Exile's End

Exile's End
N/A
Metacritic
67
Steam
43.5
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$4.99
Release date
31 August 2015
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
67 (43 votes)

Japan's take on classic Commodore 64/Amiga action-adventure games. NOT a Metroidvania. Use your wits and your weapons to discover an ancient secret and gain your redemption. Art and music by Japanese legends of console gaming.

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Exile's End system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Win XP SP2 64-bit Professional
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.00 GHz or equivalent
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce 8800GTS 256 MB RAM or equivalent
  • Storage: 300 MB available space
  • Additional Notes: Requires OpenGL support
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
382130
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
Linux
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☜★☞ Mechanoid
☜★☞ Mechanoid

Pretty good game, solid controls.
unforgiving healh...

Reminds me of the older metroid games, definitly fun to play.
beginning is somewhat easy / boring but get's better.

nice music, and retro feel sound effects.

Night sky
Night sky

The art style reminds me so much of Super MEtroid and Metroid fusion. I really wanted to love this game. Too bad the controls arent quite up to par and the game is beyond frustrating. SO many unavoidable deaths. Also it's not a metroidvania.

jameelacosta
jameelacosta

This game is pretty fun and forces you to think outside of the box a few times. People are complaining because it doesn't play like Metroid or Castlevania, well boo hoo! The controls are really basic, only a few commands. It took me about ten minutes to figure out how to shift the screen by holding down, but I never played old computer classics before, so it made it a bit interesting. You get power-ups as you progress, just be sure to read the discription when you grab it, or you'll be scratching your head wondering what it was since it doesn't discribe the item again. The game is pretty short, took me about 3 1/2 hours to beat, but if your looking for something that is different or like 2d side scrollers, pick it up.

Kloodge
Kloodge

I finished this in 4 hours, 27 minutes, but that is a bit deceptive. There was a major bug at release and I lost the first 6 hours or so of play and had to start over. I knew what to do then and repeated that 6 hours worth in like 2 hours. That 4:27 apparently doesn't count loading a saved game either (which I didn't have to do very often). Steam shows 12.7 hours total. I'm guessing it would take a new player about 6-8 hours.

The graphics, sound and music are all fine. Nothing sepectacular, but adequate and even fairly good for the most part.

The game has a few flaws, but I found it quite fun and worth the asking price.

My biggest problems with the game were:

1) The beginning area (forest) is not really very fun. You start with nothing and you take fall damage. It is very easy to die by stepping off the wrong ledge. They did add a way to look down (hold "down" for a few secs) so this part should be a little better now.

2) Most of the bosses are too easy. At least two of them have a "safe spot" where you can stand with almost no danger and kill them with your infinite ammo default handgun.

As to whether it's a a Metroidvania or not, I would say "yes". At first it feels a little more like "Out of This World", but as you progress and start finding power-ups and new weapons, it defintely starts feeling more like a Metroidvania.

When you die, you restart on the screen you are on, from an auto-save so your hp, ammo, etc. are all restored to when you first entered the screen. There are no checkpoints and you can save anywhere. When you re-enter a screen, all the enemies have respawned, making it easy to farm hp or ammo.

I wish there was a hard mode.

Edit: I also should point out that at the end of the game I got a message saying I had found only 46.7% of the items, so there was a lot more exploring and discovery that could have been done.

Absalon
Absalon

Love the retro feel, everything from the graphics to the music shows that you don't need AAA level production to make a great game; really looking forward to more games from the developer. On that note, a menu showing what abilities you've aquired would be nice ala super metroid, and support for the mouse would be wonderful, also tweaking the map so it filled in those akward area's would be great. Other than that definitly worth the buy.

notpel
notpel

now i am a kid of the past in video games. played all the metroid games, all the castlevania games and many of the ones that copied them in that era. and have to say, whilst this is said to not be a metroidvania game [on its own page it says this], it has the inklings of other great games. as it also says, in the amiga days. and i see it

it does it well on its own merit of being like a game of the past. and realistically, it would of looked the most stylish, because of short cut scenes etc. it would of made a mark back in the day.

