Bone Appetit

Great little pixel game with very zany humour and a large amount of play-ability. I kept refering to a youtube video to help get me through my first attempt which I have no shame about. There are a lot of little secrets to find and a good amount of upgrades to discover which will help you through! I will keep coming back to this one for a good while yet! x

Bone Appetit is part of my favorite play style. I had fun for hours on end. A beautiful work of pixel art and level design. I liked the soundtrack that matched a lot with the art in general. I recommend this game to everyone who has never played metroidvania as it is a great game for beginners. Reminded me of "Eternal Daughter". A downside to the gameplay. The controls setup is horrible and there is no way to customize the buttons. Also, some hitbox issues on stairs. In certain places the character curls up and neither jumps nor climbs the stairs. Something to think about when choosing gameplay in your next game. Congratulations on the work!

It is a funny short Metroidvania. I would recommend it in general, with two big BUTs: 1) It is obviously very buggy. For example [spoiler]when an enemy is at the end of the screen and you move to the next screen in the same direction while the enemy moves in this direction also, the enemy will sometimes follow to the next screen. Good to see at the two lower rats above the castle entrace; sometimes killed enemies respawn immediate, sometimes only a second time, sometimes steadily until you leave the screen; one time, the plant boss didn't stop the first attack pattern and fired bees until it was dead[/spoiler]. 2) The most important, playtime vs. price, is very very low. That is always a problem with Metroidvania games, but this one is also lower than most of them. (Took me around 10 hours inclusive some short game pauses to get all achievement and items, aslong there is not something very hidden, so effectively around 1.6 €/hour to current full price.) So I would strong recommend to wait for a good offer. It makes fun, but not for long.

Don't see a lot of discussion about this Metoidvania and that is a shame, I really enjoyed my time with it and I like more people to experience it for themselves. I own a lot of games on Steam and most of them have a hard time keeping my attention, this is one of those games that I could not stop playing until I finished it.

Small sword = bad game design. Sorry. And I am confident in my genitalia size. Edit: Thanks for the response dev. I'm happy to hear there is more to the game than what I saw. The problem is you are forcing me to play with the very unfun weapon in order to get to the fun part. I recommend all weapons to be fun in their own way even if not quite as good in future games to avoid having players disliking the game early on.

Pretty fun game. Kind of nonsensical sense of humor, which I enjoyed even. Cool weapon variety, bosses are fun, there's different strategies to tackle them. Skelly is a cool protagonist. If you're looking for a short sweet indie metroidvania that doesn't take itself too seriously Bone Appetit is a good game satisfy your... appetite.

[i]---see where this game landed on my metroidvania tier list beneath this review!---[/i] It's okay. It feels a lot like Castle in the Darkness. It's short, raw and lacking in production values and features (Like a good map). It's presumably an early first-go at a metroidvania. Like Castle in the darkness, there were things i liked, but ultimately, i just couldn't get into it like I could with other indie first-go metroidvania/zelda 2 type games (E.g. Elliots Quest, Treasure Adventure Game). I'm hoping the dev can create something bigger and better next time like the developer of castle did when they made Astalon, which is one of my favourites. There's a lot of better metroidvanias out there, so unless you're a diehard like me, i wouldn't recommend trying this one. ===================== [b]My Metroidvania Tier List[/b] [i] (excluding Metroid & Castlevania titles)[/i] ===================== [b]S Tier:[/b] Aeterna Noctis | Astalon: Tears of the Earth | Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom | Hollow Knight | Cathedral | [b]A Tier:[/b] Doomblade | Afterimage | Elderand | Ori and the Will of the Wisps | Environmental Station Alpha | Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | Depths of Sanity | [b]B Tier:[/b] Blast Brigade | Alwa’s Legacy | Steamworld Dig 2 | Islets | Blasphemous | After Death | Pronty^ | Haak | Outbuddies DX | Mortal Manor | Escape From Tethys | Treasure Adventure Game | Chasm | Haiku, the Robot | Monster Sanctuary | Rabi-Ribi | Elliot Quest | [b]C Tier[i] (enjoyed playing)[/i]:[/b] Momodora: Reverie under the Moonlight | Ghost Song | Lone Fungus | Aggelos | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Death’s Gambit: Afterlife | Catmaze | Omega Strike | Plague of Yamorn | Sheepo | Infernax | Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth | Carrion^ | Wuppo | Iconoclasts | Ato | [b]D Tier[i] (liked some things, but had issues)[/i]:[/b] Moonscars | Rusted Moss | The Messenger | Castle In The Darkness | Alwa’s Awakening | Pharaoh Rebirth | Yoku’s Island Express | Guacamelee! 2 | Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse | Shantae: Half-Genie Hero | Beholgar | Touhou Luna Nights | Headlander | Axiom Verge | Strider | Minoria | Souldiers | [b]Bone Appetit[/b] | The Witch & the 66 Mushrooms | Transiruby | Destroy Space Aliens | La-Mulana | Guacamelee! | 8Doors | Gato Roboto | Super Panda Adventures | [b]E Tier[i] (Didn’t like)[/i]:[/b] Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap | Rain World | Dandara | Vernal Edge | Blaster Master Zero | Medusa | Sundered | Salt & Sanctuary | Valdis Story | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Chronicles of Teddy | B.I.O.T.A. | Shadow Complex | Grime | Timespinner | Rex Rocket | Phoenotopia: Awakening | Aquaria | Nyaruru Fishy Fight | Apotheon | Bad Pad | Lootbox Lyfe | Angel’s Gear | Fearmonium | Dust: An Elysian Tale | ====================

