Zapling Bygone

+ REALLY FUN PLATFORMER - almost no heals - checkpoints are really far apart this kills the entire game. doing the same long ass bit over and over to reach the part you died at kills this entire game for me its not super hard game, its just stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ far away from where you died....

【6.9★】（有全护符翻译图）外星异形题材小体量银河城，全收集11小时就能完成，游戏借鉴的是《空洞骑士》那一套玩法：非线性探图，有死亡惩罚、蓄力回血和各种符文收集。能让玩家玩进去的同时探险欲和收集欲都能得到满足，我太吃这种玩法的游戏了，请给我多来点！ 这游戏比较明显的缺点是地图设计有点为乱而乱，传送点少以及各种不人性化的小设计。由于没有中文，我制作了全头骨获取方法图和全护符翻译图，各位可以参考一下。

It's not terrible but it has many things that soured the experience for me. I still enjoyed it a bit but sadly can't recommend it. The colour palette can be too dark. It's something difficult to see where I can or can't go. Same goes with enemies, sometimes I just don't see them. Probably my biggest frustration here. Would have prefered if everything was in pixel art. Besides the colours, the pixel art is quite nice but character art for dialog, skulls and perks in the menu are not in pixel art and they just look kinda off here. It's unfortunate that not all skulls give a permanent upgrade. So many optional ones that just aren't worth it for their slots when the ones you get for progression have good enough slots. It doesn't have to be movement abilities for each one, optional ones could get you health upgrades or something. Speaking of abilities, not the best at explaining them. My Metroidvania experience lets me intuitively know what they do but any ability you gain is never forced to use in the place you got them in to teach you the basics. You're just supposed to figure out where this new ability can even be used without being forced to try it out first. The length of the game also isn't that big for its asking price.

It's kinda alright, but hard to recommend. The art is kinda meh. Combat is a bit weak. Some boss patterns can be fun to work out and learn though.

Imagine a hive mind that can absorb the memories of the dead by taking over their remains. What sounds like the setup for a villain, instead, is the starting point for the main protagonist of Zapling Bygone, where said hive mind is invaded by another deadly creature, a virus that takes over the creatures it infects. So off goes a tiny seed of the hive mind to a faraway world where the virus was fought to a standstill. This isn’t a massive game by any means, nor is it one of those tiny metroidvania-likes that is over in like 2 hours or less. Instead, it’s a solid experience at around 8 to 10 hours, depending on your playstyle, with a limited number of biomes. Instead of quantity, there’s a focus on quality. You start as a weak and tiny offshoot of the hive mind, take over the first skull you find on the ground, and slowly grow your abilities. Occasionally, you find new skulls, either from some bosses or others lying around, that give you new abilities, like in every other metroidvania. From the standard double jump and dash, you also get stuff like crawling on walls, which feels significantly different than wall climbing, as you can, just as the extremely cool but rarely copied spider ball from Metroid 2, just stick to walls instead of being forced to constantly apply momentum to keep there. Later, you even get the ability to climb on ceilings, so basically the full package. To the usual metroidvania-type abilities, you also get the Hollow Knight charm system, which further adds to your arsenal. Unlike other games with a similar system, you don’t get more and more charm slots; instead, the different skulls you collect allow you to insert various types of charms (literally round, square, or triangular). Some skulls have more round charm slots, others have a better mix of all three, but overall fewer. Depending on the boss you face, you might need to change to a fast and deadly glass canon configuration or a slow and lower damage tank type. There’s a lot of experimentation with the types, though thankfully, most of the enemies or bosses are rather easy. My favorite boss fight in the entire game was one where I couldn’t hit the enemies, and just had to learn their attack pattern to avoid getting hit as their HP slowly depleted, with three different creatures getting increasingly hostile. There’s also an optional boss fight against a bird that felt like the hardest fight in the entire game, even compared to the tri-part final boss. But once I got that one, it felt really great. I remember trying to play this once before and just bouncing off. There’s some jank to the game, which is especially irritating early on, but on my second attempt, I really got in the flow of it and couldn’t put the game down. There’s a section close to the end where you’re in a dark area, and I wandered around aimlessly for almost an hour until I accidentally slashed the ground around the area with some hanging skeletons, and then got further. That was maybe the most annoying area of the game that should have had some more hints. Otherwise, the game is rather straightforward. There’s also a lot of stuff to collect, pictures to buy, memories to find, and comics to finish. The intro story is told in a style reminiscent of old EC horror comics, and during the course of the game, you can find more panels to finish off other stories of some of the planet’s inhabitants. As you explore and uncover the story of the world, there’s a definite Lovecraftian vibe to everything, mixed with sci-fi concepts and all mushed together into something not quite horror but pretty close. The game’s visuals, often a bit dark and initially looking visually cluttered, only add to that mood. In the end, I had a grand time with the game. It’s a medium-sized metroidvania that doesn’t outstay its welcome, has a couple of unique touches that are more than just gimmicks, and makes it feel like not quite any other metroidvania on the market. Despite the bit of jank and a couple of bugs (occasionally my D-Pad stopped responding until I left the game and restarted), it’s a lovely game. Really enjoyed my time with it.

I accidentally finished the game in half an hour and got to some late game boss with one ability It's okay. It's around a 6.5/10, worth it on a sale

Petit metroidvania plutôt joli et sympa à jouer. Le lore est assez obscur, et ce qu'on doit faire et assez obscur aussi. Globalement agréable à jouer, il peut être frustrant sur certains passages de plateformes un peu (trop?) précis. Mériterait peut être de s'exprimer plus clairement, mais globalement un bon jeu.

really cool, simple metroidvania obviously a bit awkward in places but for a solo developer, more than acceptable very good yes yes