Hero's Spirit

Had it for a few years now and coming back to it after getting me a Steam Deck, I remembered why I couldn't put it down. Hero's Spirit is entirely about exploring, so much so that its combat is as simple as it gets. You bump into hostile creatures and if you've collected enough swords to be of equal or higher level than them, then they're defeated. Otherwise, you can negate damage with a one-time-use shield, kill anything in your path with a one-time-use golden sword (which are rather rare), or even freeze time for a moment to avoid combat altogether. Combat aside, the game revolves entirely around finding keys, unlocking doors, and unearthing secrets to increase that combat level (so you can progress through the 'story') and gather items that'll further help you traverse the labyrinthine maps. And while Hero's Spirit is a fantastic retro exploration game, it's also extremely frustrating. It doesn't help that it didn't manage to find an audience, meaning you're left to your own devices. No guides, little to no help on the forums (no joke, when I asked where to find a specific door, someone game me a jester award), no videos... But then, that's part of why it's so good.

This game is almost like a... Turn based, tile based metroidvania. It very much evokes the sense of discovery and wonder. I beat it in about 8 hours, but there's a LOT of secrets still. Regardless, I think I can recommend the game! It's a very simple game, only requiring use of arrow keys, and it tries to invoke a certain aesthetic of older, more rough-around-the-edges games. No manual, no map, claustrophobic level design, and strange inexplicable bits. I quite like what it does, for the most part! Just beating the game probably will take you about 10 hours at the latest, but for the 100% completion, it seems I may be at this game for many hours yet. The graphics are okay. Standard fare for Retro Games. The soundtrack, however, is very good, although I wish many of the tracks were longer. Still, overall, this is quite the lovely little package. Play it if you love adventuring!

Maybe it doesn't look like it, but it's really funny and entertaining game. Absolutely worth te money.

I want more games like this. "Modern sensibilities" can suck it.

Excellent feeling of exploration! I love it.

This is a really addictive retro exploration RPG. It has secrets within secrets that hide another secret that unlocks another secret behind the first one. There are some tough spots to get past, but there are always other ways to approach a problem, so you are never really stuck.

The lack of automapping or collection logging is an unforgivable sin in a exploration/collection game.

If you like old school, figure it out yourself RPGS, GET THIS GAME! Plenty to do and secrets galore!

This is a thumbs-up with a caveat that I think you have to really like what you see to get the most out of the game. I've just finished 100%ing my first save file of the game (at about 10 hours in), and it's clear that this is going to be one of those kind of iceberg-style games that has a lot more to it than it seems. However I think the game is sort of sharply divided between the gameplay-elements (essentially a sokoban-lite, with little to no puzzles compared to your average sokoban games) and the meta-puzzle/investigation elements where they rarely if ever mix. If you played Tunic into the later game, I think you get the idea. The game also has a tendency to overuse illusionary walls to hide items or paths as a way to compensate, but the end result makes some of the attempts to fully explore the game tedious as you smash your face up against an entire section of a mountain to find the one invisible path to the item you're missing. That said, despite those two elements not quite mixing together everything else is very well done. The game looks and sounds great, though there can be the occasional sprite readability issue with red enemies on red tiles. Overall I think if you're looking a solid game that rewards you to investigating every single corner and expects you to do so, you can't really go wrong here.

Sensación de progresión, exploración y descubrimiento como ningún otro. Y lo que me queda por descubrir... vaya joya.