Nothing Beyond This Point

Nothing beyond this point is a gimmicky game, and your enjoyment of the title will depend on how much you like that gimmick. Outside of that, it's a game with heavy lore that you will need to learn to solve some of the mysteries and secrets. Prepare to read text and pay attention to environmental clues. It's a game for those that enjoy getting lost. Remember that your best friend in this adventure is the easy map and markers. I would recommend activating that option. Also, The Voidlog is going to help you in what active secondary and main missions you are currently doing. I talked in the paragraph before this one about the gimmick of the game, but I didn't explain what the gimmick was. Do you remember the forest maze in Super Mario RPG? From a room you can go in 4 directions, but you don't actually know if there is a room next to the one you are standing in any direction, you need to try. If you don't find a room, you return to the same room you were in before leaving it, but you reach it from the opposite direction. It's a game about exploration and getting lost. Does this make the game a Metroidvania title… Maybe, it depends on your definition. Nothing beyond this point is 2D from an overview perspective. You don't have platforming, but you need to get some upgrades/keys to reach new areas. To be honest, many things are knowledge gated, and you can skip many parts and do a lot of things outside the normal intended order. The boss fights are pretty good in this game. I think these are probably some of the strongest points if you enjoy bullet hell fights and mob arenas. To help you in beating these challenges, you can upgrade your main character, RAAMAA, in multiple ways, with optional upgrades, so, by the end of the game, your RAAMMA could do different things or use different powers than mine. You can also find in the world some tools that you can only have one equipped at a time. When I found the metal rod spell, it was my main item and I never used a different one. And I know why i did that, because the other gimmick this game has is that your Life/Rods are resources that let you attack, mark the amount of life and bullets you have, and healing replenish rods, but you need to meditate to heal you, so, there is risk and reward built in the combat, like using an infinite Estus potion mid-combat. You could say, in DNA is a lot closer to a Souls-like game like Dark Souls than a typical Metroidvania title. To round up the review, it's a good game. If you want to explore its many secrets, you are seeing a 20-hour-long game, maybe a little more. I recommend it if you are tempted by what it offers.

I enjoyed the unique combat system (the rods) and the level designs and the navigating around. You can customise builds between runs and go for different strategies. The bosses are designed in different ways and offer unique challenges. A fun game overall. Worth trying I would say.

Beta tested this one for the dev. As far as I can tell it has only gotten better and more refined since! Mechanics: Interesting combat, relatively smooth mechanical 'center' for players. A bit confusing like a Metroidvania should be and mostly in a good way that feels developer-intended. I guestimate my full run-through will probably clock in at about 17 hours, but I'm not a GAMER-gamer at this type of game so YMMV there. Aesthetics: The sound design and music are good, but I think what makes a lot of it shine is the amount of care put into the animations. Lore is good too. If somewhat sparse it is well written.

It's weird, eerie, and compelling - but I also think the combat rhythm doesn't appeal to my tastes. Playing mainly with controller, poking into 5+ regions, beat two major bosses. Pros: Unique map flow that makes great use of the 'Void' concept Eerie/spooky tone, supported by some dialogue and text logs that are quite evocative Good animations on your Flame guy Interesting music Cons: Combat balance seems a bit off - unless an enemy has a specific gimmick that keeps you at range, the seconday fire (that consumes Rods) feels like a weak trade off vs. melee, when you factor in the speed of reloading during combat. I did get the first upgrade for AoE and Burn on the secondary, which does make it more useful in larger encounters. We'll see what other combat tools I find as I keep playing. Further on, the second major boss, [spoiler]The Flicker[/spoiler], was a total pain for me, with his ability to block your heal/reload. Winning that fight felt like a fluke, more than actually finding a good way to balance offence and defense. Again, I'll chalk this up to taste - I don't like the shared Health/Ammo mechanics. Overall: This is a soft recommend - I think there's some really interesting stuff going on with exploration and map design, and some lore stuff that I'm still curious about, but the design of the shared health/ammo might not fit your playstyle preferences.

Void

A Minecraft Story where a Blaze gets lost in the End. NBTP is an experimental metroidvania presented through a minimalist artstyle. Where I always find myself after a session, wanting go a little further into the void. Honestly if you're in the mood for a unique metroidvania, this one is worth a look at.

Fun outside the box take on a metroidvania with solid combat and fun exploration and mechanics!

