Aerannis

This review contains spoilers. -- I was browsing Facebook when I saw a friend put up a picture of the entrance to TERF turf, and somehow the game was purchased on my steam library twenty seconds later. It's magic, I tell you! Aerannis is a strange amalgam of extremely familiar elements. It reminds me of nothing so much as Hotline Miami (the frequent checkpoints in levels cause that comparison), and yet there are a lot of metroidvania elements as well. The controls feel floaty, which can be frustrating. I had a few deaths to them - not too many, but a few. The frequent checkpoints help to mostly mitigate this. The plot is very science-fictiony and ... underexplained [the other thing that harks back to Hotline: Miami for me]. I felt like there could have been a lot more to the story and world, and a lot more to the main character, who is very ... well, she's what you'd expect from a shooter protagonist outside of her gender. In this story, you're basically just doing the "talk to contact, go through world to do mission, come back to contact, do other mission" loop, and it's very ... apparent that this is happening. Even with the fun touches [e.g.: the first mission is "Figure out why people buy day 1 DLC"], it all seems oddly rote for a story set in a world where there are no men in apocalyptic surroundings. You're forced through a linear path, and that path feels ... incomplete, or at least it did to me. There are multiple endings, but you can see both of them almost immediately at the end, which I thought was a nice touch. The endings themselves ... are a bit of a lucid dream, as the rest of the plot is. To be honest, I don't think the art style does the game any favors in this area (and goodness, the elevator sprites are almost seizure-inducing), but there could have been more done, just in general, to flesh out the world. In the end, I would rate this a maybe, but there's just a yes or no option. Upon finishing the game (it took ~6, 7 hours?) ... I didn't love it. It feels serviceable. If you love the subject matter, you won't regret buying it (I don't regret buying it). But I ended the game wanting more from the game than what I got - a character that isn't content to just follow what their handler says forever, a story that's more fleshed-out ... I wasn't really able to connect with the main character in the story. The small throwaway bits are consistent and then the larger bits didn't ... feel that way, to the setting and the story, to me. I felt along for the ride, like my actions weren't doing anything in the story - like I was watching an oddly-paced 8-bit movie about the Illum(inati) and Gods, Devil May Cry-style. And the action isn't good enough to compensate.

