Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Expand

My Experience with Fallen Order and Dead Cells: When is a Metroidvania Not Like a Metroidvania?

It’s been a long time since I wrote a game review. Probably because it’s been a long time since I actually completed any games.

I finished Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order a short while ago and I did post some basic thoughts, but nothing extensive. And I most recently finished (well I beat the final boss anyways) Dead Cells. So I thought I’d do something a little different and drop a combo review that focuses on just a few elements of these two games. This slightly different approach might be more interesting since both games have been around a while and plenty of reviews and impression pieces have already been shared.

Acknowledgment of My Bias
Now, I’ve not been shy about saying that Metroidvanias are amongst my least favorite genres in video gaming, right behind sports games, online centric first person shooters, puzzle games, and 2D-platformers. But I really feel like there is so much that a gamer gains by branching out of one’s comfort zone, such that I constantly try to expose myself to a good variety.

My previous attempts at playing Metroidvanias have included: Guacamelee!, Strider, Muramasa Rebirth, and Castlevania Symphony of the Night, among others. None of these was I able to complete. I grew weary of each one and abandoned them after a few hours of gameplay. I’ve always considered it lazy game design to make players go back and retread the same levels or set pieces again and again rather than develop new areas to explore. I’ve often found myself lost and confused as to how to progress in some of these games because of the cryptic nature that they design the maps.

I had resigned myself to the thought that I just wasn’t cut out for Metroidvanias. And that’s ok. We don’t have to all like the same things. Time and time again I’d read glowing reviews of Metroidvania style games and see them included on top 10 lists and recommendations. But I just couldn’t ever see the allure.

Little did I know that I had been slowly desensitized to this style of gameplay through the genre’s basic recipe being trickled into some modern AAA games that I loved — Batman Arkham Asylum, Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, and Bloodborne, to name just a few that have at least in some rudimentary way, conceptually followed the Metroidvania style and methods of gradual map unlocking and backtracking after finding keys or tools or developing new abilities. Although I haven’t played it yet, God of War I hear is another game to fall victim to these gameplay elements. Still, the Metroidvania style of map unlocking is pretty lightly applied in most of these modern action-adventure games, such that it usually doesn’t bridle the experience. Also, the expansive nature of a well-rendered 3D world does make going back to previous areas to unlock additions to the map a more entertaining proposition than revisiting the same flat and static background screens in a 2D version of the genre.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

So to be honest, I mainly played Jedi: Fallen Order because I’m a big Star Wars fan. I was attracted to the setting, the story, and the combat. The Metroidvania map was an undesirable part to be simply tolerated since it was yoked to the larger more desirable experience. Having had a decent enough time with the aforementioned 3D Metroidvania-lite games, I felt I could stomach the inclusion in Fallen Order.

So, as I played through CaI’s adventure, I quickly became enamored with the sharp visuals, addictive combat, and interesting Star Wars based story and characters. As I explored the terrain of each world, I flinched at each door I couldn’t enter, or gap I couldn’t jump, knowing that not only would I need to fight my way back here later in the game, but also that I’d also not only need to remember to come back to this spot, but also remember how to even get here.

Fortunately, Fallen Order attempts to rectify these issues with a pretty detailed map available through your adorable mechanical companion BD-1; although its holomaps are a multi-layered spiderweb of tunnels and platforms that are pretty hard to actually make sense of. Nevertheless, the best part of Respawn’s map design in Fallen Order is the clear marking in green, yellow, or red to indicate if a passage way was open, available now, or still closed based on your current loadout and skill set. This I appreciated very much. Opening up shortcuts also made returning to areas a little less mundane.

I will say that due to the Souls-like combat and leveling, repeatedly going through some areas over and over was not as inefficient as in other MV games because at least I was getting practice and gathering experience points in the process.

A couple times though I looked at the map to find that a previously red marked doorway was now green because I gained a new ability, but it was in some corner of the map that I just know would take me 45 minutes of battling through a bunch of enemies again, running a high risk of dying, and probably getting lost and so I just decided to skip it.

Nevertheless, I found Fallen Order on the whole to be a really great experience (about 7.8/10), but despite the Metroidvania elements, not because of them. (The technical glitches also hold it back, but that’s a whole other discussion). The aforementioned solid combat, storytelling, world building, and visuals really carried me through it. Here’s hoping the sequel either limits the backtracking or makes some sort of intra-map fast travel system possible.

Dead Cells

Now Dead Cells. What a pleasant surprise this was. I’ve mentioned on another thread my feelings on the addictive combat, ingenius level-up mechanics, and surprising depth of gameplay for a 2D side scrolling game. The maps here are more traditional 2D Metroidvania (well, kind of), but one of the nice parts of its approach is the relatively manageable size of each map. With the lack of enemy respawn, one can clear out a map and search every nook and cranny in about 15 minutes. The fast transport system is fantastic to zip from one part of the map to another and always seem to be conveniently located at a branch point so you can jump straight back after you complete one branching limb of the dungeon and need to go back to explore an alternate route.

Retreading the same levels over and over is necessary after you die, since the Dead Cells gameplay loop’s claim to fame is the permadeath which requires you make the entire run through to the end boss on one life. Some elements of your leveling up and your new weapon blueprints can be permanently carried over, so it basically feels similar to a Soulsborne-type of grinding through early areas repeatedly to gain experience so you can go further the next time.
Furthermore, the requirement of revisiting the same levels over and over is made less redundant by randomization of the map’s layout each time you return. Basic enemy types and basic structure of each map level has certain returning themes and set-up, but it is a fresh approach everytime. The randomization of the weapons you are given access to also makes each run feel different and like a new experience.

So somehow, the Metroidvania elements didn’t bother me here either. Motion Twin did an amazing job to make revisiting these levels over and over still fun and original each time. Interestingly, I think I would rate Dead Cells equally well, as a solid 7.8/10.

Summary:
So here we have two games that I would highly recommend, even though they contain Metroidvania elements, something I don’t usually like. Each of the games evolves these elements in unique ways to make it flow better for the player. Whether it be clear map marking and shortcuts, addictive combat and meaningful grinding, or randomization of map elements when they have to be retread, kudos to the developers for making the style more approachable and fun for gamers like me to dabble in a genre we wouldn’t normally play.