Gunmetal Arcadia

This game is a little lacking in fun factor and content. It's really short (I beat it in 3 hours), and to me there doesn't seem to be much reason to replay it. Both of those factors seem crazy for a roguelike. The graphics are amazing though, one of the few retro games that genuinely looks like it's from back in the day. The CRT emulation settings are really cool, especially the way it makes it look like you're using an old TV with curved edges. You can even see the reflection of sprites on the edges of the "physical" tv. That really took me back. The music is ace too. The gameplay just isn't too compelling.

This is a very iffy yes. I was a fan of the original Gunmetal Arcadia Zero, as a nut for Zelda 2-alikes, and I liked what it was doing with the worldbuilding, the factions, etc. So Gunmetal Arcadia expanding on that was definitely appealing to me. But Arcadia doesn't expand so much as re-do. The game goes in a rogue-like direction, with new music, the ability to play as different characters, and lots of new stat-boosting upgrades. There are factions to join, which will affect how much things cost to sell/buy in certain shops. The game is still linear-with-exploration like Zero and like Odallus the Dark Call, but the levels are randomly generated. The level design needs work, with rooms that have ladders/platforms that lead to nowhere. Tricky jumps in the air across temporary blocks that.. lead to nowhere. At one point I encountered item shops on back to back screens, then went through a locked door to find... an item shop. This is the kind of random generation that really frustrates me. It shouldn't feel so obviously randomized. It's not organic at all. It's not always this bad but when it happens it definitely warrants a side-eye. If you die in this game, unlike Zero, you have to start over from the beginning (in a newly-generated world). But the Legacy system will give you perks upon starting over based on what happened in your previous run; what factions you joined, if you didn't join a faction, if you fell in combat, etc. Which can confer bonus hearts, temporary hitpoints (shields), or stat boosts. It's not a grind-to-win game, thankfully. They're just a minor boost to give you a little help getting off the starting block. Each item and faction shop carries some sort of stat boosting item, weapon, or subweapon. They can increase your movement speed, attack speed, jump height, attack damage, attack multiplier, etc. One upgrade lets you attack vertically (including the infamous pogo-attack of Zelda 2). There seems to be a double jump (which I didn't run into). Subweapons work like Castlevania (stars being your ammo), and range from straightforward dagger-style attacks, to spread shots, spiraling orbs, rising tridents. Some of these return from Zero, while others are brand new. An interesting addition to the subweapons converts your stars into a random item. Sometimes it's a heart, or bombs, or even an enemy. Like in Zero, each level has a mid-boss and a final boss. On each run, the bosses you face are randomized with the exception of Anathema at the end. These bosses are all pulled from Zero. It's possible that there are brand new bosses that I missed, but from my playthrough of the game (getting to Anathema and everything), it was all repeats from the first game. Similarly, if you are a fan of the CRT effects of Minor Key Games' other titles, it's here as well, with the ability to create presets as well. Even the areas themselves are based on the regions from the first game, including the very cool hive world, with platforms made of organs and ladders made of intestines. That's why it's best to think of Arcadia as a re-imagining of Zero rather than a sequel or expansion. While Zero was a flat-out old school retro game, Arcadia is the modern take on the same type of game. For me, personally, I prefer Zero, but I also can't deny that people LOVE these kinds of games so I would not want to sway people from it just because of a personal preference. If things go your way you can get a really good run. My big run got me to two rows of hearts/temp HP and 4 stars in a lot of stats. I just prefer hand-crafted level design and that'll never change. Minor Key Games has never really failed me, though. I continue to look forward to and support their future stuff.

