Before I Go

[i]---See where this game landed on my Metroidvania Tier List beneath this rec!---[/i] Before I Go was actually pretty decent. It's a metroidvania with an emphasis on platforming where you [i]pew pew[/i] with a ranged attack. It reminded me a little bit of [b]Somber Echoes[/b] with its platforming emphasis and repeating black space in the walls of every biome. Like [b]Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus[/b], the game doesn't treat you like you've never played [b]Hollow Knight[/b] before, so quite early in you will find yourself precision platforming around spikes. I didn't encounter anything too brutal in the platforming, nothing extreme like in [b]Aeterna Noctis[/b], [b]Lone Fungus[/b] or [b]Trash Quest[/b]. I'd say the difficulty of it is more on the level of [b]Silksong[/b] - can get genuinely tricky occasionally, but not masochistic. My biggest gripe with [b]Before I Go[/b] was the backtracking. Teleporters are very spread out, making it a bit of a slog whenever you gain a new ability and need to revisit everywhere to try and find the next way forward. This was also a factor in why I didn't try to 100% the collectables (I finished with 90-something %). There were a few points early into the game where it felt a little too linear, forcing me to take the only route, though for the most part the game does open up and feel like a metroidvania. Some of the ability upgrades were combat-only upgrades that didn't affect traversal. Some of the abilities can only be used at fixed points, when there are interactable pads. A bunch of times you'd get an upgrade which turns ethereal platforms/pads corporeal (so more fixed-point upgrades). While a fair chunk of the abilities weren't true metroidvania upgrades, I did get a number of those as well and overall I enjoyed that progression. The map is good. All geometry is displayed and you can place map markers (I made use of them a fair bit). The game displays each biomes completion %, though will never help you track down those last few collectables. Combat is pretty basic, though gets a tiny bit more depth as you acquire upgrades. Your ranged attack can only fire Up, Down, Left, Right (no diagonals). Throughout the game you collect currency which can be spent on permanent combat upgrades at save points. The bosses, overall were very easy to dispatch. I can imagine some of them potentially giving someone some trouble, but there were multiple times where I got through on my very first attempt. Audio/Visually the game is well produced. I won't be adding any of the music to my favourites folder, but it was sufficient enough. At least one of the looping tracks is largely atmospheric and conveys a dark seriousness. Sound effects were good, visuals were good and even occasionally striking. Visually there are some similarities to [b]Grime[/b], though [b]Before I Go[/b] is far less ambitious. There was an awful lot of black space in every biome's walls/floors/ceilings, where I felt some variety in colour and some additional graphics could have helpd give locations more identity. [b]Before I Go[/b] was on the shorter side, taking me a bit over 8 hours to finish. It was enjoyable enough, held my interest and easily did enough to get my recommendation. ——————————— [i]There isn't enough space in a Steam Rec to post my entire Tier List, so I cut off the bottom tiers and just left the games I liked. You can find the latest (and better) version of the Tier List on my reddit profile which I update every six months or sooner, located here:[/i] [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/metroidvania/comments/14l87nn/my_large_metroidvania_tier_list/]Tier List[/url] ===================== [b]My Metroidvania Tier List (PC)[/b] [i] (excluding Metroid & Castlevania titles)[/i] ===================== [i]-Not an objective list, purely how much I enjoyed the games-[/i] [b]S+[/b] Aeterna Noctis | [b]S Tier [i](Truly Special)[/i][/b] Astalon: Tears of the Earth | Hollow Knight: Silksong | MIO: Memories in Orbit | Hollow Knight | Master Key³$ | Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom | [b]S-[/b] Solateria | Blasphemous 2 | Cathedral | Crypt Custodian³ | [b]A+[/b] Afterimage | The Last Faith | Supraland³ | Supraland: Six Inches Under³ | Oolo³ | Frogmonster³ | [b]A Tier [i](Amazing)[/i][/b] Elderand | Ori and the Will of the Wisps | Doomblade^ | BioGun | Zexion | Chronicles of the Wolf | Kotama and Academy Citadel | Blossom Tales 2³$ | [b]A-[/b] Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | Depths of Sanity | F.I.S.T. | Pampas & Selene | Ender Magnolia | Mandragora | [b]B+[/b] Blast Brigade | Haak | Turbo Kid | Nine Sols | Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus | Biomorph | Minishoot’ Adventures³ | Banjo-Kazooie³ | Banjo-Tooie³ | Donkey Kong 64³ | [b]B Tier [i](Really Enjoyed)[/i][/b] Animal Well | Alwa’s Legacy | Steamworld Dig 2 | Islets | Blasphemous | After Death | Pronty^ | Mortal Manor* | Escape From Tethys | Outbuddies DX* | Monster Sanctuary | Elliot Quest | Rebel Transmute | Moonlight Pulse | Environmental Station Alpha | Twilight Monk | Death’s Door³ | Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-yo³ | Yooka-Laylee³ | Raider Kid and the Ruby Chest | [b]B-[/b] Shadow Labyrinth | Haiku, the Robot | Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | The Mobius Machine | Ultros | Voidwrought | Crystal Project³ | Shattered Divinities | Unsighted³ | Tunic³ | Prey (2017)³ | Possessor(s) | [b]Before I Go[/b] | [b]C+ [i](Fun)[/i][/b] Lone Fungus | Lone Fungus: Melody of Spores | Guns of Fury | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Laika: Aged through Blood | Ghost Song | Kunai | Kingdom Shell | Axiom Verge | Treasure Adventure Game | GigaSword* | Infernax | Flipwitch# | Momodora 4 | Momodora 5 | HunterX | HunterX: code name T | Gestalt | Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists | Super Roboy | BladeChimera | AntiChamber³ | Blossom Tales³$ | Mask of Soul | Tiny Dangerous Dungeons Remake | MF-01 Aerostrike^ | Xanthiom 2 | [b]C Tier [i](Enjoyed)[/i][/b] The Throne | Plague of Yamorn* | Constance | Column on the Sea | 9 Years of Shadows | Jrago* | Xanthiom Zero | Carrion^ | Chasm | Wuppo | The Mummy Demastered | Catmaze | Curse of the Sea Rats* | Death’s Gambit: Afterlife | Castle In The Clouds DX# | Omega Strike | Aggelos | Midnight Castle Succubus# | Overbowed | Rabi-Ribi | TEVI | Far Star | Sheepo | Skelethrone: The CoE* | Unworthy | Undivine | Somber Echoes | Oirbo* | Ato | Side Scape³$ | And All Would Cry Beware³ | Lycanthorn 2³ | Gravethorn | Vomitoreum³ | Maid of Salvation³ | Kalinur | 100 Pumpkins 2 | Grumpy Jack³ | Sealed Bite | Jedi: Fallen Order³ | Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland | Arkham Asylum³ | Omnigon | SJ-19 learns to Love | Paradox Vector³ | The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest | Hargrave | Bread Adventure | EldritchVania |

