Environmental Station Alpha

I'm just writing a review because this game doesn't deserve the mixed rating it has. There's nothing wrong or terrible in this game that isn't a staple of the genre. Sure, it has an exception: its extremely tedious post-game, but none of the people who wrote negative reviews even came close to getting there. I think almost everything in this game was designed on the premise that you would sit and think before tackling a challenge, be it a boss, puzzle or just traversal in general. So in that sense, everything is pretty straightforward. You just need practice. But I admit that if you can't pull that off, then there is no accessibility options within the game that will help you. In that case maybe try again later once you beat a few more platformers. So how hard is the game? If you can beat halfway nes games like castlevania, ninja gaiden or ghoul's n goblins, you can beat this. And if you're a super metroid fan, this game is right up your alley.

this game is sooooo underrated. definitely worth the price and your time

This is a hard one. The game shows some brilliant aspects, but also terrible ones. *Note that I did not play 100+h, I just left the game running/forgot to close it. The good: The gameplay is nice and responsive. Controls feel tight. The music is pretty nice. The sound effects will get on your nerves, such as the loud plinking when you hit something immune to your shots. The game is relatively vast, with a lot to explore, and multiple unique bosses. The bad: The difficulty: I rarely complain about games being too hard, but this one is built different. I made the mistake of playing on normal, because I like a challenge. It is not normal, it is hard/very hard. You are going to need to practice bosses. You will die, until you memorise patterns. When the speed runners play on easy only, you know you messed up your difficulty. As far as I know, you can't tap out and say fine downgrade me to easy. you have to restart from the beginning. Despite that, I finished the game (regular ending), bu...

Pretty good metroidvania with surprising depth from a small team. The music is good, the boss fights are fun, if a little simplistic, save points and teleports are spread out fairly evenly, plenty of secrets to dig up if you have the patience. If I judge the game on the critical path for the "bad ending" it's a solid 8/10. Some of the post game areas very quickly sapped my desire to play more of this unfortunately. As I don't really feel like running around the map forever to find all the areas I'm supposed to find, I don't think I'll unlock the best ending, but I mostly had fun with what I played. It's worth a play.

Nice little Metroid-like that captures the environmental feel of Super Metroid like few have before (save Axiom Verge). Very responsive and precise controls.

what an amazing game. visuals were gorgeous and have been inspiring me to work more on pixel art. the sfx are phenomenal, and i could not play this without headphones because of it. and, of course, the music just elevates this game further. i cleared this game on normal, and... honestly, i wish i did it on easy! i enjoy exploration a lot more than challenge, and i always felt relief more than satisfaction when bursting a boss. by the time i realised i should have done it, i was more than halfway through the game. i really do not enjoy feeling shaky playing a game! usually the intended difficulty isn't so intense! i've admired this game from afar for ages, but finally dipped into it and i'm happy i did!

Environmental Station Alpha es el ejemplo perfecto del clásico "no juzgar a un libro por su portada" en este caso un videojuego. Por fuera parece ser un "metroidvania" sencillo y ligero, 5 horas de gameplay y a por el siguiente juego. Pero dista mucho de ser así. Detrás de su bonito pixelart y mecánicas de juego convencionales se esconde una intrincada experiencia llena de misterios por resolver. Como recomendación, tener papel y lápiz a mano. Es de esos juegos en que tendrás que anotar códigos raros o lugares sospechosos en el mapa, especialmente en el post-game, ¡el cual es una locura!

So far, this is a solid metroidvania with a focus on exploration and puzzles. It has a metroid-like atmosphere that I like quite a bit.

i dislike restless spirit

ESA is one of the better metroidvania games out there. I easily recommend it. I will not be hiding spoilers for things that are early in the game. But I will be including late game things in spoiler tags in a spoiler section. There are pretty big spoilers there like three puzzle solutions that I really dislike, but nothing that will ruin the fun of the game I hope. Its gameplay starts out very simple, even more so than many other metroidvanias. But like all others more is unlocked over time. Most are very basic, and dare I say, classic, like the double jump. One stands out, though, the grappling hook. The grappling hook is very fun to use, it transfers all downward velocity upward, the length is determined by your downward speed, caused by gravity which is exponential. And is a great extension to the otherwise standard action platformer gameplay. And they can all turn off! Some are quite powerful, but these almost always come after the challenges that are required to be completed to ...