Overbowed

Great little underrated metroidvania with awesome gameboy-inspired graphics. The pixelart looks better than the game banner, there are some fun powers to mess about with and all that with just five buttons (jump, shoot, map and menu, as well as a button to stand still to aim). My first run was 6 hours and I got most collectibles (missing some apples and a heart), but there is an achievement to do a 1,5 hour speedrun. By shifting color palletes each area has its own feel. The bosses have some fun attack patterns to learn and I had to retry a lot of the first ones... The only downside of the game is that it feels unbalanced. The game is a bit unforgiving at first, especially during the boss fights, but the later ones aren't that hard as the ability to combine arrow effects makes the player a bit overpowered - especially if you use the apples to upgrade your gear, but I can see myself coming back to the later bosses one day on a no-upgrade run to challenge myself. Not bad at all...

This is a really fantastic Metroidvania game and I'm shocked it isn't better known. I only discovered it from the Kickstarter page for the dev's next game. If this is anything to go by then Flightless Fables will be awesome too. Other than the superb graphics, music and gameplay, what I love most about Overbowed is how abilities can be combined in interesting ways to, I guess, reveal hidden talents. It is difficult but not too challenging as there's lots of places to recharge. Highly recommended. I used the option to make boss fights easier for those of us who prefer exploration and casual combat. This is something I really appreciate as it allowed me to complete the game without giving up, as I generally find boss fights very tough. This is something that should really be default in this kind of game as otherwise you're limiting the number of players who will enjoy your game, and leave positive reviews!