It's a relatively short metroidvania for those who prefer to memorize the game world and who appreciate replaying a game and taking new paths through it. It has a crude comedic tone, which didn't sit well with me overall but wasn't particularly intrusive either, and not much of a story or ending; it's more of a gameplay first experience. In terms of exploration there are various progression options and decent navigation challenges but also many false walls with no clue to their existence, and you'll need to be patient early on as movement starts off slow and you might run into several difficulty spikes. I would recommend looking up how to get the dash move early to be honest. + Dash ability which lets you run across spike beds and jump after falling/running off of a ledge (see DKC or ball jumping in Metroid 2). With the right gear you can also dash into some smaller enemies to kill them instantly Comedic tone Play as an undead skeleton Enemies tend to be weak to specific weapons Some teleporters, Some shortcuts are opened up over the course of the game Some good bosses (the templars - use the environment (also used vs the final boss), necro (vampire), ) Decent variety Blocking (press down after getting the shield - Monster World IV) - can't move while using it though Some decent spatial awareness puzzles Unlockable new game+/old school mode (draining HP outside of the homebase, save points don't heal, 2x food found+you start with accumulated food from the previous playthrough, cultist shop - buy anything found in the normal mode+some other items, no fountain upgrades) Fairly large arsenal of weapons (15 although some are very similar) - three of them can be upgraded at hidden fountains +/- Partially non-linear structure (can beat the first three bosses in any order - giant bat is tough though, beating the giant bat lets you explore the underground including the hidden area within the cultist homebase, blue rod (dark underwater part) lets you get to the secret shop early) More open-ended old school mode since you can buy the fire protection amulet (which opens up the path through the oven), the helmet and/or the master key before beginning Only one save slot (and you delete it before starting old school mode) ​Frequent save points (which are also healing points) early on. A bit less frequent after the first few Very crude humour Pretty steep difficulty curve (grinding a bit for food (which is your currency) and finding the whip helps as you can then upgrade your DEF) No dodge move Shows enemy names and HP Odd high jump in that horizontal length isn't increased Beating bosses early on doesn't lead to getting a progression item or a crucial path opening up Stat upgrades Health and food drops from enemies are pretty rare Kinda slow movement before getting the dash although if you know where it is you can get it pretty early Can't carry healing items for later use Flip screen/multi screen (no scrolling) Borrows the using frozen enemies as platforms from Metroid Pretty easy final boss if you get the best gear+the frog (faster MP regen) and flood the room (requires a bit of food grinding unless you skip some mid-game gear amd you'll probably have to use a guide to find all the false walls unless you want to push against every wall in the game). Kind of easy late game overall Old school mode seems harder (depending on what you bought at the cultist shop in the beginning) however you can easily grind for health on the first few screen next to the homebase using the red armor+dash (lets you dash into rats and bats to kill them instantly)+necklace that lets you regain health when killing enemies quickly. So if you got the mace from the shop you can take your time to get all the other upgrades and just get a somewhat harder final boss (or not harder if you grind until you have 350+ HP) - Some control/interface issues (overly basic map - only shows the basic room layout+castle exits and where you are (also can't place markers or notes on it), high default jump height, can't crouch, can't examine items before buying them in shops, no button config - using a controller means having to use the stick to move rather than the d-pad, can't light up your surroundings with the torch while wielding a weapon - see Zelda 3 for example (however if you get to the secret shop early you can buy the helmet there and it has the same function), pressing down while standing next to a ladder at the bottom of it makes you grab it, ) Enemies not being hit stunned+randomized damage means it's easy to get hit by mistake even by early enemies - also can't jump cancel your attacks so for fast enemies you might have to soak the hits Not very good humour overall Some trial & error (you should not deposit food early on - use it to buy useful items, use a guide to determine which are useful, some false walls without clues) Can't grab the museum area ladder in mid-air after gaining the high jump - EDIT: This is by design as mentioned below, however it looks unfinished when you can clearly see your avatar reaching it Difficulty spikes in the hidden underwater area once you reach the jellyfish and at the giant bat boss Easy and slow creeper boss (just get above him and use the whip and shield) - also no health refill or save point nearby after it so you need to backtrack if you want to save Some tedious aspects (various temporary dead ends in the early-mid game, some boring backtracking (long fall after the creeper boss that the game goads you into - leads to the beginning of the game (you should instead go right and down here to get the dash), old shops never restock so you need to memorize which ones have what you want+backtrack to them, some other similar falls), some spongy enemies like the mages and red knights, can't ash while underwater - overly slow horizontal movement) A few annoying sfx The yellow magic rod kinda sucks (by design it shoots in a completely different direction from time to time and it's also pretty slow to use) - EDIT: It can be upgraded and I did find the upgrade, sorry I forgot to mention this! A bit short (less than 4h, about 1,5h if you know where to go) Not much of an ending Bugs: -Some minor hit detection bugs around walls - can make you slowly climb walls when jumping into them -Occasional control bug where you won't jump if you're holding dash and standing on a single tile wide platform