This game looked really intriguing: nice chiptune soundtrack, charming pixel art that still sticks to NES limitations, and random generation to keep it fresh. While these features are executed well, I found the gameplay to be severely lacking, esp. if you compare it to the NES titles it's drawing from. To put it succintly: the combat is just not fun. A good deal of enemies simply walk at you, but because of how quickly you can swing your default sword you're in no real danger of them ever hitting you. Most fights boil down to an enemy trying to walk into you while you mindlessly mash attack until they die. The only enemies who pose any threat to you are the tiny ones who either dash at you or shoot at you, often at the border of the camera before you can see them. While this is accurate to how a lot of old titles played, I don't think it's very good game design. The bosses seemed a bit better, I'll admit, but there's just so much tedium in between them. Then there are more minor quibbles: chests that spawn in when you clear a room can damage you for some reason, and there is no indication of where they're going to spawn from. Who thought this was a good idea? It's like a kick in the shins for doing the challenge they set out for you. The upgrades didn't seem all that necessary given how easy the game was; I'm sure they become more relevant in subsequent runs but again, you need to draw the player in enough for them to want to actually do that. While random level generation is a fun idea, I think it's a big reason this game feels so dull to me; more deliberate enemy placement would feel more interesting, but because you can't replicate a level designer's intelligence that easily the game has to make up for it by adding artificial difficulty with the aforementioned tiny enemies. To put it succintly, this game absolutely feels like something that would've come out on the NES; unfortunately this extends to the limited gameplay and artificial difficulty. Castlevania, a game this clearly had some inspiration from, still holds up today because of the depth in fighting (you can't just spam attacks and expect good results, you actually have to time it out) and fiendish yet fair level designs. If you're really patient then you may be able to get something out of this, but personally I can't recommend it: for those of us with limited free time, the "it gets better X hours in" argument is not going to cut it

-- Avant toute chose : j'apprécie énormément les jeux de Pirate Hearts, ma critique de You Have to Win the Game est très claire à ce sujet. Mais là, désolé, c'est un échec. -- Très déçu. J'avais adoré [b]Gunmetal Arcadia Zero[/b], qui lui n'est PAS un Rogue-Like et par conséquent, dispose de vrais niveaux conçus à la main et ne reposant donc pas sur de l'aléatoire mal foutu, contrairement à sa séquelle. Déçu car j'ai joué à une grosse partie des jeux Minor Key Games et ils sont tous excellents ; [b]You Have to Win The Game[/b] & [b]Super Win The Game[/b] sont parmis mes jeux de plateforme 2D préférés. [b]Gunmetal Arcadia Zero[/b] est très bon aussi ! Mais pourquoi ? Pourquoi sa suite est décevante ? [b]Copy & Paste[/b] C'est bien simple, les amis : Gunmetal Arcadia Zero a servi de modèle pour le jeu principal qu'est Gunmetal Arcadia tout court, sa suite. Cette dernière reprend tous les assets du précédent, graphismes, animations, sprites, niveaux, décors, bref tout (sauf la musique) et ajoute l'élément qui va tout foutre en l'air : le [b]"ROGUE-LIKE"[/b]. Et malheureusement, GMArcadia s'en sort très mal. Rogue-like oblige, chaque partie est différente et les choix que vous effectuez dans une partie vont influencer la suivante, car le personnage qui rempile après votre mort est votre descendant et se retrouve avec les choix du paternel et autres décisions. C'est plutôt cool comme système. Cela peut heureusement être désactivé. Vous avez la possibilité de jouer avec Vyero, le héros de Gunmetal Arcadia Zero, mais aussi avec trois autres personnages et d'autres à débloquer, chacun ayant ses avantages et défauts (plus de PV, nombre max de munitions secondaires plus élevé etc). [b]Level Design 101 Fail[/b] Rogue-like oblige toujours, les niveaux sont systématiquement différents à chaque partie, et là, l'aléatoire fabrique des niveaux qui ont bien souvent du mal à avoir la moindre cohérence. Si des jeux comme Binding of Isaac ou Risk of Rain n'ont pas ce besoin d'avoir des niveaux "qui ont du sens", c'est parce que chaque pièce disponible dans le pack que le jeu va utiliser pour fabriquer ses niveaux a un sens et une utilité. Dans GM Arcadia, c'est bien souvent le contraire : il n'est pas rare d'avoir des zones qui n'ont aucun sens avec des morceaux de plateformes qui n'ont rien à faire là. Pour que ce soit clair : on ne construit pas un Rogue-Like comme on construit un bête jeu de plateformes. Chaque pièce doit avoir son utilité, sa raison d'être là. Si on se retrouve devant un bordel de plateformes qui n'ont aucune utilité ni intérêt autre que de gêner le joueur dans sa progression, c'est qu'on a raté quelque chose. En parlant de ça... [b]Worst ennemies placement EVER[/b] Et oui, laisser à l'aléatoire le placement des ennemis, c'est la recette assurée du cauchemar et donc d'un level design atroce. Il n'est pas rare de croiser deux serpents cracheurs de pierres qui traversent toute matière et dont les tirs sont d'une précision ahurissante (c'est bien simple : leur tir est conçu pour vous toucher, peu importe votre position à l'écran, c'était déjà le cas dans GM Arcadia Zero et c'était très pénible). Ajoutez à cela qu'il arrive parfois qu'il est possible de se retoruver avec un ennemi juste au dessus de la tête, juste APRES UNE TRANSITION D'ECRAN, ce qui ne vous laisse pas le temps de réagir ! Evidemment, puisque c'est un rogue-like et qu'on doit vraisemblablement faire exactement comme les autres : on ne regagne pas ses points de vie après un niveau ni après un boss. Donc forcément, quand on commence un nouveau niveau et qu'on se cogne un ennemi inévitable juste après une transition d'écran, on crève et on doit tout recommencer depuis le début. Non merci. [b]Bref, c'est pas la joie[/b] Malheureusement la musique aussi est très inférieure à l'opus précédent, pas mauvaise, juste... meh. J'espère que le prochain jeu de J. Kyle Pittman reviendra à un style plus "normal" et moins "randomized levels + rogue-like", car il a clairement du talent. Le genre est complètement saturé. Ca me déplait vraiment de dire autant de mal du dernier né d'un développeur dont j'ai apprécié la majorité des jeux mais voilà, la déception est là et elle me fait mal. Triste / 20.

