Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

An excellent but by-the-modern-books metroidvania. Albeit it's multiple stages you can select instead of one huge map. Maybe a bit too much by-the-books, there aren't much experimenting in this one. Even Shantae is missing dance transformation here for narrative reason (it's a direct sequel to Risky's Revenge, you can play that one first), which does let her use "powerups by a button press" classic style of scheme. I do love it, enjoyed it. But. BUT HEY. It's like a cartoon episode. With fun toony characters, and fantastic MUSIC yesss. And WayForward pixelart is riiiiiiiich. Even if my fav stage was the intro stage that was like a Konami arcade theme ride.

Fun but challenging Metroidvania game to play.

Charming, witty, fun, this is a great little game for what it is (which is to say, a port of a 3DS game from 10 years ago). I have 2 criticisms of this game, it's that 1) the characters feel a little overly-sexualized, like these are some of the most boobily breasted female characters you can get in a Steam game without Visa declining your card. The other big criticism is that 95% of this game is a total cakewalk, UNTIL you get to the last dungeon where you will encounter one of the most brutal difficulty spikes ever in a video game. I still beat it, but a more gradual difficulty curve would have been appreciated. All in all, like I said this is a great game, I have some minor nitpicks but they are just that: nitpicks. Definitely worth a playthrough, especially since it's short enough to not overstay its welcome. If you love metroidvanias and are looking for a new one to play, this is a good pick, especially if its on sale. 8/10

I finished the story in this game without having played the first games, the original 2002 Shantae and the more recent Shantae: Risky's Revenge. Honestly I kind of wish I had played the first one... but it isn't available on Steam and it's a pretty old game at this point. If you are brand new to Shantae, I would recommend taking a look at the Risky's Revenge game and playing that first. All the stories kind of interconnect, they use the same characters, and it also really showcases the series' progression from where it started, other than the original 2002. Now this game is wonderful. It's a straight up platforming game, and it's on the easier side. This is meant to be casual. It's still got some bite to it, though, if you don't watch yourself. The story is cute and fun, the graphics look great, and the performance is solid. Just make sure that whatever platform you play this on, you LOCK IT TO 60hz. If you don't, you'll get odd game speed issues. Even on PC, I had to use Nv...

I bought it for the gameplay I swear.

Pirate's Curse is a very solid game I would highly recommend, outside of a few small issues that can be pretty irritating. It took me around 8 hours to complete a first playthrough with all items collected. I probably would have saved around an hour or so if I wasn't stubbornly going for the no HP upgrades achievement (which I gave up on 75% of the way through the game). Pros: - Looks and sounds great - Controls feel tight and responsive - Every area feels visually distinct and all have their own unique gimmicks - Zelda style dungeons are the highlight, and they do a great job showing off how your new items work - Pirate tools have use in both combat and exploration. Some can even be used together for some fun results - The story is surprisingly fun - Hidden items are placed well - Plenty of achievements for completionists Neutral: - Retro style save system. Die, and you lose all progress since your last savve - Not particularly difficult for metroidvania veterans - No...