The ranged sub-weapons have such tiny reserves of ammo that I found myself ignoring them completely. The wands don’t do huge damage even at high levels, and the only way to regenerate the mana needed to wield them is to wait a long time for it to regenerate, or drink one of a small number of potions that are a hassle to obtain. There are magic wands and ranged weapons, but each is frustrating in its own way. ![]() This focus on melee combat makes Elderand feel a little basic, and renders a huge amount of range-focused builds non-viable. Upgrading strength is non-optional for all builds – while there are some relatively powerful weapons to be found, big damage is the only way to deal with bosses, and at some point most players will tire of trying to find the items they need to upgrade their weapons, and instead focus on upgrading strength. With paltry amounts of skill points on offer for each level-up, players have to quickly decide whether they want to focus on tanking damage, dodging, or magic power, because a character build that tries to balance these traits will be woefully unprepared for mid to late-game battles. The developers chose to give combat a ‘soulslike’ flavor - which in this case means every enemy has the ability to kill the player with just a couple of hits, even early on. Various notes tell the story of the kingdom’s rot and the historical figures that fought against it or helped it along - and in one of the high points, the player encounters one of the most loathsome figures responsible for the horror that surrounds them.Įlderand‘s gameplay is fundamentally solid, but lacking the polish to elevate it above so much intense competition in the same space. While there are no notable characters or dialogue that will stick in players’ minds long-term, the worldbuilding is certainly intriguing. The story is standard fare – a creeping evil has infected the land, and it’s up to the player to decide whether they’re going to cleanse it or become its tool. The various maps are decrepit and overgrown, with scattered dead bodies and blackened stains suggesting massacres long-forgotten by history. To its credit, Elderand‘s setting is delightfully grotesque. It’s just enough to make sure they remember to come back a little later on, although the fact that these obstacles aren’t marked on the map screen is inexcusable in this day and age.Īt this point it’s fundamentally it’s up to the player to define their experience – are they going to follow the quest markers through the main plot, or explore every nook and cranny of the levels? There’s no right answer, per se, and just like its inspiration, Elderand is simply packed with secrets for those determined enough to track them down. ![]() ![]() This 2D game establishes a setting – a corrupted kingdom (no surprise there) – then drops the player at the bottom of a map and lets them freely explore a dungeon, blocking a few pathways with doors that need to be broken or platforms that they can’t jump quite high enough to reach. The Metroid half of the title is a nod to the past, but mechanically it’s Symphony developers are copying, and it’s not accidental that the vast majority of them are melee-focused – developers just want to make Symphony of the Night again, to the point where the only significant change I’ve observed in the decades since its release is that enemies have largely stopped dropping weapons and started leaving crafting supplies behind when they die.Įlderand is a perfect example of this me-too phenomenon in action. The game was so iconic and so revolutionary that it spawned a quarter-century’s worth of imitators in a subgenre now commonly known as metroidvanias. There’s no shame, I would suggest, in just making Castlevania: Symphony of the Night over and over again. WTF Sacrificing people for gear is a disturbing mechanic! LOW How utterly broken the wasteland Brutes are.
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