Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse

This game had everything it needed to be one of the best metroidvanias ever made, but it fell short bc of the roguelike mechanics. i personally dont have much patience for metroidvanias and even less for roguelikes, so mixing those two together ended up being a recipe for disaster, bc besides clearing the dungeons you also have to replay them and complete them over and over again until you unlock the boss and get enough upgrades to make beating it easier. i really think the game wouldve been much better if it was linear, with a campaign that kept moving forward as you progressed through the maps instead of this annoying roguelike mechanic of replaying the same area several times before unlocking the next one. i really didnt like that at all. on the other hand i absolutely loved the graphics, it reminds me of hollow knight and everything looks beautiful. i also liked the city building, its a nice extra that adds something fun to the game. between adventures you rebuild a town from scratch however you want, unlocking different shops, equipment and upgrades. i also liked that the maps arent as confusing as in most other metroidvanias, i never got lost once, which is usually what makes me give up on this genre, so that was definitely a positive since it never feels like an annoying maze. i also liked the fact that even tho you control the main character, youre actually a magical hat and can leave her behind to possess certain defeated enemies and control them until the end of the dungeon or until they die. i thought that possession mechanic was a great idea, giving you lots of different playstyles depending on which enemies you choose to possess and control. its a shame the roguelike part of the game makes it feel so tiring and repetitive!!

As a metroidvania, this is a charming little game. There is a lot to like in the gameplay, as well in the artstyle and (despite having few tracks) the music is very pleasant and fits well with the game. As a “farming sim”, it is rather basic, but by design. The village was made specifically to be an optional fun ground, despite necessary for you to get better upgrades. As a roguelike, however, I did find this game was lacking some variety. The game comprises 4 different stages with a selection of levels in them. Because of this, the mix with metroidvania and roguelike created this kinda awkward space where the level design has to be consistently similar, but also change so the RNG can make it a little different every time. This created (to me) an experience that was never fully satisfying, because I was forced to go down the same similar paths every time with limited change. Never the exact same so I would be able to know where everything was, but never different enough to truly feel new every time. This overall level design made me feel like the bosses just had massive runbacks, that I was forced to do with at least minimal exploration to get the roguelike power ups. I would, personally, enjoy it more if the game just committed to a single style. -Either remove the power up system and re-balance everything to the village upgrades and make a pre defined map that feel like a classic metroidvania map; -Or randomize everything more so I feel every run is more unique, with more variety on levels, enemies and upgrades; Something that really puts emphasis on the sameness to me is the enemy variety. The enemies you fight in the first level continue to appear all the way to the final stage, which is not to say that new enemies aren’t added…. they are… but for some reason the new ones are always just stronger additions to the existing enemies, rather than a completely new roster for the stages. I would have suggested the inclusion of at least changing the skin of older enemies so they fit better in the later stages. The possession mechanic, despite being rather basic (just a very limited amount of enemies you can possess), was a fun addition. I was expecting the game to be built around it, so it disappointed me to see it was a second thought inclusion. However, it was still enjoyable enough to make me enjoy it at all. The combat is where the game shines to me. The skills, the magic attacks, the movesets, the bosses, they all clicked for me. Because of this, *I* would have probably enjoyed it more if it was a full metroidvania rather than a full roguelike, but I digress. If you are interested in the game, I fully recommend it. Don’t come expecting a masterpiece genre defying game, but a nice experience crafted by a very small team. The game is worth your time and attention.

