ITORAH

ITORAH is a strong entry in the list of games that have come out in the first few months of this year. Despite the game keeping the metroidvania elements to a minimum and the being too easy, it still manages to wow with its presentation and the rest of its elements. It offers stunning visuals, incredible music and some very fun and responsive gameplay. The world and characters of ITORAH are vibrant, colorful, interesting and it makes you want to spend more time in it. ITORAHs visuals, music and gameplay interweave in a wonderful harmony that creates an experience that is more than the sum of its parts. ITORAH is one the must play videogames of this year. For this reason, I Highly recommend ITORAH link to my non-spoiler review: ****/hM-tEu5kToQ

It's difficult to exactly call Itorah a metroidvania, since there's so little exploration to be had. The game feels about as linear as a metroidvania could possibly be. Despite this, Itorah is a short but sweet game, with satisfying combat and platforming, and a gorgeous art style to boot. It might not be the best in it's genre, but it's still worth checking out.

I feel like this really could have been an absolute gem ****. Great graphics, good music, decent story and fine combat and whilst the game doesn't have the same challenge in boss fights or excellent, multi-branched level-design that, say, Ori and the Blind Forrest or Hollow Knight have, a game that isn't at the bleeding edge of difficulty, sending players along a more linear path definitely has a place in the Metroidvania genre. As it is, it feels like the games boss and level design are designed to be forgiving simply because the controls aren't up to the quality we've come to expect from the genre. It's a very odd choice, when you consider that making the game more responsive, especially when the character is airborn, would take about five seconds for the developer to do, in the Unity engine they've chosen to work with. I truly hope that more reviewers and players voice their concerns about the controls and that the developer decides to make some small changes because with just a minor update the game could easily go from average to excellent and all those platform sections in the game that feel laborious could become great fun rather than a slog.

boring, very boring, even a lover for 2D side scrollers (metroidvanias or not), the level design and the controls are just mediocre

With an art style that is absolutely brimming with beauty, colour & vibrance, nice music, and the occasional boss fight that can be fun and challenging at times. It's an absolute shame that the rest of the game is so damn boring to play. The controls are stiff and clunky. The combat, enemies and platforming are at their most basic of functionality. It was a game I was hoping would get better the more I played, but became increasingly underwhelming as I progressed through it's slow, tedious and repetitive design. Mediocre at best!