An Automaton's Journey

An above average fan game. With the goal of making a SNES/GBA era Zelda game for Cecilia, the dev certainly succeeded. The amount of content is fun to complete (lots of bonus boss battles for even more cameos), the story is funny throughout, and the gear you find is useful in combat and exploration. Once you get used to her controls, Cecilia is a reliable MC who can pull off all kinds of attack and defense moves. The game also plays without any issues on Steam Deck, which is nice. For critiques, the difficulty isn't exactly a curve. The first dungeon is probably the most difficult one until the finale because the clone mechanic is extremely unforgiving. Falling in the water comes with a funny voice clip that unfortunately means it takes a bit too long to respawn, which becomes annoying in areas based around being knocked into the water consistently. Finally, you gain a lot of health (gears), but never any improved defense, which makes Ceci a huge glass cannon, which is not super accurate, her main positive trait lore wise is "durability." This one would be fixable with either an item you can get partway through for more defense (like Link's various tunics, it could be a Libestal cape or something like that) or perhaps an easier mode where you take half damage. Some of the streamers who might want to try this could struggle with taking damage in the early part and dying a lot. Overall, I do recommend and had more fun with this one than from many of the other games in Holo Indie.

I love Cecilia Immergreen from Hololive EN Justice.

Pretty fun overall! I keep coming back even though some parts of this game inspired more rage in me than when I played Getting Over It by Bennett Foddy. The art is cute and the interactions with the holomems are pretty funny overall. I especially liked the whole dynamic between Cecilia and Gigi, it totally feels like something GIgi would do for fun on any day ending in Y. I noticed early on that when playing with keyboard, the controls feel a little... slippery? for lack of a better word. You can't change directions while moving, so as I sat there mashing WASD in the heat of battle, I'd often end up facing the wrong direction to attack. I think this is because years of keyboard gaming have conditioned me not to let go of a movement key until I pressed the new direction, since most games would immediately change your direction upon a new keystroke. I went and got a controller and my god, it's so much easier to play with the D-pad. The game is quite punishing to small movement mistakes; you get sent all the way to the beginning of the room if you fall off a ledge, so precise movement really matters. Seriously, save your sanity and play this game with a controller. The balancing of the dungeons felt a little off to me sometimes. Shiori's dungeon introduced a bunch of new mechanics that completely threw me off - hidden walls, mimics, lots of projectiles. I actually got stuck for a bit because I couldn't figure out why the entrance room was seemingly a dead end. You can also permanently make one of the rooms harder to clear just by exploring the room as you normally would. On the other hand, I don't know if I just got better at the game, but by the time I got to the final dungeon, the boss fights seemed comically easy compared to the previous ones, and I cleared them no problem. On that topic, I found some of the boss fights frustrating since it felt like they amounted to "hit the boss X times while dodging all the crap flying around the screen", which gets old after you have to restart for the 8th or 9th time because you couldn't predict where the one minor enemy or projectile was going to be. Shiori and Nerissa's fights feel like this to me. Admittedly, bullet hell is my least favorite kind of game since I get overwhelmed quickly. My favorite boss fights were Raora (clever use of the dungeon item, once I actually read the item description. imagine reading) and Calli (lots of space to move, no minor enemies and few projectiles to track, well-telegraphed attacks that hit hard, but I could learn easily, felt fair overall). Overall, I think the game could use some more polish where it counts, but it has the spirit and the charm, and in the end I had fun. Keep up the good work!

