Somber Echoes

I'm about half way through the game, but I can already tell I like it. Having weighed in the pros and cons, I can definitely recommend it. Here are the things that I liked, and disliked, about this game. [b] Liked [/b] - Smooth and responsive controls. Movement feels natural and intuitive, very important in games like this. - Accessible UI. Simple yet comprehensive, all the info is there without feeling overwhelming. - Graphics. One of the highlights of the game, the environment looks gorgeous all the time and it has some of the best VFX I have seen in a while. - Audio. Whether it is music or SFX, it is there to underline the mood or specific events, never feels intrusive. - Mechanics. The Aether Lantern makes platforming very fun, and useful when fighting as well. Aiming and throwing the spear is also one of my favourite things to do in this game. - Difficulty. Although there are no difficulty settings, the balance seems just right, nothing stands out. - Lore and story telling...

Did my first run on the Xbox Series X and second on PC. Enjoyed my time with this 2.5D metroidvania which can quite challenging at some points. Interesting boss designs, nice sci-fi sceneries influenced by Greek mythology and a good soundtrack. The map is huge and there's enough to explore. The story is told by narration, memories that can be found and by environment. But I have some observations; some of the later platforming puzzles to open Nocturnal gates can bring some trial and error, I could use a 4th Aether Core on a few of them. The 1st boss is a difficulty spike when confronted underleveled, getting the parry right can help a lot, but sometimes it doesn't and you still will get hit (I missed the dodge roll a little bit here) While progressing in the 2nd phase of the final boss the whole floor will be covered in lava, less would have been nice. Confront this boss when everything is fully upgraded. I played the console version mostly through streaming via the Xbox App on Wind...

Pretty great Metroidvania-like. Particularly fun exploration and boss fights. There's also some special exploration (can't say in detail since it's a spoiler) tech which is quite unique to this game and very fun to play around with.

This game is fantastic! Atmosphere, music and story! The Narration is soooo dope, probably my favorite part. Haven't finished it yet, little over 1/2 way thru first play thru but already seems like it's right up there with Ori and HK. Play it for sure!