Gestalt: Steam & Cinder

Short Metroidvania, Gestalt : Steam & Cinder is a fun game with nice pixel art and fun combat. It is not a difficult game by any means, you can very quickly unlock skills and items that makes encounters easy to breeze through and I certainly felt cool while doing tricks and pulling dodge counter attacks. However, for such a Story heavy game, with a lot put on its lore, the ending is quite a disapointment, so much build up for it to be ruined by the last 30 secondes of the game. Let us hope that Metamorphosis Game's next title will either continue the story, or learn from their mistake and make an even better game. For a studio's first game, it is overall a good one.

I'll start by saying that I enjoyed this game a lot, but I can only recommend it with some caveats. To not bury the lede: As other reviews point out, the ending is... very abrupt. Reading a little through the official Discord, there was supposed to be a whole second act to the game, but the publisher pushed for unrealistic deadlines which resulted in the ending being what it is. It seems (at time of writing) the devs have also not heard from the product owner since launch, so it seems unlikely there is going to be a sequel. In spite of this, I don't at all regret my time with the game, so take that how you will. Moving along to what I thought were the best parts: the game is visually gorgeous, easily placing amongst the best pixel art I've seen in gaming. The character/enemy animations, character designs/portraits, and environments are all top tier, and fit together cohesively. The music is no slouch either: it's punchy, atmospheric, and exactly the kind of sound I hoped for given the visual design. In terms of story, there's a lot of good worldbuilding and lore going on here, but it kinda falls short in its storytelling. While the world feels like it has much more to offer, I felt the characters were not given enough room to develop, resulting in a serviceable story that lacks highs in certain climactic moments. Don't get me wrong - I still found it to be a decent story, especially for a metroidvania, but I just wanted to care for the characters more. Gameplay-wise, it becomes a bit more of a mixed bag. The platforming controls are tight and responsive, and continues to get more and more satisfying the more abilities you unlock, but the level design and puzzling really shines moreso in the latter half of the game. The combat has solid fundamentals and potential for greatness, but I felt the enemy and boss attack patterns didn't really allow you to utilize your whole kit. All in all, it's a beautiful game and I do still recommend it, but it's a damn shame we may not see anymore of this world.

Does the ending feel a bit rushed and incomplete? Yes, yes it does. Did that impact my enjoyment of the game? Not particularly. Despite regularly losing the plot, I enjoyed the world building and the gameplay was great. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder would definitely benefit from a hard-mode or speedrunning challenge, but what's here is great and absolutely worth catching during one of the criminally low sale prices.

I got this game for 5 Euro at a discount. The game is fun, the story and universe are cool, however, the game is incredibly easy, i died 2 times in the entire game and that is because i was screwing around trying to get the dog achievements without paying attention to health. Furthermore the bosses aren't really any hard you out damage all of them and with all health potions you can tank them. The ending of the story was underwellmin to say the least. Still the game was fun and entertaining, personally I wouldn't buy it at full price.

Very solid game Artwork 10/10 Music 10/10 Controls 9/10 Combat 8/10 The only reason I didn't give the controls and combat a 10/10 was that sometimes the commands feel a little buggy. This may be more user error, but there are a few points where I needed to wall jump back and forth but the game wouldn't register that my thumb was in the direction I was jumping (jump left lean left) and then I'd fall. Possibly just me not being fast enough. For Combat, I think it's very solid overall but I kept wanting some sort of parry or block. There are a lot of enemies that you end up just having to iframe dodge through, jump around, or just face tank the damage if you're over leveled. Also while you can have long light attack combos I rarely ever got to use them, mobs would rarely stagger enough to punish them so it felt more like having to poke them down or blasting them with your gun. In most cases by the time I stagger them they are dead anyway.

Starts off pretty good, but the last third of the game is a slog. I don't play many Castlevania type games, but even I found the last few bosses too easy. Game also has some technical issues that seem to stem from being a Unity game. I encountered the dropped frames issue others have posted about on the Steam discussion for the game. The sheer audacity of these devs to end the game on a cliff hanger. Even if its on sale for $5 or less stay away from this game. It is not worth your time.

