izigame.me

56/55 disappointment.

At first sight it looks like a beautiful complex metroidvania. There is good art style, VO, professional OST. And I really would like to give a positive review. But this game is too frustrating on the whole. After an hour in the game you start to understand that something is wrong. You continue playing with the thought:"It will sure be better in no time!" But by the moment you get 1 ending nothing changes. And later too.
It feels like every aspect of the gameplay is made for you to waste time. Quests, collectables, achievements - in every group of activities there are moments where you have to check WiKi because something is totally out of the game logic or made impossible to find by yourself.

And so, most frustrating points one by one:

  Map. It's huge. But totally pointlessly huge. And it is mostly made not according to metroidvania rules. What I mean: Your exploration and progression isn't blocked by lack of abilities (while we speak about story related map parts). You can easily reach (and you will) territories that are too high LvL for you. Or territories that you will need later in the story. Consiquently the story integrity is lost. But at the same time the chest with useless potion will be unattainable till the endgame.
  The passages you can't quickly return from. Be ready to walk back and forth just because developers decided that after getting a secret item and passing alot of traps, the players would gladly go back THE SAME way passing THE SAME traps.
Storytelling. It is closely connected to map issue. Just imagine the usual quest at the start of the game, where you are sent to the nearest farm to speak with some elder. In this game this quest makes you walk through 5 different territories with almost no story backed. Almost 1 small metroidvania...
In the whole game there are like 5 main quests (without prologue):

Go there
Go not there, but there
Go there
Try this
Try this somewhere else

That's all. Everything else is sidequests. Which are not really intertaining. There are a few lines that make you smile. But just a few and even those are mediocre and cliched.
  Backtracking. Again map issue. The teleports are far from each other. And you can't teleport to any of them without potion (that is rather expensive for it's purpose). And you have to backtrack ALOT at this huge map.
  "Ability blocks". As I mentioned above: They mostly block useless things and don't block the territories they should.
  Chests and secrets loot. There are secrets that mock players. You waste your time to get to them. But all you find is teleportation potion and nothing else.
  I-frame. Or more like lack of it. Most part of the game you will be damaged by enemies and bosses positioned so that you can't dodge their attack (like at platform edges, narrow passages, using wide attacks that can't be dodged). Thanks to collision damage and no skill to evaid them. But in the end game youget i-frame dodge (for me it was 79 lvl)... And end-game bosses are desighned to be fought with i-frame dodge Just frustrating.
For some reason a bunch of developers think that I-frame makes the game easier. But in reality its lack creates bounderies for enemy design and attack sequencies. The game becomes much easier without I-frame as enemies can't be made more aggressive or they can't use certain attacks. And here we have next point.
  Difficulty. The game is too easy because of I-frame lack. Enemies attacks are too slow, easy-going and lack variations.
  Afterimages Most of them useless. ANd even when you find 4 of them you can use just 1 (Afterimage slots are much later in the game). I was lvl 49 (half of max lvl) and had just 2 slots while had 6 Afterimages. From my point of view it's really bad progression design.
  Time puzzles. Just show me that clever person who thought that just staying for 2 minutes (not less) at 1 place is funny puzzle idea.And don't forget about hidden ending that takes more than 5min real time standing at spot....
  Trap impact teleportation. Annoying teleportation to some random pre-chosen spot. Even if you didn't even pass that spot.
Not clear keys and items descriptions. You get keys and some items to open passages. But it's unclear what they are for, as any closed door you found didn't have any peculiar description. And we have a huge map where you don't want to waste your time going from door to door.
Let's add items that "have growth". But there is no information about this in description (like Floppy mage's hat). Have fun looking for nonexisting item in the world.
Achievements. Hidden achievements that hidden so that you wouldn't be able to get them without WiKiTIS AIN'T POGO TIME (no way to guess how to do), Comfortably Numb (start dialogue more than 20 time where at least 18 dialogue lines are the same "ZZZZZZ")
56/55. Those who know - they know. Again looks like player mocking.
Teleports activation. You can find teleport spot, but you won't be able to teleport to it if you don't rest there. Happy backtracking teleport spots that you found but didn't use (for Achievement).
The boss that has no indication of existance even when you fly over his spawn spot. Occult Prime of Pyro and Hydro appeares only if you step on his platform. You can open the whole map, find every secret. And his spot won't be marked in any way. Happy looking for the boss that doesn't exist in the game until you step on useless platform you passed 10 times.


Of course there are good ideas:

  You can get items or kill the needed enemy before fettig the quest. And you will get different reaction from NPCs. And still get rewards.
  You can get all Endings without starting a new game. And can't miss any ending if you got too many quest items for this or that ending.
  Visuals are good
It looks like developers worked hard developing the game


Unfortunately Afterimage isn't a good metroidvania. You can always buy it with big discount. But don't expect to have alot of fun. I saw alot of bad game aspects in reviews. And thought they were just exagerated. But it turned out all of them were true. There are alot of people that like Afterimage (as you can see from positive reviews). But it just lacks in so many ways in comparison to alot of other metroidvanias.