[h1] A visually appealing metroidvania [/h1]
I wasn't familiar with the Record of Lodoss War before I played the game. I presumed the game to be a standalone title. Apparently the world and story deepens an already existing universe that has been around for quite a while. I'm not knowledgeable on the series and will not take a stand on how this compares to other titles or the overarching story. Instead I will give my two cents from my simple perspective of liking games of the genre.
The immediate aspect I laid my eyes upon was the visual polish in pixel art. Color schemes and palettes between the characters and surroundings are composed and soothing. There are very little overly saturated or bright colors and tones. Everything flows and blends naturally with one another. I have two different ideas or explanations of my own for why this is. I have to remind right now that I have no knowledge whatsoever of this universe and how it works. If I did, maybe my interpretation would change. As far as I know our protagonist Deedlit is an elf. Typically elves live in harmony with nature and the chosen palette reflects in my opinion just that, Deedlit's connection to nature and their place in it.
Yet the harmony is at an imbalance...
Deedlit pursues their lover Parn in a labyrinth and in this combat filled venture is interrupted a multitude of times with dialog that question the surrounding reality. Visions of the past or of a different timeline invades Deedlit's mind and the curtain starts to tear with every new encounter. Characters that once were hostile start to guide our protagonist in the slowly rising insight of what everything really stands for. In the end Deedlit comes to understand that they were in denial of the loss of Parn. In grief Deedlit fell in past memories and lived them over and over in hopes to be once again united with their one. And this dreamlike made up reality gives forth my second explanation for the colors. The haziness throughout the environments and their colors, makes connections to the dreamworld and to whom it belongs, that has entrapped the mourning Deedlit.
I lied. There is a third reason. It looks beautiful!
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Now for something completely different and more straightforward. You have two different stances or spirits (Sylph/wind and Salamander/fire) that you can switch freely in any given instant to alter your attacks and movement. Some enemies are immune to the other and some areas require you to frequently swap between the spirits in rhythm. Both of them come in beautiful visual effects in movement and attacking. Maybe a minor point for some, but this was one of the first notes I took while playing. The tracers left behind when sprinting or the ground taking impact from the breeze left behind from levitating are both great elements that elevate the feeling of interacting with the world. Visual effects in general seem to have attention put into them. Reality bends have been done well to feel like a pulling motion on the screen while still staying mostly in two dimensions. There are a few 3D animated objects sprinkled every now and then that still retain the 2D feel which is cool. Hats off to visual direction in every way possible!
And last, a note for usability and accessibility! I don't recommend playing with keyboard and mouse, as I wouldn't with any other metroidvania as the intuitive movement is often lost if not played with controller. However, getting the game to recognize your controller can be a pain in the ass. Seems that the game registers only Xbox 360 controllers, and I had to find an way around this as I play with PS5 controller. I masked my controller as an different one with DS4/5windows software. It's not hard to manage, but takes away from the joy of just wanting to begin with a new game. Take this into consideration before you begin, if you are going to play with controller!
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To put it short. I liked it. Could've been a bit more challenging and longer, but in any case worth to play. I had fun! Soundtrack was also on par with metroidvanias. Didn't reach the levels of the greats, but still.
Thanks for taking the time,
means much <3
