Elderand

If you’re into Metroidvanias, Elderand is a fantastic entry for the genre. The game looks and sounds great, the controls and mechanics and tight and responsive, and the challenge is fair with tough boss fights that are very learnable. With multiple weapon types to swap between and some optional things you can do that might change the game’s outcome, there’s no doubt that I’ll be playing through Elderand again. This is definitely one I’d recommend checking out.

Elderand is an excellent mix of Metroidvania and hack 'n' slash gameplay. It feels like a dark fantasy medieval Mega Man with some fresh touches. If you are a genre fan, you will surely have a blast playing it.

It lacks ambition and doesn't have much to differentiate it from its peers, but the design is so solid and the world is fun enough to explore that there's certainly a good time to be had in Elderand.

I may not have been particularly invested in the printed goal of the quest. Still, I certainly enjoyed my time expanding the map, grapple swinging, and trouncing any would-be adversaries that stood in my way of reaching said printed goal. But, in an industry riddled with a plethora of similar experiences ranging from middling to exemplary, a game that manages to simply be solid, fun, and respectful of my time is certainly enough for me.

As a tribute to Symphony of the Night, Elderand is fairly charming. There are some familiar callbacks to that inspiration, but it’s not as immediately accessible and balanced as that masterwork, and its attempts to add complexity amount to little more than distractions and annoyances. There’s no shame in wanting to make Symphony of the Night over and over again, but perhaps Elderand’s developers would have been well-served by embracing that formula more closely — every time it tries to go its own way, it just gets itself into trouble.

Elderand feels like a game that would have thrived in a previous generation of gaming. It holds onto some mechanics that just don’t feel that great compared to what the Metroidvania genre offers in the modern day. It’s not all bad, but there are better games in the genre that you can play.

Elderand is not a bad game. In fact, it's a competent Metroidvania and fans of the genre might enjoy it. It just doesn't go far enough in any one direction, either thematically or mechanically, to leave a strong impression, and it's hampered by lackluster combat.

Feels like a very classic metroidvania; relatively simple and even a bit clunky, but in a good way, and so is very reminiscent of oldschool Castlevania games. Despite not reinventing the wheel in that genre, pretty much everything this game sets out to do, it does well. Great variety of weapons, magic, bows, armors, shields, items, etc. Everything feels super useful and varied aside maybe from a few consumables that are forgetable. The sense of exploration is great and intuitive, the unlockable abilities are super fun, so is the platforming, the combat is engaging (especially the fast bosses), there are tons of secrets to uncover, and the music is also quite amazing! The visuals leave a bit to be desired (some areas do stand out however!), but maybe that's only because I'm a huge fan of Blasphemous which set the bar VERY HIGH for pixel art and metroidvanias. Also it's a bit baffling that most of the text displayed is straight up in Times New Roman, making the dialogue and hints prompts feel unfinished when they're actually.. not. The story is also kinda meh. Cryptic and fine to ignore, but it does lead to great visual moments both in terms of areas to explore and boss designs. All and all, great little indie game for sure. A joy to 100% complete on my first playthrough, and will definitely play again

Elderand is a pretty solid Metroidvania. Nothing more. Nothing less. Worth playing, but not a priority

This game is tribute to old castlevania and ended up being really appeiling but in the end it was more like a game that you play in between better games. However, it Almost gets to the point of being one of those better games, if only it had cappitalized better in the boss battles, that are simply a peace of cake if the player uses the shield, and made the game crash less on consoles. Overall the game has good music, good combat, good design on both backgrounds and enemies, good progression and a variaty of ways in witch you can master the combat. All this to ultimetly make the game feel more like a love letter to old Castlevania then it's own thing and to make the game feel like a seamingly easy challange to beat(shield is op) than taking a journey through this world and it's story to in the end save it.

Grund solides Metroidvania. Mit unterschiedlichen Enden. Allerdings empfand ich das Kampfsystem als relativ eintönig. Für einen geringen "Taler" immer mal wert reinzuschnuppern. 7/10

worst indie game i play for a long time hands down one of the worst i have played, awful awful, bought on nintendo switch 2 and it is totaly scam,game developer please do something else maybe quite your job and do doordash is better than this shiiit