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An Automaton’s Journey is a charming action-adventure RPG developed by Xyros Games and published by holo Indie that successfully combines classic exploration-driven design with a story rooted in the Hololive universe. Players step into the role of Cecilia Immergreen, an ancient automaton who awakens to find a mysterious curse spreading across the land. Once-friendly inhabitants and familiar faces have been transformed into hostile threats, setting the stage for a quest filled with discovery, danger, and personal connections. While the game clearly draws inspiration from Hololive lore, it also works as a standalone adventure thanks to its strong focus on gameplay and world exploration. The game's biggest strength lies in its interconnected world. Rather than guiding players through a strictly linear path, the adventure encourages curiosity and rewards those willing to search every corner of the map. New abilities and special items gradually open previously inaccessible routes, creating a satisfying sense of progression. This design makes exploration feel meaningful because each discovery can reveal hidden treasures, shortcuts, side quests, or entirely new areas. Fans of classic action-adventure titles will appreciate how the game constantly motivates players to revisit older regions with newly acquired tools. The dungeon content provides much of the game's challenge and variety. Across eight major dungeons, players encounter a mixture of environmental puzzles, enemy encounters, and unique mechanics that keep the experience from becoming repetitive. The puzzle elements are especially important because they add depth beyond simple combat. Each dungeon feels like a distinct location with its own identity, forcing players to think carefully about navigation and problem-solving while still delivering satisfying action sequences. The balance between combat and exploration helps maintain a steady pace throughout the adventure. Combat is straightforward yet engaging, with a variety of enemies standing in Cecilia's path. The game features more than forty fan mascots affected by the mysterious curse, along with thirteen significant boss battles. These boss encounters serve as major highlights because they test the player's mastery of acquired abilities and often feature memorable character-inspired designs. Each victory feels rewarding, especially as players gain access to new powers and equipment that expand both their offensive capabilities and their exploration options. One of the more appealing aspects of the game is its progression system. Fifteen unique items are scattered throughout the world, and obtaining them dramatically changes how players interact with the environment. Rather than acting as simple stat upgrades, these items unlock new traversal methods, secret pathways, and combat possibilities. This creates a rewarding gameplay loop where exploration leads to stronger abilities, which in turn open even more opportunities for discovery. The result is a world that continually evolves as the player advances. The side quest structure also adds considerable value. Helping various characters throughout the adventure leads to optional missions that often contain worthwhile rewards and additional boss encounters. These quests provide extra context for the world and its inhabitants while encouraging players to fully engage with the game's content. Instead of feeling like filler, the optional objectives complement the main storyline and help create a richer overall experience. Visually, An Automaton’s Journey embraces a colorful pixel-art style that suits its retro-inspired gameplay. The environments are easy to read, enemy designs are distinctive, and the overall presentation captures the spirit of classic top-down adventures. The art direction may not push technical boundaries, but it effectively supports the game's atmosphere and exploration-focused design. Combined with its lighthearted charm and adventurous tone, the visual presentation contributes significantly to the game's appeal. Although knowledge of Hololive characters and references can enhance the experience, the game does not rely entirely on fan recognition. Players unfamiliar with the source material can still enjoy the well-designed world, rewarding progression system, and engaging exploration. However, longtime Hololive fans will likely gain additional enjoyment from the character appearances, references, and boss encounters that celebrate the franchise. An Automaton’s Journey succeeds by delivering a genuine adventure rather than merely functioning as a fan project. Its carefully designed world, enjoyable dungeon structure, rewarding exploration mechanics, and satisfying progression system come together to create a memorable experience. While it may primarily attract Hololive enthusiasts at first glance, the quality of its gameplay allows it to stand on its own as a worthwhile action-adventure RPG. For players who enjoy uncovering secrets, solving puzzles, and steadily expanding their abilities within a richly connected world, this title offers an entertaining and rewarding journey from beginning to end. Rating: 7/10

At first glance, it looked like some cheap RPG Maker game with a lot of game mechanics similar to the old classic Zelda games, but it was much more than that, and I enjoyed the journey of this game quite a bit. This game offers a lot of content for its cheap price tag. You have to play the main story to advance further, but there are also quite a bunch of optional quests and stuff to explore. It took me like 10 hours to complete my first run. There is also a map system which displays a lot of helpful information and maps out the dungeon explorations as well. Most of the weapons/skills you acquire will be upgradeable and are still useful for certain puzzles or obstacles. Speaking of puzzles, there are a bunch of puzzles, especially in dungeons, but nothing too hardcore. You don't really need to know Hololive to understand the story, but the characters are pretty lore accurate and there are some Easter eggs and inside jokes here and there as well, so it's a plus for fans I guess. Now, let's talk about my favorite part, which is the end boss fights! Each fight is very creative in its own way and reflects the character very well. It gets a little more intense as you advance further ingame, but there are a lot of options out there to make you stronger, which keeps the power creep balance in check. For anyone who is interested in 100% the game. There are no broken achievements here and most of them have a description of how to obtain them, which is always a plus. [b] Alright, let's talk about some stuff that I didn't like: [/b] - You can display the map while moving around, but it does cover up quite a bit in the bottom left corner, so you will see less there and might miss a chest or something. - Changing your weapons/skills while moving takes too long since you might need to press multiple times to reach out for the right one which causes confusion as well. Using the menu stop the time and choosing your weapons/skills is much more safer. To sum up, it's a pretty underrated indie that offers a lot of content for it's very cheap price tag. If you like classic Zelda games and endboss fights, give it a try.

I am usually not very good at these types of games, or good at games in general, but even I managed (with help) to reach 100% completion on this gem of game. It is rough at some edge, like hitboxes on enemies and some dungeons being pretty hard when it comes to moving diagonal with keyboard and mouse, but overall: A very pleasant and fun experience. I needed more time because I really died a lot in some dungeons to get the last gear pieces, but I believe most gamers will need around 10-12 hours for a normal game. Now to get all achievements you probably gonna need much more time, even if you are a good gamer. Me, I am content with my 18 hours and having played through the entire game, talking and beating up all the Holomen and getting all the treasure on the map. I liked the easter eggs I found and the passion that went into creating this game. And I like that the Dev kept on improving the game when receiving feedback on bugs and glitches. Thank you for all the hints and tips as well, when I was stuck! Thank you very much, Dev! I hope other Holofans as well as Not-Holofans can find the time to enjoy this game at their own pace as well. I would recommend this game to both types, Holofans due all the extra stuff you find in it, and not-Holofans due the amount of joy you get of a Zelda-like game with appropriately growing challenges for the amount you pay.

fun game, felt like the old school zelda games and I enjoyed it

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