Aerannis is a game with a message. Or rather, the game IS a message. Let's back it up. I was introduced to this game in passing during a Twitch stream. The pitch was, and I kid you not, "it has a transgender protagonist." I wish I could say that was reductive, but in truth, Aerannis is a game with a transgender protagonist. And that's mostly it. The game's narrative is the core focus. It's a very linear experience and the story hinges on some very specific ideas. Some of you, I'm sure, read "transgender protagonist" and, like I did, had something of a cynical reaction. This game having been on sale for $0.50, I decided to see for myself. Almost immediately the developer's sociopolitical biases are made clear. And if you don't get it in the first half hour, a lategame cameo by Vivian James and a not-so-subtle jab at /adgd/ should paint the picture well enough. Also one of the main antagonists resembles notoriously-combative feminist Chanty "Big Red" Binx. So what IS the narrative? In the year 2XXX, Ceyda is a paid assassin fulfilling hits as instructed by her friend Elsa. They live in a very purple world known as Plovdiv, and we learn that Plovdiv is the only surviving civilization on Earth. On top of this, men no longer exist. Apparently, men are forced to undergo sexual reassignment, and then are outcast as "snowflakes." Would you believe me if I said most of what I understand from this plot comes from the Kickstarter and Steam store descriptions? The game itself does a very poor job bringing its world to life--characters are more frequently lost in wink-wink-nudge-nudge monologues about humanity. Plot elements are introduced by the characters just stating that it's there. Along the way it's revealed that Plovdiv is run by shapeshifting aliens. I couldn't tell you how Ceyda learns this to save my life. She just suddenly understands that it's real and we've immediately moved past any phase of disbelief in this fantastical revelation. The game has two endings. The one I got involved awakening Satan (yes, Satan) whose role is to imbue humanity with knowledge so that they will realize the existence of Illums (a phrase which is literally used for the first time mere moments before this ending), allowing them the freedom to choose their own path knowing the truth. I get it. Ja feel. I vibe with that. But it felt more like I was being preached to than having a story built around this concept. I don't know what the other ending is. I'm not playing it again to find out. Suffice to say, the story-centric game is very clumsy about its story. Dialogue is poor, characters are paper-thin, the world feels more like window dressing and the villains are little more than an allegory for the thing ektomarch doesn't like very much in real life. But that's not the only thing that's clumsy about Aerannis. Let's talk about how the game actually plays. Not very well. When the brief credits rolled, I was honestly surprised to learn that this game had playtesters. Ceyda controls poorly, and key mechanics do not function intuitively. Simple things are completely overlooked. Text boxes appear in three fashions. In a fixed timer which counts down in the corner, with an invisible timer and the option to manually skip, or they will stay on screen forever until you close it. Why is it so inconsistent? When interacting with these textboxes, or other menus, Ceyda's character controls are still functional. Meaning that you can and will see her jump and move around when using this interface. Ceyda can shoot her gun, throw three different bomb types, and dash. The dashing is the only fun I had the whole game because going fast is fun and it has a cool visual effect. Being stealth-minded, the combat in this game is simply not given much thought. Fair enough, but most of the latter half of the game won't even require stealth so... maybe there should've been more care put into it. Ceyda learns two key functions: ledge grabbing and wall jumping. Neither of these work well. Ceyda will sometimes grab ledges automatically. Sometimes she won't. This can and will get you into trouble because this is ostensibly a stealth game and those require a bit of mechanical finesse. Wall jumping is clunky and unreliable, doubly-so in the presence of ledges which you may or may not grab onto. Much of my playtime was struggling with these two mechanics as I navigated the world. Speaking of the world navigation, it's kind of bad. Let's get one thing clear: Aerannis LOOKS good. Not the character sprites, frankly. But the environments are very pretty. However, the visual information they convey as a function of gameplay leaves something to be desired. It's difficult to discern which objects are platforms, which ones have ledges and where, and even whether or not something is even there. On multiple occasions, you will find tiles which are visually identical, but you can stand on one and not the other. To call this game a Metroidvania as many have is being very, very generous. A Metroidvania is made distinct through its expansive, connected map and utilization of character upgrades to access new areas, often involving a continous back-and-forth between locales which naturally promotes one to learn the layout of the map like a second home. Ceyda only has a limited amount of new skills to learn, and the one time you return to a previous location, you do need a skill you didn't have before--but that skill leads you immediately to a door locked behind a story trigger; just why? If you came to this game because you enjoy Metroidvanias, you have been lied to. Furthermore, even knowing where to go is a trial in and of itself. The overworld map is large, which means a lot of travel time in-between mission locations. A lot. Most of the time you will be given directions like "it's the house east of here," and left to your own devices. Getting to where you need to be doesn't feel like I'm learning this city, but more like I'm stumbling around until I find the glowing arrow that wasn't there before. The maps function better as wallpapers than video game levels. As you might imagine, the game does feature a small variety of boss fights. They're all visually and mechanically distinct, however much like everything else, they are sub-par at best. Although I very much like the designs of the bosses, the fights themselves leave something to be desired, either being too simple or too clunky to be any fun. The one true success of Aerannis is the soundtrack. I recommend you check it out on YouTube. It's pretty good. As for the game itself, I cannot recommend it. Not even for fifty cents. Go buy a gumball. The promised flavor fades all too quickly until you are left with a limp, unsatisfying imitation of what you bought. So it's very much the same experience, but it'll save you six hours. Oh, and ektomarch, if you're reading this... Regarding the /agdg/ joke; people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Tried this game but I just couldn't get into it. The art style is classic but the level design is just horrible. I really struggled to find where I am supposed to go. In the end it just got so frustrating that I gave up. The controls aren't very good either. Arrow keys to move but X to jump and C to shoot is just weird. The fact that I couldn't change audio settings in game was also annoying because the game was quite loud for me. Overall, it just wasn't an enjoyable experience. I'd give it a 3.5/10.

