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A masterpiece. Easily my GOTY. I mean, I knew it was going to be good since Dominic Ninmark was involved in the project, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be an exceptional example of a platformer. Gravity Circuit was quite unexpected for me, and it should serve as an example for all indie developers who are working on platformers. So, what’s so special about it? Let me explain…
One glance at it should be enough to see that it’s a Mega Man X/Zero clone, and while we already have a bunch of them in the market, Gravity Circuit differs from them by perfecting and extending the formula of X games by implementing elements from Zero 3. Our protagonist is a robot named Kai who got his powers from the Gravity Circuit attached to his forehead which gives him insane speed and power. He finds himself fighting the Virus Army that’s been created by an unknown entity again after awakening from a long slumber that was caused by the first attack of the Virus Army long ago. However, this time, his former comrades who helped him repel the Virus Army were in league with them as well which puts him in a very difficult situation, but with the help of a mysterious robot named Nega, he sets out to confront the old friends. Anything I say beyond this point would be a spoiler and I’d like you to experience that yourself since it actually has a very interesting storyline as well as its gameplay.
The gameplay, as I’ve mentioned before, is the perfected formula of the X series along with a little bit of Zero 3. Your main weapon is your fists, but for those who like to play it safe, the grappling hook can serve as a weapon as well as a platforming tool. The damage of your grappling hook is quite low; therefore, it’s better to use it to grab the remains of your enemies and throw them at their comrades which deals an extreme amount of damage to anything it touches! You also have several Burst Techniques that you can choose from and what I mean by Burst Techniques are the active skills that you can use to annihilate your enemies, grant yourself a shield, or even heal! There are also passive upgrades called Booster Chips and they range from double jump to damage increase for your hook. Burst Techniques can be bought directly, but Booster Chips require Rescue Tokens that you can acquire by rescuing bots in distress that you come across in the main 8 stages. Apart from troubled bots, you can also come across Health and Burst upgrades that help you extend your HP and Burst Meter.
The whole game is extremely balanced and forgiving, meaning you don’t die by falling into pits or touching spikes, unlike Mega Man games. Instead, you just respawn from the closest point regardless of the difficulty you’re on. Boss fights are also fun and not too difficult. Speaking of boss fights, the boss rush in Gravity Circuit is the most unique boss rush I’ve ever seen in any Mega Man clone. There’s this crystal that copies the abilities of other Circuits and uses them on you, then creates a simulation for the affiliated Circuit and makes you fight their second phase. There are no cuts or breaks, you face them one after another in quick succession and after beating each Circuit, they grant you Burst Energy and HP refill. Fear not, because there are checkpoints, and they vary depending on the difficulty. There’s also New Game Plus that will help you tackle the hard difficulty without having to buy Burst Technique and Booster Chips again and a mode called Circuit Mode which will cap your Burst Meter to 2 but allows you to use your HP as a Burst Meter. There’s even a Speedrun Mode for those who don’t want to deal with cutscenes on their subsequent playthroughs. Do I even need to mention the soundtrack? It’s the main reason why Gravity Circuit got my attention in the first place. Dominic Ninmark never disappoints.
I don’t have any complaints about the game itself since it’s a masterpiece, but I have to say that the publisher’s attitude towards regional pricing is disgusting. They straight up lied about applying regional prices to various regions back when the game was first released. Despite their messed-up attitude, I ended up buying the game to support the developer and Dominic Ninmark. The developers are customer-friendly and very responsive, but unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about the publisher. I hope the devs ditch them if they ever make a sequel in the future.

TL;DR

My GOTY. A perfect Mega Man clone with the perfected X formula and a little bit of Zero 3. There are various active and passive abilities that you can use to your advantage. Even without them, the whole game is extremely balanced and forgiving. Its story is also interesting, and the soundtrack is composed by Dominic Ninmark. What else can you ask for!? However, I’d suggest grabbing it at a heavy discount since the publisher refuses to implement regional pricing for various regions.