Marrow

I've barely played the game so take this as you will but I've seen pictures and playthroughs and this needs more attention for the art alone. It's fantastic. I want to see more!

Marrow

I have beaten Marrow several times. Including Echo mode, Survival mode and Echo + Survival mode. So I guess it's time to leave a long review. Ever since playing for the first time the visual theme and style catch your eye. The red, distorted background that flashes into colorless while the title screen appears is different from a mere motionless start menu. Strange figures of what seems to be the friends mentioned in the Steam description, but passing your cursor behind them reveals other deformed, non-human beings. Marrow doesn't even have a settings that you can alter so you're stuck with the default options and have to modify the sound on your own pc. The many recurring themes on the Steam reviews can share that the visual style on Marrow is top notch. The various enemies differ a lot in looks yet still ressemble broken, mutated humans. Experiments of animals and more. But actually *playing* Marrow feels like forcing yourself to drink black coffee early in the morning. Sure, eventually you develop a taste for it. But you have to get to that point first. The combat system at first feels uncomfortable. You must jump before you attack else you take damage as the screaming thing runs towards you. BUT you have to time your attack *before* you hit the ground else it cancels and you take damage. Once you get used to that, yeah, it is entretaining. You are constantly spacing and kiting Wallows (that's their name) while exploring through the areas. The lack of a map is understandable, it adds confusion to the player in an already dark, anxiety-giving atmosphere as you don't know what's coming or where you are supposed to go. Having to take notes in a cryptic game isn't a new thing anyway, and I don't think it's the reason Marrow remains as a low popular game very few people actually heard of. That goes to the frustration aspect. A game being just 'hard' isn't truly enough to make someone not wanna play or give it a try. Marrow, as someone who can confidently say has mastered it, feels absolutely horrible to die. I can't think of another game where 'failing' is as frustrating as in this one. It's not just 'having to fight this guy again', but more of a like twenty minutes (or more) of a slow, constant endurance grinding. EVERY obstacle in Marrow is challenging, EVERY single one. Every pathfinder, every wallow, every spitter, every vagrant, thaumaturge, witness, critter, and obviously the twenty pages insult long deserving scamp. Every encounter CAN deal damage, (and very often in a random way you couldn't have avoided) there are very few times where you can be just 'kill this enemy and move on'. So getting from Savepoint to 'objective' only to die in the way back to the save point. Knowing you will have to duel the thirty, forty enemies in the way is just cruel. And most of the times just closing the game and trying tomorrow feels like the correct option. Marrow is definitely a game that will fill with you emotions. Frustration, stress, anxiety, sometimes even a heated moment. And the game was definitely made for it in making checking your current grit/clarity a consumable resource. The *joys* of not knowing if the next hit is the one that means a try again from the start is something you'll feel a lot if you dare to take up the challenge. Personally that's what I think is the number one reason that drives people away from playing. The second one is in the form of the puzzles. There are simply no clues, you simply have to 'guess' or look for it online (which in this game isn't an option since there are very few to none online guides) The solution to the 'puzzles' are 99% the type of 'once you know the answer it makes sense'. For example in Necropolis you have to touch the Forgotten (that rusty knight thing that marches foward) to rescue an Orphan. The 'clue' is that the sound of a near Orphan starts when the Forgotten appears onscreen. Sure, once you know what to do it makes sense, this thing that constantly appears may be related to an Orphan because the sound that an Orphan is near starts playing around this thing. But yeah, like touching a enemy —while in the Stuland Manor there is another slow, marching enemy that instantly kills you— is a good idea. The laboratories 'puzzle' is that the harps give you the order of the colors you have to play in order to open a GREEN door. The same GREEN doors that have always been opened by a switch. Whatever, the only puzzle that actually feels like one is the bridge orphan where there's the light on the background giving you the order of colors to play with the orb. The one in the manor that you need the orb may ve just me but I can't listen to the answer, just try until it works. I guess i should have focussed more on the difficulty since it's one of the biggest debate subjects on why not many want to play this game. Though I believe the core part lies on the constant negative feelings the game gives. Even the 'good' parts that are supposed to feel like progress don't accomplish that. In Marrow it's not more like a reward that you find an upgrade, the game punishes you for not finding it. The range increase is good i'll give that, but grabbing an upgraded sword and the enemies still take the same amounts of hits to kill. I didn't get stronger, it just meant that if I didn't get this upgraded the *enemies* are the ones that did. You know, going through the effort of finding and repair the Gold sword in the laboratories only to enter the Sewage and the first Wallow you see takes three hits to kill and the vagrants five just like at the beggining of the game.. it just feels terrible. BUT if you DON'T get it the endless ghosts take TWO hits to kill and the Wallows four. Same thing goes for the earring and necklaces. I'm not tankier and i'm not seeing more, It just happens that if I don't have them i'd see less. And would take up to six damage in a single hit The only times you feel stronger is when backtracking, at which point you mostly don't care. I didn't talk about the bosses since they are all massive RNG slots that skill rarely matters. Now, would I recommend Marrow? It is a tough choice, because I did and still enjoy playing it but know well that all the people I know would hate it. Marrow is a very niche game, made for people who have high tolerance for frustration, stress, and enjoy a good challenge in retro style metroidvania. BUT, the people that fall into that category absolutely love the game. That's why I think Marrow is an *objectiviely* good game. Because the people it's made for loved it.

pretty good

yes

This game sucks but also it ♥♥♥♥♥

Cool game! At first it seems like a horror game, but after a while it only has an aesthetic of one. Even then it's very atmospheric and has quite an unique style. The environment doesn't grow stale and neither does the gameplay. It's a difficult game, but if you can manage that, the game gives you plenty of room to improve. There's a couple of techs that you'll likely learn while playing and they'll help you immensely. The hardest part might be to learn where to go and how to handle the way there. If you're a fan of high-skill platformers with unique feel (and don't mind horror, edgy stuff, blood, death etc. etc..), you'll most likely enjoy this game.