El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON HD Remaster

Dropped around half-way into chapter 3. It has incredibly unique artistic design with some genuinely good narrative ideas, but the combat is a horrendous slog. I couldn't lower the difficulty or find any cheat engine information anywhere so I ultimately dropped it. Damage sponges are not fun.

El Shaddai is awesome. It's an amazingly weird action game, with a very clear and unique art direction and sound design, and it carries a lot of that experimental Clover Studios DNA (and sure enough, a lot of Clover devs). The menu sounds and subtitle fonts, even. It looks weird, it plays weird, it sounds weird, the story is weird, but all in a good way. If strange is your jam or if you like Clover stuff, give it a go.

I dislike it. From an artistical point, it is something you may only see in a Suda51 game like Killer 7, Killer is dead or Short Peace Ranko Tsukigimes longest day, but this is where my praise stops! The combat feels like a chore, every enemy is a damage sponge, the constant need to purify your wielded weapon doesn't help at all but that isn't the worst. Underneath this dressing of art style and hack 'n slash is at its core, a very bad platformer that manages to make EVERY SINGLE jump a disgusting and dreaded thing! To the story so far, it is not bad nor is it overly engaging but I fear, I will not trooper through this thing. Only one thing as a mind itcher: If I would be a god and some of my lackeys (angels) go roque, I wouldn't send a human to capture them. I would simply delete the universe and all its dimensios with everything in it, periode! Start with a fresh clean slate and I definitely would not give my new lackeys a free will nor any meaningfull power, after all I would be god. Kinda like in Time Bandits, where the "Absolute Evil" schemes against the supreme being, but the supreme being was the one that created it in the first place.

What this game lacks in gameplay compexity it manages to back up with a beautyfull OST, uniquely portraided albeit not too complex Story and an artstyle that you cannot really find nowadays. It isnt the most stable game on modern hardware but that is a flaw im willing to look away from. All in all if you want a game you can finish in two session with beautyfull Graphics and story go get it.

更新：从win11+5070ti -> win10+1070，不稳定闪退了；但仍偶发闪退 ============================================= Sariel boss战必crash，试了3次了包括降分辨率。 对于一个能对跳跳乐和砍杀做出核心且有效的创新精品游戏来说，闪退而玩不了真的很可惜

A solid 7.5/10 for me. Might contain some spoiler details. + Unbelievably beautiful and diverse in terms of realms. It's no wonder the creators themselves admitted to wanting us to admire the art and story first and foremost + As an open-minded Christian, I found the game very tasteful and does the job incorporating apocryphal aspects into the storyline (with funny deviations like Lucifel talking to God on the phone and the Nephilim being quite adorable) + I am neurodivergent, so games with repetitive tasks soothe me. This is more of a personal bonus, and perhaps something positive for others who also don't enjoy too much change of pace - It's SUCH a shame that the budget cut the game short and forced an early release. No final boss battle because of it, no occurrence of 3/4 archangels, no time to clear all bugs and refine the mechanics - The platforming was a real challenge. With the camera not pointing forward in many places, you can't just go forward and expect it to work. You end up eventually learning some precise movement directions from the constant dying from falling off - Guarding rarely worked during combat. It's easy for the enemies to interrupt your attacks and purification

Un juego que quería completar desde que probé la demo en PS3. Es un juego mediocre. Los combates son divertidos (al principio) y es gratificante golpear a los enemigos. Sin embargo, envejece bastante rápido. Desbloqueas las 3 únicas armas desde el inicio. No tienen ningún tipo de mejoras, y prácticamente las 3 se controlan igual (arma rápida a distancia, arma media a corto/medio alcance, arma pesada con escudo). Luego de eso, el juego consiste en recorrer plataformas y pegarte con enemigos de vez en cuando. Hay alguna sección breve de saltos... pero poco más que eso, la verdad. Eso sí, hay un nivel de conducción similar al minijuego de la moto de FF7 (honestamente, no pega nada, pero es el más divertido). En cuanto a la historia, es muy esotérica y enrevesada (a efectos generales, eres Enoch, un escriba de Dios que tiene que pegarse con los ángeles caídos, con la ayuda de los arcángeles, y arrastrarlos a que los juzguen)... aunque las situaciones que van sucediendo no tienen ningún tipo de sentido (sigo pensando en "llorar su muerte", para un momento después ponerse a caminar... igual no lo entendí). Hay muchas, muchísimas cosas que no se explican (como el tipo del teléfono, que solo aparece para molestar). El final es una absoluta y enorme decepción que no se sostiene por ningún lado. ¿Lo que menos me gustó? Las peleas con los jefes. Están muy mal presentadas, y quien a veces parece un enemigo normal (porque la pelea es absurda) igual es un jefe de área. O de nivel. O el mismo jefe final. Da un poco igual en realidad, porque mecánicamente es simple hasta el hastío. Sin embargo, cuando crees que estás a mundo de protagonizar un momento épico, tal vez el jefe se muera fuera de cámara por cosas que no tienen nada que ver contigo... y tú te vas sin más. Pasa BASTANTE. Eso sí, técnicamente es una joya visual. Los fondos son geniales. En fin. No lo recomiendo, salvo que esté en oferta, si apetece un juego tipo Devil May Cry/God of War (muy inferior a ambos).