Zexion

[h1]Do NOT Ignore this Twin Stick Masterpiece if you love METROID.[/h1] When I was recommended this game by a close friend of mine, I had heard NOTHING about it. When I looked the game up online, it had very little coverage; A couple reviews, boss compilations, speedruns.. but nothing with widespread attention. Now that I have finished the game, I can confidently say that [b]It deserves so much more than that.[/b] ZEXION is not just a love letter to Metroid; It's a passion project of 15 years, and its evident. There's too much I love about this game to list in an organized fashion, but here's what made me fall in love with this game. The art is evocative of the classic NES Metroid, but its control scheme feels like a polished blend between Fusion and Dread. The world map is fun to navigate, well designed, and each area is able to stay memorable despite the maps overall size. The world building? [h3]Is GOLDEN.[/h3] The entire planet is a battlefield for so many clashing groups of in...

Great metroidvania, one of if not the best metroid-like I've played. I think this game is particularly suited to those who enjoy Super Metroid romhacks and retro run-and-gun platformers, but it does play rather differently from Metroid. Zexion initially looks like a best-of-metroid compilation, but it quickly forges its own identity. The game is quite difficult, but fair. Health and ammo drops seem scarce, but one can find hidden caches to refill supplies. Most enemies do not drop resources, but the ones that do have guaranteed drops. Early on, missiles are relatively scarce but provide great utility for map exploration, and missile expansions remain useful throughout the game. The game understands how to make progression in a metroidvania engaging; upgrades almost always feel useful, but less commonly feel required. The game is full of surprises, particularly involving the varied boss battles. In true Metroid fashion, you often have to clunkily fight your way through a gauntlet of en...

I just finished my first playthrough and this is easily one of the most exciting and well crafted metroidvanias I have ever played in my entire life, hands down. This dev had a vision and FAR exceeded it. The map design is fantastic, each ability feels meaningful, and the combat encounters are just EXCITING. This is peak genre, folks. PLAY THIS VIDEOGAME.

EDIT: after speaking with the developer, it seems that I woefully misunderstood the control scheme. Evidently the game is a twin-stick shooter, and you are NOT intended to use the face buttons on a gamepad for shooting and jumping. So, take that warning as you go in. I want to like this game. I can handle difficulty. But the difficulty in this game is not the kind of difficulty that I enjoy. I find myself having to control an extraordinarily clunky hero, who makes it difficult to perform tasks that would be considered basic in practically any other platformer of this type. For example, "jump and then quickly shoot behind me" is, as far as I can tell, not actually possible; there's some kind of lag to the control scheme that means that you have to press a direction for a significant amount of time before you actually start aiming in that direction. I find myself constantly frustrated because I know what to do, I know what inputs would accomplish what I want to do in any other game, and...

Who was going to tell me that Zexion is the best Metroid clone to date??? This game rules. I've played Super Metroid, Fusion, Dread, and Axiom Verge 1&2 as well as Vainger in UFO 50, and Zexion clears all of them, hands down. Yes, even Super Metroid. This game really has the sauce, and a lot of it comes from how well it delivers on the simple core concept: you are one of many spacefarers who've come to a distant planet to seize a rare ancient superweapon. The tone is masterfully done. It's got the unsettling ambience of Super Metroid, enhanced by some cosmically unnerving areas and enemies. It's got the dynamic scripted moments of Fusion where you retain player control, but on an even greater scale. And the journey is paced really well with semi-autoscroller sections, tasteful stealth, and traveling boss fights to punctuate regular exploration. This all gives the game a really strong sense of momentum that kept me playing for longer than I intended every time I booted it up. Of cours...

This game heavily over stays its welcome. At first its an ok metroidvania. Then as you unlock the movement abilities it becomes clunkier, and clunkier and clunkier. Eventually I just said screw this balancing and threw on the assist systems to finish out some items. The finale was like 10 fights in a row which is just a slog. Balance is pretty horrible. Some things just like 2-3 shot you even with the armor upgrade. Don't bind FOUR different movement skills. Jump, Jetpack, hover, AND sling shot to a singular button, end of the game I could barely control my movement.

This is a very fun and classic game. I really really enjoyed it a lot. I'd say it is very difficult and I had to use an assist to do the last 2 phases of the last boss. But I appreciate that the developer put these options in so that everyone can experience the game regardless of skill level. I love the story too and just totally enjoyed the game. This is a game I would come back to after a year or two when I've forgotten some things about it as it was such a fun world to explore. Great Metroidvania!

Phenomenal metroidvania action, possibly my GOTY for 2025. Controls are tight, the world is expansive, upgrades are varied and feel impactful, and the sheer number of unique boss fights is unbelievable. 10/10, I wish only that I could play it again for the first time.

While playing this game, it is incredibly clear just how creative the developer is. There were many bosses and areas that I really enjoyed (and some I did not), but overall I think this game is how every metroidvania based on the "metroid" part should be. I personally would rate this game to be about equal to or maybe a little better than Blasphemous 1, which I consider to be very high praise.

The high-level pitch is, "what if Metroid 1 but with the design DNA of Fusion and Dread, plus a little bit of other indie games like Axiom Verge, too". There are some pretty severe difficulty spikes and some of the late-game upgrades can lead to your character feeling a bit sticky to control, plus the music is just alright most of the time, but otherwise this is a highlight of the year. This does a similar thing to Axiom Verge where you're unlocking multiple weapons over the course of the game, though in this case I'd say they have much more distinct strengths and weaknesses compared to the ones in that game. The movement abilities are on the more novel side of the metroidvania genre, avoiding falling into too many of the well-worn archetypes of double jumps and state transformations. The big, big standout here is the boss fights and the reserved storytelling. Most of the fights pull double-duty of being tough, multi-stage battles with wild twists, but also helping to tell the na...