Kalinur

5/10 (PC) – “Kalinur” is a game that popped up in a random Youtube video that I was watching looking for some new games to try out. It caught my eye because it falls into the genre that I love (Metroidvanias) and features an 8-bit art style similar to classic “Castlevania” titles which I also hold in high regard. It is clear that the developer of “Kalinur” also feels the same because this is essentially a “Castlevania” clone featuring the most basic of Metroidvania elements. My biggest problem with “Kalinur” is that it plays it way too safe and does literally nothing original. The enemies, environments, and abilities that you encounter have all been seen before, with nothing to set itself apart from other games. The combat is so very basic, featuring a jab of your character's sword, I kept wondering how this could have gotten through playtesting. Your enemy and boss encounters are no more than mashing a single button as quickly as you can while whomever you're facing is in their predictable attack cooldown window. No special attacks that you can learn, no items you can use, nothing. Just walk around, unlock some doors, backtrack, face a few bosses, and end the game. I actually stumbled upon the final boss without exploring about 1/3rd of the map, beat him, and then apparently got the “bad ending” after only about 2 hours in. I decided to go back and 100% the game (which took about another hour and a half) for some reason to see the other ending. Why? Who knows. Wasn’t worth it in the slightest. “Kalinur” is just a skippable game even if you’re into stuff like this. It’s easy to play and complete, but there is nothing new or original that is presented and it actually features a lot less than even worse games in this genre contain.