I think I'm in love with this game. This was such an amazing experience, and I think it's become a favorite of mine when it comes to the metroidvania genre. It's simple, but incredibly effective at what it does. The power ups add a lot to the game, and some are even option, but I got them all and they were fun to get. Anyways, as for more on the game... [h2]PROS[/h2] I don't even know where to start with this one. Obvious from the moment you boot up the game, the art is gorgeous. Almost every review mentions this, but it still needs to be said. Making hand-drawn animation for a game like this isn't as simple as drawing the pictures. The anticipation frames, the speed that enemies and the PC attacks, every action was thought about to create the pace of the game. The pace is GREAT. I think movement and action speed are the most important aspects of a good metroidvania, and so often it gets overlooked. This game NAILS that. Moving along from that, I like the enemy selection as well. There are a lot of enemy types in this game, and it expands as you move through each level. There are 4 levels to the game (technically), and each section adds a good number of enemies to the rotation. Also, these four levels are created INCREDIBLY effectively. Each one is unique, and another important aspect of this genre is the terrain and level layout, and how it relates to movement. Again, this game absolutely nails it. Each terrain setup and enemy layout is structured to make sure you have plently of opportunities to use all of your ability options, while giving you something interesting to see while you explore. There are rarely any dead ends in the game with nothing in them, as each path has SOMETHING of value that rewards you for exploring. They're incredibly well laid out, and also have replayability when you get relics (upgrades) to go back and access areas of the map that you couldn't reach before. I actually really liked the village building. I will admit, when I was first introduced to the idea of building the village, I sorta wrote it off and thought I wouldn't engage with it much, and mostly focus on the core metroidvania gameplay. I was WRONG. Building the village is so fun, and oh my god, I would be so screwed if I never engaged with this feature. Crafting is so fun, your upgrade trees are ties to this feature, and this is also how you get equipment among other features as well. I went from not caring for it as a feature to building a massive complex of structures that spanned from wall to wall of the screen lol. I really loved this feature, and when a run wasn't going my way, I would just spend time building the village and moving stuff around while rethinking my strategy. Finally, the rougelike element. I think having a metroidvania roguelike is a difficult balence to strike, because you have to weigh movement and explorability with replayability and variety. However, like I keep saying, this game just gets it. I like the grimoires and blessings you get that make you stronger, and it makes each run of each level unique for that reason. Some upgrades make some runs better than others, and I think it overall adds tons of variety and strategy to how you explore. Do you spec the PC to get through the level, or to beat the boss? Both? Bleed, or stun? High critical chance, or higher overall damage? There's so many ways to spec the PC and cater the run towards your preferences, while limiting you just enough to where you have to really think. [h2]CONS[/h2] I am sorry to disappoint here, but... There really isn't much to say in this section. But, I will do my best to be objective. I think how grimoires are categorized (common, rare, and legendary) doesn't always seem accurate when their rarity is weighed against what they do. Having an extra potion slot is absolutely Legendary. However, is doing 50% more damage to an enemy with full health really a good rare option outside of exploring the level (such as when you fight the boss, where this ability is useless after hitting them once). However, I think this can be circumvented based on just... Reading. If you read which one you like more, you'll see which one is more valuable to you personally, regardless of rarity. I used to not be a fan of how the game sends you back to the church at different stages of exploration throughout a level. Most levels need to be explored three times to unlock the three locks on the boss door, and after each lock is taken off, you're sent back to the church. I previously thought this was a little disruptive, because if you're on a roll and are lucky/skilled enough to have not lost much health, you can't just keep going to the next area of the level and instead have to break your momentum to go back to the church. However, like I'm sort of implying, I don't think this is as big of an issue as I once thought. Going back to the church, regardless of how well or bad I was doing on the level, gave me a chance to rest at the village, build some resources, and decide how my next bout of exploring would go. Plus, going back to the church/village encourages you to play with the village building mechanic, whereas exploring a level over the course of hours without ever going back here may make this feature (which you NEED to engage with to reach your full potential) undermined. However, I can see how people still may not like this feature, so I want to log it anyways. Finally, the stage bosses. Some have complained that they're a little to tanky/spongey, and honestly, I don't fully agree with this... Mostly. I think the main expections to this are the Academy boss and final boss, which have multiple stages and LOTS AND LOTS of health. I am a little embarassed to say that I lowered the difficulty when I reached both bosses just to get through the fight, because these two encounters simply have too much health (espeically the final boss). While the boss fights themselves are incredibly fun, I think the amount of times you have to hit them, even with lots of skill and upgrades you've invensted into, can hinder the tight pacing that the rest of the game has. [h2]CONCLUSION[/h2] I really like this game. Casltevania: Symphony of the Night is and will probably always be my favorite metroidvania, followed by Metroid: Dread. This game is my third place pick behind these two AAA titles, which is a huge testament to how well pulled off this game is. It's beautiful, fun, simple, and has tons of variety to keep you engaged and thinking through the entire game. Also, please do not go by my playtime for how long this game takes to beat lol. I did everything I could, tried to build the village to do everything and unlock every feature, and I got every relic/optional upgrade. Basically, if I was gonna play through this game once, I wanna do everything, so I did. In reality, you'll likely spend 12-14 hours on this game for a normal playthrough. There are 4 stages and 5 bosses, and each are incredibly fun. Finally, the game is worth the full price, so if any of what I've said (or even the trailer) has captured your attention and interest in this game, please PLEASE just buy it. I bought the game at full price and don't regret it in the slightest, and if there's a sale, forget everything and just BUY THE DAMN THING. It's such a good game, and if you like metroidvanias with beautiful art and animation, you'll love this game. An easy 9/10 game, I can't wait to play it again and see more from this team.

