PC Critic Reviews

Clockwork Ambrosia is a Metroidvania throwback that does everything right, and the gun mods make for some seriously exciting collectibles.

Clockwork Ambrosia is a fun steampunk Metroidvania. There's a plethora of ways to customize Iris's gear and weapons. You might stumble upon a loadout so powerful that you may not want to use anything else, especially towards the end game. There's fast travel, but you may not find the relic to enable it for several hours. It depends on where you explore first. But if you like Metroidvanias and customizing weapons, Clockwork Ambrosia is worth checking out.

Beautiful and fun, Clockwork Ambrosia takes a retro approach to build a vast and demanding exploration experience, with little help in finding the next destination, which can be frustrating for those who don't want to feel lost. The combat is interesting because of how we can modify weapons with many accessories, encouraging experimentation to test what is most appropriate for different situations.

When it works, Clockwork Ambrosia is a ton of fun and feels like a pitch-perfect Metroidvania. The deep weapon modification, quirky storytelling, and SNES flair make it a blast. When things don’t work, though, it’s another thing entirely. Here’s hoping the developer is able to iron out any future bugs that arise, since they unfortunately hold this creative adventure back.

Clockwork Ambrosia is an addictive run-and-gun title full of exploration and weapon building. The controls can be confusing, and losing items and progress upon death sucked.

Clockwork Ambrosia might start slow, but once its weapon customization systems develop, the game becomes a satisfying metroidvania full of gun tinkering and rewarding experimentation. Its retro style and flexible combat system shine brightest when you’re turning ordinary firearms into wildly destructive creations.

I found Clockwork Ambrosia to be fun, but not as fun as I was hoping. The weapons do get absurd, but it takes too long to get there, a lot of the exploration can end up feeling unrewarding, especially as most weapons feel like there's one or two best builds for them, and swapping between weapons feels too sluggish, minimising the overall customisation I was hoping for. I like it, but I don't think it's going to stick with me.

Clockwork Ambrosia is a solid Metroidvania with some interesting and well-executed ideas, and while it hits its target with a satisfying bang, it lands wide of the bullseye.

Clockwork Ambrosia is a fun 16-bit adventure platformer with interesting characters and a weapon system that lets you tweak your loadout to the nines. The music is catchy, and there’s a great environmental variety across the world. The lack of clear direction can be frustrating, but there’s plenty to explore along the way. The game has a bit of a slow ramp as you get your bearings, which could turn off genre newcomers. That said, if you’re a fan of metroidvanias and looking for something to enjoy, Clockwork Ambrosia just might scratch that itch.

Clockwork Ambrosia is a decent Metroidvania with a really good gun customization feature. It's an indie project that's been in the works for 15 years now, since the team couldn't work full-time on it. A good game for fans of the genre, but one that won't really surprise you. It's a perfect title to play on the go, but it doesn't play ball with non-Windows systems.