Xanthiom 2

Pretty nice

Xanthiom 2 and 0R are perhaps the best Metroid-likes out there. Top tier exploration, interesting abilities, and baked in QoL features that mean you're not wasting a lot of time hunting for secrets. Gunplay is pretty good, and you can make some busted combinations with the available options. At the risk of being hyperbolic, I liked 2&0R put together more than Metroid Dread. My only gripe is with the music. I had to do something I never do - turn it off. Sorry, composers.

Just finished Xanthiom Zero, the free remake of the first game, and it is so good. I love the insane story that is juuuust baaaarely there. I love the gun and the mods. The feel and level design of the game is just spot on, perfect metroid-like. Art-wise, I'm not gonna lie, the game lacks inspiration, you fight a lot of extremely generic monsters, evil fish, evil turtle, evil spiny thing, etc. But I found the whole thing really endearing and just a joy to play. edit: Now I beat Xanthiom 2, which I also loved. It's very much the Super Metroid to Xanthiom Zero's Metroid. Again, the feel and level design are top notch, with cool events and creative boss fights. The story is, uh, there and I'm sure someone out there gets it, but I sure didn't. Luckily the game is very entertaining regardless. Xanthiom 3 when?

Pretty good! Gives strong Super Metroid vibes. The gun customization is great. I used quite a few options, including some of the weirder ones like the one that [spoiler]reverses the direction of your shots[/spoiler]. The story is fine, but nothing to write home about. The puzzles were pretty fun, though a few were a bit tedious to solve. I played the first one a while ago and it was also blast.

This game is amazing, and it makes me sad that it is not getting the attention it deserves. At first, it seems like just a really solid Metroid-like, which successfully captures the atmosphere of Super Metroid. But the gun customization elevates it into something really special. You can come up with crazy strong weapons with all the modifications. But you can’t just build a strong gun and stick with it to the end because there are obstacles in this game that can nullify certain advantages. For example, I spent most of the game relying on a flamethrower until I hit a water section which made my flamethrower completely useless, and there was a boss with a shield I couldn’t get through with a traditional firing pattern, but one mod allowed me to melt through that boss with ease. Actually, that is the one negative I could say about this game. Build the right gun and you can completely trivialize the boss fights. This is not a problem for me because I love that feeling of being totally overpowered by finding a gun a boss cannot defend against, but I understand this might be an issue for others. That one negative aside, I should also mention that this game includes a full remake of the previous game for free, making it insanely good value, even at full price (which is already at a lower price point than most other Metroidvanias). Give this game a chance if you like Metroidvanias. You won’t regret it.

I'm very sad I'm done with it. I started with Xanthiom Zero, which I recommend for the whole story. The Resimulated version sort of puts things in a different perspective, and it's just beautiful. And Part 2 was amazing! I found the controls and the game play to be convenient and fun. And the music? Had to turn it up!

I actually really enjoyed both the games here, and look forward to more.