Astronite | PS4 Review

Metroidvanias have made their mark on the industry over the years, and it's clear to see. You can find new ones in just about every gaming storefront to date. With all that new there was also once the all time greats like Castlevania, and Metriod which spearheaded the genre boom. A gaming industry trend that has yet to slowdown. I've personally seen some tried and true indie metroidvanias in my career that stick closely to tradition, and others that blend other genres into the mix to create something more innovative. Some just as great, if not better than their predecessors. I've also had the displeasure of playing through some of the worst there ever was. Stuff I don't care to mention. On that scale of bad to great, in comparison to other metroidvanias, somewhere between great and okay lies JanduSoft's "Astronite" ...

Astronite, from it's gameplay start onward, is a black and white metroidvania adventure that seemingly parodies some of the classics. Specifically the retro era classics. In the way of parody there's an almost immediate nod to "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" wherein the astronaut who has returned to his home world to see what an unknown entity is up to loses his equipment in the first room. Taken from him by the Unknown Entity. From there it's a hardcore search from planet surface inward to locate, collect, and use that equipment to see the mission through to it's end. A mission given to the astronaut via command central. Former fellow residents of planet Neplea. 

As the astronaut, starting off at square one with only the ability to jump is an arduous task. You must find the right path to travel, face your first boss when you finally get your gun, and from there solve puzzles, and avoid hazards until you are fully equipped to deal with the planet sized unknown entity that is tracking you throughout the planet's labyrinthine interior. The experience is definitely that of a puzzle platformer despite also being a metroidvania, and has plenty of puzzles to work through that will put to use every piece of equipment recovered. Whether it be the gun, the jetpack, or the ability to dash these tools will help you complete what you set out to do.

Welcome to Neplea ...

While Neplea is mostly occupied by alien creatures that you'll have to avoid or deal with you will find the occasional character to interact with. The shop keeper is such a character. Using teleport stations, and the Sprithi (?) module he gifts you after the first boss fight you can collect the otherworldly currency from downed enemies and return to the merchant to buy his wares. This is part of the gameplay focus outside of the main goal of facing the boss of every area on the map. The map, which is definitely Castlevania inspired, will of course help you in deciding where it is you need to go, and can be brought up at any time by pressing the touchpad. There are multiple named, and environmentally themed locations in Astronite, and each present a unique challenge filled with puzzles. There's locations with the threat of water, some with spikes ... so forth, and so on.

Breaking up the gameplay, and offering a bit of reprieve from the tasks at hand are the dialogue driven cinematics and textual speech bubbles that will happen from time to time. Whether it be the astronaut talking, the unknown entity replying to the astronaut's actions, or any of his boss minions grandstanding there's plenty of contextual dialogue to read through. Fleshing out the story, and making what would otherwise be a dull, and drab playthrough a bit more lively. Speaking of "lively" the game does indeed have an interesting host of characters with distinct personalities. Something that's brought to life onscreen through flashing special effects, decent animations, and three different CRT scanline filters. Speaking of which ... the game warns you from the start that if anyone in your family is known to have epilepsy or seizures they should not play the game. Even though you can toggle on/off the flashing effect. Something to take note of before you choose to play or purchase the game.

The Presentation ...

Visually 'Astronite' is an interesting blend of black and white pixel art that flashes by alternating both the black and the white. Giving it an illusion of shadow and light. Something that takes in account the darkness of space, the terrain, and even the characters involved. The main character, himself, is an astronaut dwarfed and bloated in stature with the environments around him scaled down to accommodate his small bloated being. Audibly the soundtrack is host to some spacey sci-fi chiptunes, and some textual typing sounds as the speech and dialogue between the main role players comes into view. This accompanies various special effects tied to the astronaut's abilities, and weapons. That, and his interaction with environmental set pieces. Particularly puzzle elements. 

The Verdict ...

For the budget indie that it is Astronite is okay. I say it's "okay" in a meh kind of way, because to me the challenge was a little to extreme early on, and throughout the game's entirety. Unlike it's inspiration the Astronite losing all his equipment at the start severely crippled him. Not only that, but the developer had you facing off against a boss the moment you found your weapon. This challenge didn't only stop there though. It seemed that with every new area the puzzles were just barely doable as were the boss fights. They were designed with an intentional handicap. Forcing the player to replay due to the mechanics involving puzzles being a hands-on learning experience without handholding. Something that's figured out through trial and error, but not entirely eluded to in-game. In fact a whole lot of the game's challenge felt like a trial and error situation, and to be totally honest, it got kind of frustrating at times as a result.

If it didn't have it's retro charm, and it's cute protagonist I don't think this game would be all that recommendable. I think the unspoken, but driven direction of gameplay makes progress an unnecessary struggle. Even with save points, and teleport terminals it's a slow go. I feel if the game had been built without the loss of equipment, and the retrieval of it as it's motivating factor for the first half of the playthrough it would have been much more impressive. The puzzles were genius, and if the developer had allowed us to put to use all the equipment ability from the get go to solve puzzles and traverse a larger world it would have stepped things up a notch or two in the way of quality. I also think scaling it down to miniature but bloated perspective kind of limited what could be done. I'd like to see this game made bigger and better. I know it could be. As is though it's just okay.