Gravity Circuit

If you grew up with or otherwise enjoyed like, any of the Mega Man X or Zero games, especially Zero 2, you will love this. The paintjobs call back to the forms mechanic of Zero 2. The hookshot is literally just the chain rod. There are references for absolute days among the characters which I will not specify for spoiler reasons, but trust your gut, if you ever get a familiar feeling. Gods above and below, even the very sprites harken back to, of all things, the Mega Man Xtreme games on the Game Boy Color. (Late-game story spoiler) [spoiler] The Circuits themselves even feel like a reference to the biometals from ZX. Not as individual characters, but at least as an overall concept. [/spoiler] There is so much Mega Man influence in every pixel of this game that calling it "heavily inspired" by the franchise almost feels like an understatement, and yet it feels new. The gameplay feels so wonderfully familiar and yet revitalized and modernized, with quality of life changes such as a run button that you can either hold or toggle, for my fellow Zero/ZX kids who remember destroying their L buttons mashing dash to go fast, generally smoother-feeling controls (to me, at least- ymmv) or nixing that godsforsaken lives system from the old arcade days that burdened gamers for so, so long. Of course, not all the differences are QoL. Some of the differences from old-school X (or really Zero, as that feels like the primary gameplay inspiration) are new, like the combos. Well, "new", perhaps. Sure, you don't get a basic 3-hit combo like Zero's saber, but you do get a series of punches that you can take and then weave in uppercuts, kicks, dives, and various Burst moves. It's not detailed, like a fighting game, it's actually pretty bare-bones, but it is serviceable... I'd like to see it get a bit more detailed come GC2, more akin to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, honestly. The aforementioned Burst moves are also a unique thing. Rather than getting a singular subweapon or EX skill from a boss, defeating them unlocks two new Burst moves apiece you can purchase that are reminiscent of each boss, and there's four slots to equip them in: pressing the Burst button with no directional input, Up+Burst, Left/Right+Burst, and Down+Burst. All in all, it allows for very varied movesets and playstyles, especially factoring in that you have three loadout slots (covering both Burst moves and upgrade chips) you can swap between. There's also the ability to throw enemies with the hookshot, with their deaths stunning them for a bit, which allows you to simply yeet their lifeless corpses, or continue wailing on them to Overkill them, which doesn't really do anything special unless you have a particular upgrade chip equipped, to my knowledge. Working throws into your regular moveset, however, can be very rewarding and satisfying, and while you can go the entire game without it, for reasons I will not elaborate on, I highly recommend it. Now, with the positives done... I do have a few gripes. First and biggest: The hookshot did not feel consistently and sufficiently responsive. I am wholly ready to admit that this is potentially a skill issue, as I basically went from start to finish in one sitting with 100% collectables and my hands definitely started to hurt towards the end because I'm not as used to a controller as I used to be, or even simply my controller being a well-worn, 12-13y/o dualshock 4. However, whether with a stick or a dpad, I would have so, so many moments where I would jump forward, and then roll my thumb upwards to hookshot straight up, onto the ceiling or a platform, only for it to go either at an angle, or simply dead ahead, and I'd plummet into whatever hazards waited below. I'd also have times where maybe a single pixel caught on either a moving platform, or a wind turbine, or whatever, and break the connection without any clear, immediate reason, but because it so barely happened, I wouldn't have time to process or react. When it was simple grabbing folks and swinging along, the hookshot was great. But many times, for the more challenging areas both saving lost robots and in the endgame, it was rough. Second: The invincibility frames. They're enough that like, you don't hit an enemy and immediately lose a quarter your health because you touched it for less than a tenth of a second, but do not think for a split second that you can damage boost past some spikes or whatever. You may try, but you will fail. Funnily enough, the upgrade chip that extends your i-frames actually feels like [i] extended [/i] i-frames as it should, rather than balancing out to feel like what you might expect of most Mega Man games. Finally, while, as I said, it is serviceable, the basic punching lacks some... I dunno what precisely it is, [i] oomf [/i] I suppose? Perhaps I'm simply too used to the big, arcing saber swings of Zero, but while the punches carry weight and impact in their hits, something still feels like it's missing. It honestly could just be the sheer size of it, because I did frequently find myself favoring the big, sweeping, upwards kick attack that you get from holding up when you press the button. All said and done, Gravity Circuit is... probably my favorite new (to me) game that I've picked up this year, contested only by Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. I'm hugely excited for GC2 and highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys platformers and maybe wants some nostalgia. Just... hopefully, be better at games than me lmao.

One of the best spiritual successors to the NES golden era! The game is just as you remember the original Mega Man. If you love retro games, you have to play Gravity Circuit! Everything is perfect here: the pixel art, the music, the variety of weapons and upgrades, and the boss fights. The gameplay is excellent overall. I don't regret playing it for a second!

Gravity Circuit is an insanely fun game from beggining to end! With so many unique ways in playing trough the stages with diffrent power moves, mods, upgrades, and simply how fast or slow you can take trough the game. There is so many ways you can apporch this game in which I appricate. The music is a bop. The level design is so much fun and smooth to traverse trough. The character designs are so much fun with everyone being a robot. Though the one thing I personally really admire about this game is it's focus on melee combat and not shooting with a game of this kind of mega-man structure. Because it's more focused on melee combat, it kinda forces every gameplay aspect to be insanely fast-paced in all the right ways. Because it's fast paced by nature, running trough the levels and bosses gives you such a rush, and a sense of flow-state that you do not wanna mess up. Because speedrunning trough the levels without a mistake is such a joy. If you want a platformer that is fast pace that is like mega-man but not really mega-man. I would 100% reccomend Gravity Circuit. Do yourself a favor and play it. You will have so much fun :]

I really love the movement in this game! It feels like an evolution of the Mega Man X games!

钩爪系统实在逆天，时不时识别不出我按了上+钩爪，老是摔死，能像泰拉瑞亚那样用鼠标选定方向或许会更好

Definitely worth buying on sale. I was never a mega man fan, but this game captures the feeling of a classic 90's side scroller. I finished it in about 5 hours. I might replay it someday on the hardest mode. The game's brightly colored, fast paced, nostalgic and fun. My complaints are pretty small, but I thought it was kinda repetitive, and I personally didn't care for the story. You don't play these games for story though so no worries. I would compare this to cyber shadow and shovel knight. While not quite as good, it's worth a few dollars if you like those titles. Overall, it's not mind-blowing, but it serves it's purpose. It'll entertain you for a night or two. I'll be sure to play the sequel when it comes

The term "hidden gem" gets thrown around alot but this game truly deserves that title. It's delightfully detailed, carefully balanced, satisfying to master and polished to perfection. The devs took all the best parts of Mega Man, left out the frustration and packaged it all in a beautiful, confident artstyle. I got the game while it was free to claim and now i feel like i ripped off the devs. I cannot wait for the sequel, it's gonna be a first day purchase for sure. 10/10, as close to a perfect game as it can get for me.