Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

Okay metroidvania with awesome music and great animations. The game has too much grinding, some puzzles are awful and you'll die inexplicably climbing stairs. But then again those flaws make it easier to focus on non-gameplay aspects of the game, which are nice. I just hoped the soundtrack was available in Spotify, so that the game could be taken as introduction to it.

This is my second time having played through the game, originally getting it on GOG years back. It's just pure joy, the puzzles are fun, usually pretty simple and keep you moving forward at a steady pace. I never felt gated by any of them, but having mini ah-ha moments just works so well. It's quite puzzle heavy, though, and even the bosses are puzzles themselves. The obvious draw here though is the absolutely flawless aesthetic. I wanna live in this world. It's perfect in its execution, and the music fits it in every regard. There's just nothing I could possibly complain about. Gaming perfection, specifically in what it's trying to be. Typically, combat would be more of a priority for me, but it just doesn't need it to succeed, which says a lot.

Monster Boy starts as an excellent metroidvania with fantastic movement, satisfying progression, and beautiful visuals. Unfortunately, the last third leans heavily into cryptic puzzles, excessive backtracking, and trial-and-error design that kills the pacing. It peaked around the volcano and dragon transformation, then stretched several hours longer than it needed to. I loved the first two-thirds, but the final third turned what could have been a favorite into a chore. Through the volcano, I would say this game is a 9/10. After the events following the volcano, 5/10. I believe I was 8-10 hours in when finishing the volcano, and around 16 by the time I got to the castle after the haunted mansion. I simply dnf'd it at that point. It could just be a me thing. If you really love digging into the puzzles, then this could be top tier for you.

petit metroid vanilla trop cool !

まだ始めたばかりです。 ゲームをプレイした感想です！ これもモンスターワールドの素晴らしい出来栄えでした。 バランスが取れた敵の攻撃力です！ 武器は効果音なども含めてとても迫力がありました。 もちろん違和感なく自由に動けます！ 作業用ミュージックは、とても迫力がありました。 長時間掛けてじっくりプレイできるゲームです！ 興味を持った方は、ぜひ一度プレイしてみてください。

Having bought and played through the game twice on other platforms, it's an absolute pleasure to play through this gem once gain, on Steam. Visually, this is a far better realisation of the Wonderboy universe than the Lizardcube WB3 remake. The audio, from effects through to music, is everything you'd hope for, with returning classics re-worked, and new songs that fit the world wonderfully, all arranged with great skill. The gameplay takes the Monsterworld formula and expands and polishes what came before, with nice touches like maps, that are obviously expected in the genre now, as well as things I wouldn't have expected, like magic making a return, but now it being far more impactful on gameplay, alongside other QOL aspects like fast select wheels. It's not ground breaking, but it updates the formula to where it needs to be, so the game doesn't feel old in comparison to its metroidvania contemporaries. It does, however, do many interesting things with map design and it 100% feels like a Wonderboy game, and to get all of that balancing act just right for fans is surely no mean feat. It's not a perfect game. There are later sections that needed more playtesting for odd difficulty spikes, but the same could be said of previous titles. It's by no means a deal breaker. Monster Boy is a love letter to the previous games, and in many ways exceeds their legacy. It's not as tight as Dragon's Trap, but then few games have ever achieved that. It is, however, 20-40 hours of great fun, and it's well worth paying full price for anyone who remembers the Wonderboy/Monsterworld series fondly.

唯一可圈可点的就是变形，其他一言难尽，入坑需谨慎，享受折磨的随便玩。 首先探索方面，特别多解密或物品，就是为了藏而藏的，完全没有提示跟逻辑。 接着是恶心到吐的战斗设计，除了开场人形可以上劈，得等后期恢复人形才能上劈，但小怪十有八九是跳脸了，中期拿到狮子符咒，也就是可以往上吼，但不是无敌，该挨打还是挨打。 最后是跳跳乐之类的闯关，很多碰一下大概8-10点血，抬头或低头看地形的设计也很迷，很多时候没法用，容错率低，碰几下就没了，而且多数情况下存档点不是满血存档点，只给五点血左右，一直重复无意义的跑图。