Gestalt: Steam & Cinder

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Not a bad game, but it just didn't feel good. That first boss I ran into just felt slow, and a bit awkward. It did not feel smooth and well-thought-out. In, my opinion. I'll toss a recommend, because I don't think this was bad game, but I need it gel better with me if I’m going to put time into it. Seems pretty solid though, give it a try!

白瞎了这蒸汽风 到头来全都是灵感大王噎貉猾邪教那套装神弄鬼 什么狗屁末日审判黑暗弥赛亚一坨糟粕 跟蒸汽朋克没半毛钱关系 就城里有俩机械水井 墙上挂个齿轮 npc戴个黄铜眼镜 故事也讲的一坨 从头到尾一堆谜语人 没个会好好说人话的 到头来什么也没讲清 整体流程基本都被剧情锁死 大量一本道 几乎没有什么自由探索空间 各种近路也基本用不到 即使因能力锁要再次前往也不一定用得到 传送点又少又偏基本没用 还有很大一片完全没传送点跑断腿 地图都只是一个个大方块 非常不直观 尤其是一些下去上不来的地方 完全看不出要怎么绕回去 而且房间之间不是连在一起 各种飞线乱糟糟的 倒是后期可以买到各种收集品标记 全收集时不会太糟心 招式技能一堆 但是基本都没机会用 怪个个疯狗一样 跑的快进攻欲望强还有霸体 即使没有护甲槽的敌人依然是你打你的我打我的 护甲槽要靠电弹打 大多不能一枪打掉 攒子弹又要近战打 敌人又疯狗难以安全开枪 不被打还会回盾 不如直接砍或打伤害弹 整个游戏只有猪撅没霸体 即使重击技能也没霸体会被打断 全程都只能砍一两下滚开躲伤害 从第一个小怪到最后boss无一例外 除非带类混沌戒指无限子弹 但是获得非常之晚 如果不走回头路的话 获得后打2小怪3boss就结束了 总结来说 作为类银河城却几乎全程被剧情束缚各种单行道 而故事又没讲明白 设计了一堆技能却又没机会用 整体内容很少 感觉是被腰斩了 最关键的是 蒸汽在哪 煤渣在哪 格式塔又在哪 完全货不对板

Well, this was longest demo I have ever played. It is a very easy and forgiving metroidvania that ends right when the story starts to finally get going. I guess I recommend it but know that it is short for a game in this genre, very easy, and the map is very minimalist; you do get upgrades for it as the game goes along that show collectibles however.

嗯，确实是中规中矩，就是不知道有没有续作了，还是蛮期待的！

美术不错的小体量像素横板。 剧情结尾莫名其妙，小怪全是霸体的，都是要砍两下就要闪一下的，角色成长全是数值，堆够了连Boss都能站撸。 收集物可以买道具全部在地图上标出来，但是主线又完全没有任何指引，只告诉你要找谁要去哪，至于谁在哪目的地怎么去自己悟吧。 整个游戏玩着还行但又感觉各方面很糙，看了眼价格是打折不到20入的那还要啥自行车，就给个好评吧。

Pretty fun, but i have little gripes about everything (and little pluses about everything). Biggest complaint is the graphics make it impossible to tell foreground from background and what is interactable. What's a floor vs what's a pit? which door can i go in? But then the map thankfully shows all the doors you can go in. But there is a shop 2 doors deep...good luck refinding that one (thank you internet). Stuff that like. But yeah, it's good. Oh, and the story is way too much. I'm sure it's brilliant, but aint nobody got time for that. Thankfully there is a fast-forward button. But when even fast-forwarding, a convo takes 30 seconds...that's too much. which means i'm not sure what i'm missing. so yes, i'm playing the game wrong, but counterpoint, people need to know this ♥♥♥♥ is more story than game.

As someone who played a lot of side-scrolling / metroidvania Gestalt: Steam and Cinder is probably one of the more polished ones in terms of art style as compared with other titles I've managed to play. (ofc excluding HK or HK:SS) While quite on the shorter end it was pretty fun and quite straightforward. Difficulty does spike much but overall a good game to get on sale. Wishing for a part 2 as it ends on a cliffhanger. Final Rating - 7/10

Really well made Metroidvania. Great pixel art. Story-rich, lots of worldbuilding. Good atmosphere. Fluid combat, interesting platforming. The platforming segments are "Guacamelee difficulty" not "Celeste difficulty" - which is IMO just right. Two major caveats, both often remarked upon in other reviews, [olist] [*] many say the bosses are too easy. This may indeed be the case if you scan the map for every power-up in every nook and cranny, solving every side-quest currently solvable before you proceed. (often requiring solid platforming). [i]If[/i] you do so, and upgrade yourself sufficiently, bosses do get easy. But if you focus on the main quest, without powering yourself up too much, the bosses [i]will[i] be challenging. They're quite diverse in terms of attacks. [*] that the ending is abrupt, and somewhat jarring due to being blatantly scripted. That it looks like a trite cliffhanger setup for the next installment. [/olist] The "easy bosses" are not a complaint, overall. If you want to speedrun the main quest, you [i]will[/i] have a challenge with an unupgraded character. But no-one should end up in that gap where you suddenly cannot proceed past boss number N because it's ridiculously hard. I really hate when games into which you'd invested many hours suddenly become impassable because the devs decided for a huge difficulty spike. I appreciate it that it isn't so here: explore more, complete more sidequests, and everyone will be able to pass every boss. Plus, as every true metroidvania, if you want to 100% the map, you can do it just before the final bossfight. The game [i]actually is[/i] 100%-able, without placing any ludicrous requirements for that, which I appreciate a lot. (I 100%d it in 14h, while taking it easy; it would probably be 10h if I was more focused) The "abrupt ending" thing [b]is[/b] annoying. though. It looks like a massively hammy and gratuitous way of cliffhanger-hooking people into buying the part two. Whereas it was [i]not necessary[/i]; like many others I already was 100% decided on buying the next game 30 seconds before this one ended - simply because it was a really good game, great art, story, worldbuilding, gameplay, everything. That ending [i]halved[/i] my resolve to get the part 2 (should it ever come out), not increased it; it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Some who'd been following the game discord suggest that the ending was hacked up at the last minute, due to some frictions between the devs and the product owners, and that the devs are no longer hearing anything from the product owners, so whether there'll be a part 2 is in question. I mean, I've no regrets for having bought the game, it really is good overall, but a heads-up - it totally could have done without all that.

It's decent, if you enjoy metroidvanias you'll enjoy this fine enough but there's nothing special about it.