I liked Gunmetal Arcadia Zero, but this one didn't click with me. The base game mechanics worked so well in Zero, but I don't think they are very suited for a roguelite sidescroller so the two core aspects of the game are at odds with each other and that makes for a much worse overall experience. It's also pretty weird and inauthentic to put a modern genre like roguelite into such a nostalgia-oriented game, but I'd have been fine with it if it worked well. I don't think it does though, so here we are...

An NES-style action rogue-like/rogue-lite with a good balance of predictable and unpredictable elements. Depending on your skill level and knowledge, perhaps not every run will end with victory; however, bonuses are granted on your next run to give you a better chance. Learning what triggers these bonuses is a rewarding experience, due to the fact that their causes and effects are clearly explained in-game. Game-feel is top-notch, but you might find a new character to control stiffly because you need to pick up some upgrades; movement speed and jump height upgrades work wonderfully because you can instantly feel a difference when you pick one up. There are four characters available at the beginning, with a fifth character being unlockable. One thing I would like to see is more information about the characters at the selection screen. I would also appreciate more diversity in the characters themselves. The story and world are conveyed seamlessly through small dialouges, quick cutscenes, and brief item descriptions. There is not an over-bearing or melodramatic plot; like the gameplay, you wil have to do some detective work to find the deeper lore. This is a rogue-like, so to a certain extent your fate is determined by what the game decides to give you. However, there is a definite predictability to the game, and the system that is there is fun to learn. You will need to be able to adapt to what the game gives you. You will need to experiment with items to discover synergies and find out what kinds of builds have the potential to beat the final boss. You will have to be willing to die, but this process is ultimately very rewarding and satisfying. If you enjoy games like NES Castlevania, Zelda II, FTL and Binding of Isaac, I strongly recommend Gunmetal Arcadia. If you want a linear NES-inspired action game with excellent game-feel, and no rogue-like elements, check out Gunmetal Arcadia ZERO.

The game needs faster movement options.

Roguelike side scrolling platformer, and there's some fun to be had here, but the controls need to be just a little bit tighter to be a recommend. Try fighting near a ladder and you'll regret your purchase.