Eternal Return

I have very mixed feelings on this one, but I'm afraid to say it's mostly negative and thus I cannot recommend it. I've been following this game for a while now, since the inspirations of Castlevania and Dark Souls, two of my favorite game series of all time, appealed to me quite a lot. Unfortunately, this game doesn't really marry the two concepts very well. I'll go down a list of point-by-point details as I go on. Please note that I'm going to be comparing the game to Castlevania or Dark Souls quite a lot, which I feel is fair given the gameplay style and its theft of assets (more on that later). First, the positive: +COMBAT: The combat style is a mixed bag, but it is quite interesting. Before each swing, you can hold down a direction button to dash in that direction upon the completion of the swing, allowing you to dance away or towards enemies while still attacking them. There are, however, notable flaws as well, which I'll address in the next section. +ATMOSPHERE: While the art isn't particularly good or is downright hideous in some cases, the atmosphere presented is quite good. It takes place in a Germanic castle with plenty of grotesque scenes and undead abominations to behold. It is quite a good blend of Castlevania style gothic horror, and the foreboding isolation of Dark Souls. +STORY: From what I've seen, this is a pretty well thought-out game. Learning more about the lore and history of the characters presented (most of which even voice acted!) was almost enough to get me to continue slogging through the game. Almost. Now the negative...: -COMBAT AGAIN: Interesting idea, but it is just not implemented well enough to be a net positive. The clunky style and attack delay are akin to Castlevania, but amplified by a huge degree. The attack delay is massive, forcing you to be very procedural and methodical with each attack. Not a problem on its own, but it's made incredibly frustrating by... -CONTROLS: Opposed to the very precise and reliable attack, your movement controls are VERY slippery. Your character is plagued with ice-level-physics at all times, and you are given two different types of jumps, the velocity of which can vary WILDLY with minute differences in your current direction, speed, etc. Castlevania's clunky and precise combat style was actually benefited by the jump arc, which was consistent and predictable every time you jumped. In Eternal Return, it's hard to get a good grasp on all the variables when you hit one of the TWO jump buttons, if the character decides that he's going to jump at all. Also, as a side note, unless you change it manually, the attack button is right next to the button that causes you to commit suicide. Have fun with that one. -ENEMY BEHAVIOR (AND DOORS): Enemies do not follow consistent rules throughout the game, changing hitboxes and patterns seemingly at random. The basic spear-holding enemies sometimes glitch out and begin spinning back and forth in place, becoming a long-distance tornado of death with no real way to approach them at random intervals. The basic shambling zombies sometimes take an extra step or two before collapsing, damaging you if you had the audacity to not use the back-step attack, and come in huge droves making the process of eliminating them VERY tedious. And God help you if you have the audacity to enter a building, since the game keeps track of the infinitely-spawning crows and vultures on the other side which WILL damage you the nanosecond you step foot outside that door with no warning or indication they might be there. All you can do is pray or swear, your pick. ART STYLE: As a long-time consumer of Castlevania games, I found it pretty hard not to notice that a lot of the sprites are just minor edits of sprites from the NES Castlevania games. The two preacher/plague doctors near the beginning are just zombie villagers from Simon's Quest. The swordsman are taken from Castlevania III with potatoes instead of skulls. Axe Knights have a slightly different helmet, but otherwise look like their CVIII counterparts. You can actually see the CV Bloody Bones taken wholesale in one of the screenshots above. And these are just the ones I've noticed, it got me wondering what all else was taken from other games... Add to it that the sprites made (supposedly) from scratch are just absolutely hideous and poorly done. It all looks incredibly unprofessional. -GLITCHES OH GOD GLITCHES: These could all be potentially fixed in the future, but as they stand now... JESUS. I find it a little off-putting when my character's sprite is utterly consumed by THE SKY behind him, rendering him completely invisible until I manage to get in front of a wall again. I think it's a little upsetting to find out that if you accidentally trigger a weapon spawning and are unable to reach it before you die, it is lost PERMANENTLY. It bugs me when the game's projectiles just randomly stop in place and become permanent obstacles instead of fading away like they do every other time. It... could use some work. I really wanted to like this game, I really did, I swear. I could get past the poor sound design, the stolen art and music assets, the sometimes god-awful sprite work. I could, if only the basic game design was so poorly implemented. I want to hold out hope that this game can get better, be updated with bug fixes and maybe some tweaks to the controls, and then I could heartily recommend it. But in its current state, I can only suggest that you AVOID IT at all costs.

