EMUUROM

This is an amazing game! The secrets were really fun to solve and the rabbit hole always seemed to go deeper. However, this game requires the patience of a saint. It was very difficult to convince the character and the environment to do what I want. I had to take breaks frequently. Despite how mad I got at the game, my curiosity always brought me back, and the payoff was amazing. The story was very interesting and I was on the edge of my seat near the end.

It is a well designed game!

Really enjoyed the game, but it does require a lot of patience and experimentation to accomplish the higher completion levels and work out solutions.

If you liked Animal Well, you might like Emuurom. A little game full of charm but with hidden depths and clever design. Anything that seemed to me like platformer jank at first glance turned out to be intentional techniques that the game expects you to figure out at some point, which were all super cool to discover organically. A big challenge of the game is the traversal of the map, which isn't always as obvious as the map may make it seem. You kinda have to learn "oh yes to get to this room I have to go 3 rooms to the left and take the secret bottom path of invisible tiles". My favourite puzzles were the ones that test you on your knowledge of the map, which needed a planning phase that felt very satisfying to then execute and see if my plan was good or not. If you don't like inaccurate maps though, you might not like this style. Compared to Animal Well, the puzzles don't get as esoteric and do not need any community participation. I was able to get the true ending in about 20 hours without looking up anything and without translating the rune language.

A fantastic experience. It has some retro-inspired nods, but I was impressed at just how much it's own thing EMUUROM is. A very tightly constructed world dense with secrets, with an original central mechanic that is perfect for an exploratory puzzle platformer. But it all feels wonderfully self-contained and internally consistent. Beautiful work, one of those games it's sad to leave behind.

As far as metroidbranias go, this one is just as amazing as others. For people that love turning over every last stone, hugging every wall and finding secrets hidden in plain sight, Emuurom has everything. Only gripe I had with the game was the map. Because the game is so compact every room has multiple entrances and exits and more often than not I got lost trying to get to a specific part of the game. The map is kinda bad at helping you navigate. Later on this problem goes away because of some tech you discover or if you wander around long enough you just memorize the map well enough, but you still are going to have to traverse everything multiple times, which was slightly annoying. I can't wait for updates that introduce the last endings!

Very simple vibes, but the mysteries are incredible. HUGE recommendation for both metroidvania and "mystery exploration" fans