I was sceptic because some reviews rated this game negatively and for a good while it was mixed, after playing and complete I dont find a reason to valorate it negatively. The game at its core it's a mix of house builder and metroidvania, the only random elements are the upgrades that you can get in the dungeons, the dungeons are practically the same every run so dont expect a pure roguelike (wouldnt even call it roguelike). There are 4 that have to be revisited a few times, every time you get further and at the end defeat the boss, the mobs drop materials and the materials are used to upgrade trees of skills (to improve attack, defense or resource efficiency). There are some special items that upgrade the movement set to find too. The movement and gameplay is smooth, the art is beautiful, if someone reading it is wondering how online multiplayer co-op works to buy or not, it's well-made, you only need to build a simple structure and by using it, it will give a code for the other players. Can do that from the very beginning It's a little grindy with some upgrades needing stupid amounts of materials but nothing too exagerated, the big fault that I see is that it doesnt show who or where drops what material and some stuff here and there very hidden. To conclude, it's been worth its price and had a lot of fun figuring out where to get the different materials.

devs resort to meaningless grind because of the lack of content. uninspired boring ass skill tree surface level base building everything about this game screams mediocre

Falta somente incluir PorTugues do Brasil, mas de resto o jogo é muito bom

This game takes obvious inspiration from other games, but it was still fun. The execution is mostly solid, but certain mechanics aren't explained very well. There's barely any story-telling, you get a basic setup and that's pretty much it. It's enough content to keep me engaged for 100% achievements, but it's certainly limited in scope. The combat was fine but lacks variety, I really would have liked different weapons or more moves to unlock. The bosses are fine, but repeated runs turn them into pushovers. There's no mechanic that increases the difficulty on runs over time. You can unlock tools and spells over time, but you'll quickly notice that 2 or 3 spells are vastly more useful and powerful than any of the rest and I barely ever used the tools. Tools have limited uses while spells can be used way faster and easier while also replenishing relatively fast by attacking. There's also a ton of blueprints to make cosmetics for your base, but I would have preferred unlockable clothing because the base-building didn't interest me beyond the bare necessities. Possessing summons is a fun mechanic and I wish there were more monsters to possess and play around with. Multiplayer worked fine for me as the host, it was overall a nice experience. You get a barebones Roguevania that doesn't try to be overly ambitious, so you can have fun with it but it won't stick in your mind once you're done.

Um metroidvania interessante que tem uma arte/animação muito fofa, músicas bacanas e um combate relativamente satisfatório, porém acredito que apesar da proposta ser essa, ele se aproveitaria melhor se não fosse rogue-like já que falta mais variedade de builds e em certos momentos causa frustração por conta do formato, porém tome nota que eu não sou muito fã do gênero (gosto de metroidvania mas não de roguelike, odeio perder progresso).

Basicamente Hollowknight + Terraria + Deadcells, porém consegue ter a sua própria personalidade. No geral, gostei bastante do combate, exploração e pacing do jogo. Aplicando algumas melhorias de qualidade de vida e disponibilizando o PT-BR, ele ficará bem redondo.

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