Gestalt: Steam & Cinder

Найс наратив, де кожні 10 кімнат, твою камеру приклеюють до головного злодія, котрий знаходится на пару світових років від тебе та показують його попіздяшки про щось там. [u]спойлер до фіналу >[/u] [spoiler]Ще й сюжет немає нормального закінчення та просто завершується на недомовленості після вбивства антогоніста з моментальним запуском титрів.[/spoiler]

great gameplay as expected from a god Metroicvania. The Artstyle is gourgeous even though steampunk isnt my cup of tea. TBH I ignored the story and Dialogs.

Nice platformer, with fun combat and lots of jump puzzles (for people who likes it, this game is a treat). The ending is not actually the end of the story, what I don't totally like, but its a good narrative anyway.

Good MetroidVania game, it has all the characteristics of a good game, however, the way the game stops the action to tell you a story, like "its important" to not miss this information out.... most MetroidVanias are action packed and dont have many story segments and when they are played, they are "cutscene short" (which is fine, deepstory is not why we like MVs), but this one does.... and after all that "story" driven to just toss a super bad ending (game only features one ending)..... doesnt make me feel like completed the game, felt disappointed, (completed all 36 achievements in one playthrough) Its entertaining, with atmospheric music, retro graphics, challenging but fair/forgiving.... but the ending... its just... Sigh. Still, give it a go, skip the CS, and you wont be disappointed about the ending.

[h1][b] Gestalt: simple and standard [/b][/h1] A very average Metroidvania with nothing too awful. On the plus side, it's fairly generous with how it handles backtracking, and does not require you to re-visit the complete map 6 times. Items are hidden near the upgrade necessary to find them. I love this. The graphics + music are made with care too. The missed potential: the upgrade tree is interesting but its progression is so linear that it might as well not be there. The controls are competent enough to not get frustrating but they are not super precise or intuitive either. Some dodgy controller binding decisions, like why place forward roll on a button but backwards roll on a trigger? The special moves are all kind of useless and some of them make your fighting style worse. You'll find that a combo of light blade attack and gunshots is all you need to beat the game. The difficulty spike is poorly designed with some of the early bosses being very difficult, but literally every boss in the second half of the game are super easy, And then there is a story but it's rather uninteresting, and some of it is delivered poorly via annoying "cutscenes" that happen when you enter some screens. Honestly none of it was necessary to the game. A lukewarm recommendation as there is nothing awful in this game, and it succeeds at keeping you entertained until you 100% it, which is not too hard.

TL;DR 7.5/10 would recommend to any Metroidvania fan. First I would like to say that this game was my first ever Wishlisted game when I first got my PC I believe back in 2021-2022. I used to periodically check if it was released every couple of months, later forgot about it, and then just recently was EXTREMELY happy to find that it was finally out. Even though this was the first time I played any game by these publishers/devs I found that there was a sense of nostalgia (probably due to me rewatching the teasers every few months back then) while playing the first couple of hours. Now, before starting with the review, I would just like to preface that I'm no professional reviewer by any means. I'm just a big fan of the genre and the game, that wants to both provide input to the makers of this really nice game and to also give any potential fellow Gestalt enjoyers my perspective as a 100%er of the game. Now, let's start with the review: Gameplay and mechanics:- What I liked: -I liked the feel of the game and how smooth it is. The hack 'n' slash aspect of it was very satisfying. -There are a lot of special abilities that will unlock the further you progress in the game and I found almost all of them to be very neat. -The skill-tree was very well designed and made it easy to keep track of what skills I have, and what I should work on getting next. -Map layout and rooms were very nicely intertwined. -12H to 100% was also good for the price range of the game. Recommendations: -Add different weapons (or attachments to the single main weapon). -Add shields (or any tool, magic, or even consumable) that lets you parry certain or all attacks. -Remove the back-dash (never used since regular dodge-roll felt safer and more instinctive). -Add more move-sets to the bosses especially the early ones. -Reduce max damage, health, and healables (the game became too easy towards the last third). Story and Characters:- What I liked: -Story-heavy with a great background and exciting consequences that keeps you engaged. -Cool and good variety of characters. Recommendations: - [spoiler] NEXT Gestalt ASAP PLZ!! [/spoiler] Art and Music:- What I liked: -The level design was very expressive. Each level made you feel its atmosphere very clearly. -The OST was great, which added to the immersion when combined with the great design. -Loved the character design, it conveyed their personalities very accurately. Recommendations: -Add more designs to the characters to better convey their emotions during dialog. This was really important to me, as in some dire situations a character would speak with the default design which was smiling. This really takes out the immersion. -Would love if there was voice-acting in the game. Not necessarily in all dialogs, it can be only during story-related cutscenes. All-in-all, I really enjoyed my time with Gestalt. And will for sure be checking out any other releases by the devs/studio. Thank you for your time.

A little good game, not as good as the best Metroidmania but if you like this kind of game it's not a bad investment. By the way, i hope that they'll make a sequel to improve and correct the few issues of this game.