Shameful the way us gamers can not keep a dollar in our pockets no matter how many we're handed. I had the misfortune of purchasing an already-used key (costing me $5) for Eternal Return and so now I wait for an eternal refund from the seller who is most likely long gone. Two minutes after submitting my complaint ticket to said sloppy key store I found a penguin friend of mine selling this exact same game for only one dollar. But no, this wasn't the biggest waste of money I've ever commited in the digital, nor even the hard copy, gaming world. And, in fact, despite the broken game (I am about to explain below) that six bucks I spent indirectly taught me something new - it taught me how to fix non-M$ brand gamepad support for Unity games...which I would've gladly had spent $60 to learn. Being that Eternally Returned is a Unity title by an amateur developer not only was I faced with broken gamepad controls but controls broken to the point which they could not be switched off and interfered with even premium remapping software that used fancy in-game gamepad support override tools like 'hooks' No editable ini's, no options, just smoo as far as the sky was blue. After all of the failed early access titles and other $teamy heaps of plop I was determined to make this sh**bag work and, within just one hour powered by much angst, I accidentally fixed gamepad support for every single Unity amateur game on Steam. The fix? Well, you'll have to save up for a seat at the instructional seminar I will be starting up soon - the information is far to progressively TED to just give away!

Now, what you have to understand about this game is that it takes a generally accepted gaming genre and scenario and flips it on its head in a way you dont expect. The early level layout is something that someone like Alucard would probably be able to moonwalk his way through in its entirety in around five minutes with his only concern is having to convince the maid to work late that evening to help clean the blood of his victims off of his fancy shirt. But instead of a glorious example of stunning manhood, you get to control Dave from the mailroom. You know, Dave, that guy who probably worked out a few times a week in his thirties but now is spending his days eating reheated KFC from yesterdays dinner, head down trying to keep out of the way of HR for the last few months before his retirement? Now imagine that guy, thrown into a strange dark labrynth (that doesnt have any filing cabinets), and then hand him a three foot long pointy metal bit, and see how long he goes before he ends up split in half by a flying axe. Or lit on fire by a fireball. Or impaled by a poleaxe. Or, well, you get the idea. The entire idea behind this, I think, is the vast crushing weight of putting an average-ish man in a hopeless situation and see how long it takes before the crazy comes home to roost. I could talk about the philosophy and reference people and things, but thats not really what this review is about, so Ill skip the academics here, and instead focus on the gameplay. Now youll see a lot of reviews saying that the controls in this game are ♥♥♥♥. Well its not really that the controls are ♥♥♥♥, its more that these controls remind people playing that there is no possible way they could swing a heavy sword over and over and not get tired. What the controls are is predictable. Dave swings his sword slower than a diabetic puts down a candybar, but the timing is consistent. The game rewards patience and accuracy, with a particular emphasis on understanding how enemies move and timing your plodding strikes to just squeak inbetween their swings. Not something typical in a Metrodvania, but its an atypical piece I rather enjoy. That doesn't mean its not infuriating, however. Even with unlimited respawning, dying over an over in the same hallways to the same axe swinging armored tosser will become almost painful, and the fact that just behind that particular tosser is likely another tosser with a slightly different attack patter that youll likely die to just makes the experience more hopeless. Add to that the fact that all the enemies respan when you do, and its a recipe for your own personal hell. All in all, I highly recommend this game, but that being said I am a bit massochistic, so read into that what you will. I think this one will be a solid example of an interesting way to remake Nintendo Hard for the new Indie generation, and I congratulate Pathless Games for paving a new road to hopelessness for many many gamers. Recommendation: Buy. Also perhaps buy some antidepressants.

EDIT: Have now finished. Difficult! This game is hard as hell. I haven't experienced any glitches or bugs in my time playing. At the start I also was like 'bad movement, die too quick, enemies take a million hits to die' = poor game. All of that was wrong. I'm still not some legendary gymnast fencer, but getting experienced with hard and quick weapon swing timing plus the backstep, high jump AND LOW JUMP ('hop' in the controls) is game changing. A very cool part of this game is how it enforces being spoiler free. There is virtually nothing out there on how win / find stuff / what the various choices you make do - the discussion forums on Steam are the best resource right now and they're not very spoilery at all. Honestly it's just really good. I'm writing this with 11.3 hours in - I don't know if I'll put more in as I am gated by just really difficult bosses now, but the journey here, now paved with many dead npcs, was very enjoyable.