Overall a fun, yet unusual game. It probably has one of the most unique world exploration I've seen in a good while. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it fits the idea of *The Void*. Combat is interesting. Special attacks and abilities consume your health, which you can recharge by holding the Heal button and standing still, leaving you vulnerable to enemies. Despite having infinite healing, some abilities do not feel powerful enough to be worth the trouble of losing health and trying to get it back in the middle of a fight. At least early on, when you don't have a lot of health and all attacks and abilities are in their most basic form. Exploration in such an open map feels pretty unique for a Metroidvania. There is an intended path, as well as alternate routes to find along the way, intentionally or not. I'm pretty sure I've gone the wrong way a few times and still made solid progress. There are a lot of things to find scattered all over the place, with built-in map markers and a good amount of custom markers. Something tells me there might be something beyond this point after all. The audio and music are quite fitting. Roaming the map gives this eerie feeling of a forbidden land, and in big fights it feels like you're being overrun by the souls of the damned. Combat and interaction sounds are clear and distinct, keeping the player informed during hectic moments. If you want to try out something different, I recommend checking out this game. I also recommend playing it with keyboard and mouse instead of a gamepad.

> Nothing Mid Beyond this Point ## Why - Genuinely unique approach to a metroidvania - Basic but very evocative art style - Combat system is a cool concept well executed - Story is suprisingly interesting - It just has the juice, couldn't put it down despite a frustrating start ## Why Not - Exploration can be painful until you get certain abilities - Giving the second boss anti heal was certainly a choice ## Impressions This is not what I expected at all from a 580yen Metroidvania which looks like they didn't bother hiring a background artist. Nothing Beyond this Point is a great Metroidvania and perhaps more importantly; a genuinely different one. Rather the the typical side-scrolling action of a Hollow Knight or Nine Sols, NBTP adopts the room by room layout and bullet hell/twin stick shooter design of Enter the Gungeon. Another similarity to Gungeon can be found in the myriad obscure secrets you can unlock if you pay close enough attention to your surroundings and try different things. I'd recommend paying especially close attention to anything map shaped on the ground, as you'll be spending the vast majority of the early game hopelessly lost. That's because the game really leads into its 'eldritch void' setting. Most exits from a given room will typically just loop you back to the opposite side when accessed, which opens up some fun combat possibilities but also makes for a sometimes tedious process of trial and error exploration. To the dev's credit they have addressed this; real exits are often marked by some decoration on the border of the room. But I still couldn't stop myself compulsively trying every angle, looking for frequent-enough-you-can't-ignore-them secret rooms. There's a ping ability you can pick up which significantly accelerates this process while your obscured map keeps the feeling of exploration alive, but it's pretty easy to miss until well into the game. If I was going to make one suggestion it'd be to gently guide players toward that ability much earlier. No notes on the combat though; it's creative and well executed. Your health is represented by rods orbiting you, which also power your ranged and special attacks. So attacking (other than in melee) consumes health, which would be a big problem if not for your ability to heal endlessly. It requires standing still to channel thought (at least without upgrades), so combat has a great rhythm of firing off attacks then finding a window to heal up between enemy aggression. Giving the the second boss (for me at least) anti-heal was certainly a choice though; that coupled with his endless littering of the arena with spikes lead me to take a break from the game and play Dark Souls 3 for a more relaxing experience. Eventually I figured out you can dash through the anti-heal projectile to avoid it, but the dialogue telegraphing that is not exceptionally easy to see with everything going on. Most bosses have a gimmick like this, though the rest are considerably less annoying and better telegraphed IMO. Overall combat was great once I stopped trying to melee literally everything to death because I was terrified of burning my health to attack, and stayed that way right up to the final boss. Surprisingly for a solo-dev project, the miscellaneous stuff is pretty great as well. The art-style and soundtrack are certainly minimalist but very effective at evoking the reactions they're clearly aiming for, and I don't think I encountered a single bug in my playthrough. The Metroidvania aspects mostly come from ability progression, but if you pay close attention to hints and think creatively (or you're just on a second playthrough) there are plenty of skips available. The overall story also surprised me with its quality; the protagonist actually has an interesting character arc and the vague hints of lore are interesting enough to provide some motivation. Every character (including deities) mostly talking like a normal person despite their circumstances is a bit weird at first but circles back around to charming after a while. Definitely give this one a try if you're at all curious; I did it on a whim and got a fantastic ~16 hours out of it. There's a lot more depth and quality here than you might expect for a game this cheap.

A very fun and unique metroidvania! More specifically: [b]Combat:[/b] Each new enemy type feels fresh, so the combat does not grow old. The shared health & ammo leads to some thrilling moments during bossfights, although comes with the downside of sometimes slowing down regular encounters if you play cautiously. At first I relied really heavily on the primary, but as the game progresses the other moves become much more strategically valuable. [b]Exploration:[/b] The sparse aesthetic does not detract from the creativity of each area. The puzzles I've solved have felt satisfying, and I have yet to find myself running into a dead end because of how many ways you can pivot in the open world if you get stuck on something. [b]Story:[/b] Definitely engaging; the game keeps you looking for more information as every answered question opens the door to more. The dialogue has its highs and lows, but the highs are truly great. [b]Music:[/b] Bangin'