Clockwork Ambrosia

I give this one a solid B-. The visuals are charming, the game is reasonably lengthy, the world is large and worth exploring, the challenge is there, in the beginning at least, and some of the puzzles were tricky. Customizing the four gun types has its charm. But once you unlock enough mods for your weapons and multiple equipment slots, combat becomes trivial, which I guess is the point. The weapons were interesting enough, but the missile launcher with the Cerberus and homing mods (among others) made every other weapon largely worthless (although setting up the Revolver with infinite rapid fire and armor piercing helped a lot during the final boss fight). It was also fairly easy to set up armor in such a way that I became virtually impossible to kill. I encountered several bugs during my playthrough, some that forced lost progress. Got stuck inside walls underwater, often the controls would completely stop responding (I played entirely on Steam Deck) and near the end of the game, I often experienced inexplicable heavy slowdown, seemingly for no reason at all, as I transitioned between rooms. These were temporary and not too debilitating, and I did finish the game. Overall, a solid Metroidvania that just needs a bit of tightening up here and there to knock out the technical issues, but perfectly playable and pretty fun most of the time.

I've sorely missed these kind of games, it's one of the best Metroidvanias I've played in YEARS. Perfectly captures that feeling SotN gave of starting with nothing and feeling invincible by the end. Full video review: https://youtu.be/NS-QOZZ0SrM

Simply one of the best games of its type (metroidvania, search action, whatever you prefer) I've played. The core gun modding system is fun to tinker with; it feels like being an inventor, and when you hit upon the right solution to a "problem" (a boss, an enemy gauntlet) via some combo of modifications there is a real "eureka" feeling to it. Spectacular music, lively pixel art that brims with character down to each individual enemy, and a huge map to explore at a nicely calibrated pace that matches one's increasing ability to move across it. Basically, if you are a metroidvania fan, don't sleep on this.

HHHHHHUUUUUGGGGEEEE map to explore! Secrets and chests to open every other second it feels like. Controls feel smooth, combat is fun, and the weapon mods let you customize it your way. Clocks in around 15-20 hours depending on exploration. No real difficult platforming, this is all about exploration and a few easy puzzles.

Love it! Congratulations! You made a great game. [b]It's the perfect blend of Metroidvania and Mega Man X.[/b] The possibilities the weapon modules offer are very interesting, and when you get a new module and change your build, it's very exciting, allowing you to one-shot enemies you couldn't before without increasing the weapon's damage. The movement progression is also very well handled. You created a gem. I'll promote your game to my friends. I hope it gradually gains the popularity it deserves.

A Metroidvania for people who like to explore on their own without too much guidance. It avoids many of the current genre trends like parry combat, souls-like influence, and challenging platforming, instead focusing on puzzles, combat, and experimentation. If that sounds like it's for you, you should absolutely play it. It was very much for me.

Really enjoyable. Especially want to praise the movement; it was easy to flow across the screens. Look up how to get the fast travel item as it's easy to miss.

This was SUCH an unexpected BANGER! I didn't think I would like it since it is a range weapon focused action platformer, but the variety of weapons and components worked. I also grabbed this right after launch and it was great to see the quality of life improvements as I played through. I'm also not a huge fan of games without defensive means when there's contact damage, especially when there are challenging bosses, but upon finding certain equipment to add additional "air jumps" and receiving air dash and high jump abilities made the boss fights much more fun. The story is pretty light, but enough to where I was surprised by a late game twist. I do wish you actually could skip dialogs and cut scenes, but when you press start and choose "skip cutscene", it doesn't appear to genuinely work... yet... Although I'm sure with all the active development going on that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a update in the near future addressing this. One last minor complain was that I wish there was a bit more hints for how to progress at the end. Throughout the beginning and mid game, exclamation points, unlocked abilities, and just organic exploration makes things feel fluid. But once I unlocked the majority of the map and fought what felt like a late game boss, it took me a solid 5 hours to realize where I had to go next. I'm now at what seems like the final bit of the game and have quite a challenging late game boss. I've already spent close to a dozen attempts and getting him down to about 50% health, so I'm rounding the corner of the end of this game. In any case, I GENUINELY recommend Clockwork Ambrosia. If you're a Metroidvania or Action Platformer fan, this is a game you should definitely give a shot.