お勧めしません。 　このゲームは「呪われた巨大な世界を舞台に、主人公は神を探し出して倒す。」というのが大まかなストーリーなのですが… 世界が本当に巨大です、適当に進んだらあれよあれよと言う間にどの分岐から入ってきたのか判らなくなり迷子になります。 まぁ考え方によっては魅力的なのでそれはいいのですが問題は中間セーブがないことです、どこまで進もうがやられたら最初から！遊覧船のような乗り物に乗って進む場所があるのですが何回も長～い時間乗らなければいけません。 …一応ショートカットはあるのですがそこにたどり着くまでには本当に辛く、長い道のりをトライ＆エラーの精神で進むのです。 　操作性が悪い、主人公はジャンプした際空中補正が効きません（悪魔城みたいな感じです）なので道中繊細なジャンプが要求されるのですが…なぜかジャンプが出来ない時が多くよく落ちます、どうも走り始めると一瞬だけ体が浮き、ジャンプできなくなるようです。 コントローラー非対応なのでキーボードでしか操作できません、辛い。 　探索の楽しみが少ない、メイン武器3個、サブ武器3個、HP上限UP、スタミナ上限UP、今のところこれしかありません、これだけを求めて巨大な世界を探索するのです。 　サブ武器が使い辛い、敵を攻撃した際にもらえるポイントを使ってサブ攻撃を繰り出すのですが（5ポイントで1回分）敵によってこのポイントがもらえません、バグ？ 　とまあ不満を並べましたが世界観だけは気に入りました、せめて操作性や途中セーブなどの救済があれば… 　返金を求めましたがいつの間にか3時間以上遊んでいたので却下されました、なんてこったい。 （追記）v1.2になり操作性は多少ですが向上しました、すり抜け床が機能するようになりあと敵にもなにか調整が入ったようです。 アイテムに①のような物が追加され取るとサブ武器を使う際に消費されるポイントを集めた分だけ最初から持てるようになりました。 それでおススメできるようになったかと言うと…NOです。 他は全然変わってません、ハルバードは変わらず多段ヒットするしvoidgodは再戦時塔をぶち壊して騒音を奏でるしスタミナ回復量は一定です。 これからの向上に期待しています、雰囲気は良いんだよ...

The first thing you'll read in this game's description is: "This game will crush you." Talk about truth in advertising! I have died. Many times. And that's cool. The game is set in a refreshingly (weirdly) dark, atmospheric castle full of some pretty messed-up enemies. Also, enemies make a cool squelching sounds when you stab them. Very fleshy. I'm also digging the design of the game a lot--the castle is dark and atmospheric, and checking out the different levels and gory enemies is a highlight of the game. Definitely recommended. (Update) The game controls are pretty easy to figure out and learn. There's no tutorial or hand-holding, which is one of my favorite things about this game--reminds me of 90's games. Really loving the detailed nooks and crannies as I explore around the castle. Also I'm dying less.

I am LOVING this game! It's punishing, challenging and confusing, but it fills me with the same wonder and determination felt when playing challenging games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Castlevania 1 (all those years ago before the advent of save files). I recognise that I've done alot of name-dropping right off the bat, but this game has a personality and atmosphere all its own. The subtle terror of what islurking at the bottom of this pit, or beyond that gate, forces me to give pause, and feel a little more unsettled than I'd like to be. The creators have done at excellent job at teasing the horrors that players may face if they persevere through the game, by making use of clever dialogue and notes sparsely dotted through the areas. The obscure nature of everything adds to the mystery of what is really at play in this game, and just how far down the rabbit hole players will go is half the reason I keep coming back for more. It truly feels like the first accessible areas are just a thin crust covering a horrendous abyss, filled with all kinds of abberations with unexpected ways of wrecking you. Your character looks like a weak, little monster, and the enemies really make you feel that way! I also love how open the levels are. There is no set path, and your only guide is the difficulty of certain enemies, locked doors and how prepared you are to delve into dangerous areas. I feel like if I'm careful (and lucky), I just might be able to make it a little further into one particular area, and that feeling is exhilirating! This is what exploration in games should feel like! It's important to know what you're getting into when starting this game. If you are expecting the fast-paced, fluid combat of the later Castlevania games, you will be disappointed. I believe that expecting tighter controls from this game is like expecting Devil May Cry combat in a Souls game. The deliberate, delayed controls force you to play carefully. Many people may be put off by the controls, and cry out for them to be patched. If this were done, the game wouldn't be what it is: a tense, ponderous labour through overwhelming challenges. Bottom Line: This game is unforgiving, haunting and amazing.

I'll not prolong myself. Sometimes we gamers and developers are not open to new experiences, we often avoid anything that isn't "player-friendly", but doing this we close ourselves to experience other kinds of emotions. Eternal return is one of those games that try to achieve something different, something that defies the norm. The lack of polishing works in its favor, creating a world that is hard even to move around. If it was the intention of the creator to create this feeling or he just accidentally did this, we may never know for sure. In my opinion, Eternal Return ask a question to us " Do we really love video games as a media for any kind of experience, or we just love to be spoon fed and gain instant gratification?" If your answer is the first one, then you should play this game.

An interesting idea for a "metroidvania" with decent art, stale animations and flimsy controls. Lacked basic functions using a DS4 joypad, might be because of Unity. Would recommend to wait for updates.

A very fine minimalistic game with gradual progression and unforgiving combat. At first it may seem impossible, the controls are a bit much to handle at first, but once you get into the game you will not be disappointed.