Aerannis in set in the mysterious future of 2XXX in a world where there are no longer any men and mysterious beings secretly run society. Ceyda is a tough hired gun who prefers to shoot first rather than second guess her orders. The issue of men, and the lack thereof, is questioned by various NPCs and issues of reproduction, femininity, women’s place in society and more are all touched on throughout the game. The mystery of sinister government plots and the supernatural beings that act as gods is also played up throughout. The scene following most missions shows a prominent political figure addressing a faceless crowd to spin the missions’ happenings, often questionable acts that suggest something larger than Ceyda is willing to pursue is at foot, into digestible bits of just events. The aforementioned creatures haunt Ceyda in dreams and in reality, with their main characteristic being a large single eye and their often fluctuating forms. The omnipresent gaze and ability to appear anywhere and through any form most easily places them as manifestations of the gaze. It’s a fascinating setting, but at times the weightiness of its content gets heavy handed; there is a certain mission where Ceyda is tasked with controlling the leak of dangerous chemical called “testosterone,” which threatens to turn the populace into violent maniacs. Not every bit of text in the game is meant to be lofty though, and there are some clever jabs and nice bits of humor. The colors, level, and enemy design seem to call back to the older Megaman X games. Even the mission start and end notifications feel like Megaman X style font and transitions. The gelatinous eye monsters in this game also recall a bit of the older Megaman’s Yellow Devil, though the monsters here are much more articulate and insidious. Despite the artistic inspiration, Aerannis very much manages to be striking on its own and the soundtrack does an excellent job of keeping the mood in place. This puts the games form near on par with the content present, but the mechanics of the game could have used some more polishing. The controls feel unresponsive and awkward on both controller or keyboard and this affects all of the games mechanics. Platforming is a large part of Aerannis, and it delivers a less than stellar performance. Wall jumping slings you out just far enough to not be able to alternate most parallel walls, while at the same time demanding the player to return quickly to the same wall in order to climb vertically: it looks a bit like your character is a confused rabbit trying to stay in the same place but somehow managing to offset itself ever so slightly. The characters regular walk speed is set just above leisurely, and the sprint mechanic arrives late and with a very short use time. Ledge grabbing in the game is untraditional in that the ledge of most platforms isn’t counted as either end, but the center. This is of course more a visual annoyance than an actual flaw once you get the hang of it. Given the wealth of great 2D games that have used stealth elements recently, Aerannis really seems to have taken a step back. Movement feels slow and controls feel unintuitive: with a button press you can hold up someone to instantly kill, open a door, or use them as shield. Generally the doors enemies can open do not offer much of a shortcut, and they don’t make great shields so you will generally be instantly killing them. The problem is that there were a number of times where Ceyda seems to have a change of heart and let the hostage go, and thus endure a few shots and an alert. The level design overall makes stealth seem disjointed and almost unwelcome. So where other stealth games make a sort of puzzle wherein you use gadgets and skill to figure out the many paths to complete an objective silently, Aerannis is rather stingy with the gadgets (a noisemaker, a boomerang, and a mine), and the linear platform heavy areas make it easier to just ignore large areas, while at the same time not giving you a stealth satisfaction. Similar games with stealth elements often rely on you being able to actually see your enemy: The Metal Gear series started top down to allow you to see enemies, modern incarnations are third person with first person options or gadgets, Mark of the Ninja and Hotline Miami both were zoomed out accordingly and allowed the player to see just a bit further than an enemies field of view for most areas. Aerannis instead has a colored globe that will shrink to red when an enemy is approaching, but beyond that, you are left to guess if taking a step through the door or exiting a hallway is going to earn you a blast in the face or a few quick kill. The combat, much like the stealth, feels limited. Ceyda’s gun mimics Megaman’s buster gun in that it offers small quick pellets or a larger blast when charged. There was one upgrade that slightly increased rate of fire, but other than that you are stuck with a weapon that encourages you to not engage the enemy directly. The boss fights in Aerannis do attempt to change around the games mechanics: a reflex heavy running sequence, a climbing segment that takes precision mine placement, and then some regular scenarios where you follow a boss’s pattern. The general rule of thumb for games that want to avoid being linear is that logistics should be quick and easy or traveling should be interesting and it ought to be made clear where important things are. While the first hub area has a few points of interest, a few being less than a handful, every area after that feels like a chore to traverse with no payoff: no objects to examine, no upgrades, minimal aesthetic variance, and general barren concrete emptiness. On top of this, navigation leaves much to be desired once you leave the first hub area, because some bits of text might tell you a general area or directions, but there are a lot of vertical avenues and buildings of interest to come in clumps. These hub areas only serve to extend the game, which throws off the pacing, as well as highlight the clunky platforming and frame issues, which is overall not fun Though the mechanics are not the absolute highlight of the game, they are functional for the most part. Aside from the stutters and clunky controls, Aerannis plays fine and is not broken. Aerannis is less Mark of the Ninja, and more Mega(wo)man with a focus on narrative and light stealth elements. Some have identified Aerannis as a metroidvania, but given the lack of techniques or gadgets that would allow one to explore new paths in old areas, relatively small world area, and minimal recursive structure, little encouragement to explore, and far from easy travel or navigation, I would not shelve this next to Symphony of the Night. Aerannis stumbles a bit in its approach, but the game is certainly interesting enough to overlook its minor flaws.

