Vigil: The Longest Night

The best way I can describe this game is "What if Bloodborne was a 2D metroidvania?" Bloodborne is my favorite game of all time and Castlevania is my 2nd favorite series so it's only natural that I loved this game a lot too and I love this game so much that it has quickly become one of my all time favorite metroidvanias and I've played far too many metroidvania games to count in my 20+ years of gaming experience. The combat is very enjoyable and has more depth to it than most Soulsvania style games I've played. You have 4 basic types of weapons which are one-handed swords, two-handed axes, dual daggers and bows. Due to some nice skill trees you can unlock many moves and attack combos for each weapon type, also there's a lot of unique weapons of each type that you can find which have powerful special attacks that you can do by inputting a fighting game like button combo ala up, down, square etc. Also the stamina management system is pretty unique seeing as how you basically have 2 full stamina bars, when you deplete the blue one you deal less damage and take more damage, but you don't fully suffer from exhaustion and a small stun lock until you deplete the yellow bar and I barely ever had that happen to me. It's a very fair and fun system. The story is fairly straightforward, you play as Leila, a Vigilant and the last of her order which is tasked with stopping an ancient curse plaguing the land. While this in itself is a simple premise, all the things happening in the background and the lore you can find detailing many events and mysteries is what really makes the story interesting and let's just say that things get very dark and Lovecraftian. There are also many side quests to do for characters in the main town hub which are worth completing due to giving actual story content and dialogue which fleshed out the world or characters more, there's even a quest that's a big tribute to Salt and Sanctuary The level design is top notch with tons of little secret areas and items to discover and tons of variety in the design with everything from flooded towns to vast forests, underground catacombs and everything in between. I have to mention I love the overall art and monster design as well. One of the biggest reasons this game was put on my radar in the first place was due to the music being composed by Jouni Valjakka, the guitarist/vocalist of the Finnish melodic death metal band Whispered, one of my personal favorite bands and I can say the OST did not disappoint in the slightest. A lot of it is very mystical and atmospheric sounding which is very befitting of a horror themed metroidvania, but there are a few times, especially near the end that the music gets quite upbeat and adds some melodic electric guitar metal flavoring which is just as amazing as it sounds and the whole OST in general sounds like it wouldn't be too out of place among Michiru Yamane's discography which is about one of the best compliments I can give anything. All in all Vigil is a game that wears it's influences and inspirations proudly on its sleeve, but it wears them well and just as great as the games it is influenced and inspired by and really all I can say is if you're a fan of Castlevania, Bloodborne, Lovecraft, Dark Souls, Salt and Sanctuary or all of the above you'd be a fool to miss out on this game.

Wonderful soulslike metroidvania with gorgeous artwork, lots of exploration and huge locations, interesting NPCs and sidequests tracked in a log. I'm hard-pressed to think of any negatives with this one, everything about the game is smooth, fun and great to look at.