[h2] 很传统的银河城游戏 [/h2] 无论从画面玩法地图设计上来说，都是银河城味道十分浓烈的游戏，玩起来很快就能上手。 但是很传统，缺乏一些自己的特色，玩起来没有太多新意，唯一的特色感觉就是手枪了。 [b] 画面： [/b] 美术方面挺优秀的，画面像素风格，题材有点蒸汽朋克，结合得可以。 立绘不错，背景丰富细节多，角色动作帧多，有很多小动作小细节，攻击特效也不错。 就是这个游戏封面和里面的角色立绘样子略有不同，封面的主角和游戏里感觉气质都有点不一样，封面的明显感觉更惊艳冷酷一些，这也算是一种封面欺诈吗？ [b] 战斗： [/b] 操作手感还可以，我用手柄玩的，整体下来没有感觉有哪里容易误操，别扭。 难度整体偏低，前期怪物菜，中后期药瓶多，角色机动性高，总之就是很难死。 这游戏很多小兵跟疯狗一样，要么没受击僵直就站你面前一直A，要么各种一边位移一边甩各种飞行道具攻击，攻击间隔都低，一不留神就掉血。 Boss战就显得简单多了，攻击方式也算好躲，不好躲的伤害也不高，主角恢复能力又高，基本上中期开始的Boss我都是一遍过。Boss战用好闪避不贪刀就很过，别看后面Boss攻击方式很花里胡哨，但机制大部分都很好理解，应对措施也偏简单，主角又抗揍，容错大，很快技能找到诀窍。[strike] 换句话说就是这游戏挑战性不高。 [/strike]删除文本 角色技能树比较简单，有数值类和技能类两种，技能机制也都很简单，你看描述觉得哪个喜欢就点就行了。技能是挺多，有几个还挺好用。游戏技能点获取方式简单，做任务、升级和地图收集要素，中后期基本就可以全部点满了，游玩下来技能点基本都挺充足的。 角色攻击有连击，还可以通过技能点增加连击，但是只有3连A和5连A的区别（不像TEVI能做出点不同的连击），而且大部分场景不支持你A完一整套，就显得有些鸡肋。 敌人有个防御槽，打空了就会进入眩晕状态，很多怪要靠打出眩晕才好打，降低防御槽最好用电击弹，打枪要消耗子弹槽。这样这个设定就点尴尬是，前期子弹槽少，打不了几枪，但是很多怪需要这么处理，后期子弹槽多了，但是敌人防御值也高了，不好打眩晕了，也不怎么依赖眩晕了，都是力大砖飞直接打死更快。Boss更是，管你那么多，吃我蓄力+散弹+毒弹或者直接火刀招呼。 [b] 地图： [/b] 地图这块也属于中规中矩的，地图不算特别大，收集要素有很多，收集难度不算大，场景解密难度比较低，后面能通过商店买道具，可以查看地图上没拿到的东西，很方便后面回头找东西，地图标记功能都可以不用。 地图关卡设计也及格以上，没有恶心人的堆怪，有部分区域会上点难度，但并不会容易折命，跑图难度设计得还行，总的来说就是都不错。 探索技能设计得比较保守，后面能获得的能力就有二段跳、空中冲刺、特殊墙体破坏，没任何特别的地方。手枪的功能也只追加蓄能射击，开发深度不足，其实还有很多值得开发的地方，例如不同的子弹头、反弹、分裂之类的，这样可以添加游戏特色，增加游戏丰富度，增加关卡解密设计元素。总之这方面略失望。 [b] 剧情： [/b] 这游戏的剧情体量在银河城里算是多的了，剧情演出很多，基本上每个大场景都会触发几段较长的剧情演出，感觉制作方是想多讲点故事的，世界观也比较宏大。 剧情整体看下来也还可以，花了很多笔墨，也确实把世界观讲清楚了，把各方势力也都介绍清楚了，主线故事也说明白了，虽然故事老套类型的，但是内容好理解，比较直白。这类游戏剧情占比不会特别大，所以也很难做多好。 [b] 其他： [/b] 游戏音乐还不错，虽然没有那种优美的让人影响深刻的曲子，但是放到游戏里足够了。 游戏后面有个区域，天上掉铁块，真的很容易撞到，跑图容易受伤，很烦。 游戏体量偏小流程不长，大区域就7个左右，全成就15小时绰绰有余，感觉可以再多做点的。 [b] 麻烦制作方，要出中文就好好请翻译啊，最近玩的好多独立游戏都有这个通病，中文翻译跟机翻似的，读起来不通顺，本地化不好，不过好在还没严重到影响阅读理解的程度。[/b] [b] 总的来说： [/b] 一款原汁原味的银河城游戏，可以一玩，但性价比不高，推荐再打折购买。 游戏是明显有下一作的感觉，希望能好好挖掘下游戏系统深度，做更有趣的作品出来。

It has pacing issues with the upgrades*(You get 2 in a row, and that should have been spaced out more), some repetitive music tracks, Its not bad Handles well. Story is kind of Meh, Good spritework. It looks like its long but Its Short around 8 to 14 hours long. Buy it on sale. I feel like this game wanted to be so much more but something had to give with time, money and quality.

Relatively short for the genre, decent fun with a few nitpicks. Pixel-art is generally good but a bit inconsistent, some NPC's/areas feel unfinished. Combat is good but not challenging enough to warrant the amount of options it provides. Ends on a cliffhanger so that kinda sucks. Overall decent game.

I brought the game because of the beautiful pixelart. Steampunk Metroidevania also hit some brain cells. Was not disapointed. It was difficult in the beginning, but it got easier until the end. Boss battles were fair, if you explored / found enough stuff.