Astalon: Tears of the Earth

Astalon: Tears of the Earth is a Castlevania-flavoured metroidvania about three heroes climbing a poisoned tower to save their village. The wizard, warrior and archer each carry distinct abilities, so progress across the interconnected map is built around switching between them. Death is the game's upgrade system, with every death restarting the party at the tower entrance to spend soul orbs. A pact with Epimetheus, the Titan of Death, turns failure into the only route to greater strength, making each reset a genuine choice. The three play styles stay meaningfully different, from the wizard's wall-piercing magic to the archer's heavy damage and wall jumps. The shared health bar keeps the party feeling like one unit, while later additions let the whole group switch anywhere without backtracking. The tower itself sprawls across a dozen named areas, from the hall of phantoms to the serpent path, and the game rewards thoroughness with a bestiary that fills in as enemy types are hunted down. Hidden walls are marked distinctly, which keeps the exploration demanding without ever feeling arbitrary. The boss roster is the strongest part, running from the two-headed gorgon Gemini to the tragic Dead Maiden and a strong final boss. A chain-wielding gorgon hunter and a treasure-collecting child join the party as the roster grows to five distinct fighters. The ladders glitch on occasion and spikes claim most deaths, while a few vital items sit behind unusually well-hidden walls. The constant character switching can tire across a thirteen-hour run, and the fully powered party makes the finale anticlimactic. Overall, party switching and the death-loop upgrades carry a strange, memorable twist on the genre. The result is a long, dense metroidvania that keeps impressing right up to its unusual, satisfying conclusion.