Odallus: The Dark Call

Grape

A throw back to the NES/Famicom days of my youth. It's reminiscent of Faxanadu meets The Battle of Olympus. At first I was lost with it. And then a little discovery here and there opened it up. I am thoroughly enjoying this. Highly recommended.

JoyMasher's second game is quite more "welcoming" to the player than [b]Oniken[/b]: never easy, the challenge can feel stiff at first, but after finding the first health upgrades and armor, it proves quite more approachable. While the "Metroidvania" label can be applied, it's closer to games like [b]Castlevania III[/b], [b]Dracula X[/b] or [b]Demon's Crest[/b]: not an interconnected world but a succession of stages which can be however revisited, especially after obtaining better gear and abilities, and are quite expansive with multiple exits to find that unlock alternate paths into the overworld map. The graphics may appear to come genuinely from a NES in some screenshots but the first notable "cheat" is that while the action takes place in a 4:3 window, the rest of the screen is filled with two status bars. There's also a lot of multiparallax, plus cutscenes and some bosses, especially the last one, more at home on a Mega Drive. It's more of a "NES as I remembered it" than "NES as it really was". All of that doesn't change that [b]Odallus[/b] looks fantastic. It sports amazing spritework ranging from the protagonist also changing aspect depending on the armor found, through even regular enemies made with care and large and gruesome bosses, up to cutscenes that are beautiful while not straying from the style already adopted in [b]Oniken[/b]. It's dark fantasy mixed with anime elements, the influence of Berserk is clear (one of the main villains rips off the Skull Knight's design). All topped by a perfect use of the limited palette, with appropriately muted colors and high contrasts that further enhance the atmosphere; in the areas where parallax is most prominent, it gets very evocative. It's one of the best-looking "neo-retro" games I've seen to date. All that artistry is fortunately not wasted, as the difficulty is balanced so well, and the pace of the progression just right, making the search for upgrades and secrets extremely satisfying. It won't last a tremendous number of hours but not a single minute of play is going to feel wasted. Not sure if I can call it s "masterpiece" but a damn great game this is, even more for its price.

1/10 Do not work

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If you're into OG Castlevania, you'll like this one. Some of the achievements are ROUGH (skill issue here). Definitely worth playing if you like this kind of game. No regrets here.

I'm not very good at these types of games, but I certainly used to like them back in the early 90s. This one takes inspiration from the NES-era Castlevania titles, and the 16-bit Ghosts 'n Goblins/Demon's Crest/Metroidvania type of adventures and mechanics. It's not as easy as some reviewers have noted, but slightly on the difficult side, albeit not super unforgiving as the old classics. I liked almost everything about this one.

Hell yeah retro.

what is a man but...wait. how was it again?

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