I finally got around to completing this game after buying it like 5 years ago, and I cannot recommend this. It was mainly a protest buy back during GG to support to devs and their creative vision. As a game itself, there are a lot of fundamentals wrong with it. The controls are super clunky and hard to move your character or do actions. It is very difficult to find where the next mission is due to no map or markers. The story is hard to follow and grasp, starting off with a trans woman assassin and ending with killing off alien shapeshifters and awakening Satan to allow humanity to control it's own destiny. Lack of rebindable keys and self damage made for a LOT of unnecessary deaths. The only good part was finding Vivian James, though she was in TERF Turf which was super weird to me.

So I finished playing Aerannis 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 * In Aerannis, you take on the role of Ceyda Farhi, a transgener woman and assassin with cybernetic legs. The world is a cyberpunk near future in which most of the world has been destroyed, the implication is by forever wars, and the few remaining humans live in a toxically-TERFy Matriarchal society, wherein most AMABs take HRT and elect to live as trans women. These are called "Snowflakes." AFAB women rule the roost in Plovdiv, and the implied commentary on the Patriarchy of IRL modern society is entertaining. Ceyda, however, is not one of these "Snowflakes" as she reminds others during the story. She was already a woman before the revolution. Very quickly, the plotline becomes a conspiracy story of lovecraftian tone, wherein the Matriarchs have been infiltrated by God-beings who live forever and have enslaved an unwitting humanity. The game has a very Promethean-message that may be appreciated by other Magick practitioners. Gameplay is about 6-8hrs, and is a 2D, 8bit-stylised scrolling shooter with heavy stealth elements. Boss battles were frustratingly difficult in the "Nintendo Hard!" style of ages past, but the unlimited lives give you plenty of time to figure out your strategy and get gud. The story is quick and loud in iit's message, and has two possible endings, neither especially "good" or "bad" but both good sci-fi horror noir endings the story deserved. Aerannis is a game I will definitely replay 4/5 🌟

An eye opener, no matter what people say. Because all humans have the capability for bad, consciously or unconsciously, no matter their "noble" cause or agenda. The human element will always be present, along with the ugly side within it. As for the actual game, it's a fun little metroidvania with stealth elements. Won't be entirely satisfying because of length and depth of game mechanics, but then again it's also quite cheap. Graphics are pretty, and the music is great.

Boring game with a nonsensical plot. The controls are terrible and make the game stiff and unenjoyable. The visuals and audio are reminisce of early 90’s. I’d avoid unless you like this sort of thing a lot.