), and Scrooge can whack them with his cane or use one of a variety of spirit weapons against them (if you manage to find said weapons).
All this said, the game isn't without its flaws:
- You can beat the game in less than 10 hours and 100% it in a little more. This was great for me, but may not be for others.
- Scrooge's attack animations are lengthy and frustratingly un-cancellable, so you'll often find yourself wailing on a boss (Victor Malthus I'm looking in your direction) who will start telegraphing his attack but be unable to dash away in time. If you're looking for a tightly-controlled Metroidvania like Ori, Hollow Knight, etc., this ain't it.
- The game doesn't explain much, and things are easily missable. I spent the first 75% of the game collecting crafting materials and coins with no idea what to do with them, since I didn't happen to go down the hallways to the shop or the upgrade ghosts. Likewise, the red ghost powers are never explained, and some cause environmental effects that are needed to solve puzzles (the ghost who strikes the ground with a pickaxe does *not* destroy breakable floors, while the one who smashes into the ground does. The ball and chain tossing ghosts breaks walls, some of which are marked as breakable while others are not). I got to the third boss with no upgraded health or spirit and having only found one additional weapon, which (combined with the aforementioned movement issues) made the battle extremely tough. The spirit weapons in particular are easy to miss, and there are some enemies that only take damage from them and not Ebenezer's cane. One thing to be aware of (that the game doesn't tell you) is that rooms will turn green on the map when you've found all secrets in them (although this is buggy).
- There are the number of bugs that you'd expect from an indie game that has mostly gone unpatched. A main game-stopping one was apparently patched, but I still encountered a few freezes, and the map and menus were quite glitchy. What is meant to be the most powerful cane is actually the worst one because the damage modifier on it just doesn't work.
All this said, if it's the holiday season and you're looking for a unique, high-concept Metroidvania that won't wear out its welcome, you can do much worse than this one.