A solid effort, but I can't really recommend it. Ended up doing a ton of backtracking due to little to no clarity on where you're supposed to go to advance in the mid to late game. Boss fights are fun enough, but every single one follows the same pattern of hitting 50% health, then doing the same attack patterns but sped up so you have to power-mash your attack button to finish them off. Story and graphics were serviceable but not particularly interesting. Every now and then you'll hit a complicated platforming section where things just flow and feel good, but for the most part I was just kind of annoyed trying to finish it up. If nothing else, give the player more ability to mark their map than a single icon you can switch the colors of.

J'ai adoré! Le jeu démarre tranquillement, mais m'a vite affiché mes faiblesses ^^. Par contre je ne me suis jamais senti abandonné, tout est fait pour que je progresse techniquement, et c'est ça que j'ai adoré!! J'ai fini par refaire et refaire le jeu pour tous les succès, et chaque partie était aussi intéressante que la précédente, juste des objectifs différents et un niveau qui augmente ;). Je conseille fortement!

An absolute must play for fans of platforming. The controls are so smooth and responsive.

Apparently this was a solo dev's 5 year project in the making. Awesome game with really cool, borderline innovative mechanics. The abilities make the parkour really fun. The art style and soundtracks are phenomenal. Overall great game. The only complaint would be to add an option to save or not when passing through the shrines, instead them auto saving. Great game, had a great time playing. 9/10

Il y a des jeux qui vous prennent par la main et il y a "Before I go" qui vous attrape, vous secoue et vous chuchote ", c'est à toi de jouer, prends tes responsabilités". Pour ceux qui comme moi ne sont pas particulièrement doués avec une manette, ce jeu peut être vraiment difficile, la frustration de cette difficulté, de ces points de sauvegardes cruelles se transforme au fil des écrans en satisfaction pure, chaque échec est une leçon, chaque réussite un petit shot de dopamine. Le miracle d'un jeu parfaitement réalisé sur tous les plans. C'est un jeu qui vous fait maudire son auteur tout en le remerciant secrètement. Je recommande définitivement.

amazing game

Strong recommendation! Truly top-tier platforming control and fun challenges to go along with it. Combat is not great but I used the turbo function on my Steam Controller and that made it much smoother. The world itself is kind of bland and it quickly becomes wireframe: run here, jump here, dash, etc.

Long backtracks kill it for me, its a good game though, might finish it someday!

Creo que este juego es mi metroidvania del año por ahora, muy disfrutable, me encanta como se sienten los controles. Recomendado para todos los que les gusta metroid y hollow knight, poque creo que es una combinación de ambos.