it technically is only 2 buttons. A - to jump, X - to shoot. but it does have a collection scheme where you can carry more than 1 weapon. so you actually use the 2 bumper buttons to cycle through. you also use DOWN on the dpad or analog to look down. which when i done it, sent me back to my youth when i had to do it. plus you also use UP as well to activate things. and really i like that basic system

gameplay wise it feels just like the games of yesteryear. sparse health pick ups. first enemies are easy to kill, with others that prove harder later on, plenty of back tracking. plus as well there is no tutorial, no constant pop ups. all you have to do is remember what people have said, look around, watch for cracks.
maybe it my own experience many years ago that have swayed me with this, because all of what i have said i like. it knows what it is and it does it well.
i personally dont like the hand holding games have becoem with tutorials, so when i find something that lets me just do it, i like that. i can just get on

computer wise it runs very well. the OST is awesome. xbox controller works completely fine, and really you should play with one.
easily recommended

rating: SOLID

Positron
Positron

A great game that I don't think is getting nearly enough attention! I'm including the first video of my Let's Play here for visuals, as I think the start of the game does a great job of setting the tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nak8niRWUmo
While the developer states 'NOT a Metroidvania', I have to humbly disagree. However, it is also very reminiscent of games like Flashback in its style, presentation, and puzzle-solving. Where it deviates greatly from Flashback are in the controls, which are tight and responsive.

Exile's End follows the journey of old soldier Jameson upon his team crash-landing on a foreign planet, one actively preventing him from escaping. Story elements are told through communication with your ship's AI, through computer entries found in the environment, and through beautifully drawn cutscenes. All to the sounds of a great retro-sounding, yet atmospheric, soundtrack.

You start off the game entirely defenseless, to the point where even falling more than a few feet will cause significant damage or certain doom. Much like Flashback, a simple rock becomes an important tool for the beginning of the game. As you progress your suit is upgraded to handle more and more dangerous environments along with an ultimately impressive array of weapons, tools, and items.

Much like Metroid, as you acquire new suit upgrades, new areas will become open to you. While you can follow a somewhat linear path through the game, there's a ton of hidden items and secrets to be found if you take the time to explore. In fact, during my playthrough I only found 56% of the items (according to the endgame screen) and I thought I had been fairly thorough!

Exile's End does a solid job of presenting the player with puzzles and challenges that require you to think a little more. The design feels, again, very similar to Flashback in that the solution to puzzles is not always immediately obvious but generally requires manipulation of the environment through whatever tools you have available. This could be as simple as throwing something to hit a switch, or triggering a sequence of events to open a door. While some of the solutions can be a bit obtuse, it's clever for the most part and one of the game's strong points.

It should be noted that Exile's End isn't a particularly long game, especially if you're not hunting for all of the secrets and items. My final playtime on Steam for my first playthrough was 5.3 hours, with an in-game time clocked at 4:10. I died / loaded saves a number of times, so that's where the discrepancy comes in.

All told, I like it quite a bit. It's not a perfect game, but it had me hooked. The majority of my playtime game within a single session; I always wanted to see what was beyond that next door, solve that next puzzle, see the next piece of the story.

*****encrypted
*****encrypted

Where should bug reports be filed?

In the Linux version does all the letter keys not work. I.e. x and z does not work as for all the others.

twerp
twerp

Theme

Exile's End has fantastic environmental graphics for a 2D platformer, making me think of the old Flashback game. Unlike Flashback, however, the environment looks very empty and bland. It is a shame that such beautiful graphics are paired with such lackluster level design. The soundtrack is nothing special, and even becomes very repetitive and droning after a while. The story is very simple as well - the protagonist is part of a rescue mission right when something goes horribly wrong. With no way out, the only thing left to do is to go further in and find out what is going on. Storywise, there is no real drive to continue playing the game. It is not very exciting and it all seems rather predictable.

Gameplay

The controls of the game are great, which is the most important aspect of a 2D platformer. However, the mechanics and level design are outright mediocre. Due to getting falling damage at the beginning of the game, you are pushed to explore your environments carefully before advancing. However, moving the screen around to do this is terribly slow and takes away from the platforming. The environmental dangers such as floor and ceiling spikes feel terribly cheap as you just can't be bothered to wait for your screen to move up or down.

Enemy design is mostly lackluster. Each area usually has one or two enemy types that do little else but walk back and forth at the same pace. They feel out of place and offer no challenge what so ever, making them feel like filler content. The only exception is the first "tough" dog-like enemy you encounter, which sprints and jumps at you and requires a trick to escape from. The rest are just badly designed. Touching an enemy bumps you back a bit, but you get no invulnerability frames. Thus, if you are stuck in a corner or walking forward, you keep getting more and more damage.

The level design makes most screens feel like filler content (with monsters feeling like pointless bullet sponges), and often enemies spawn right in front of you when you transition from one screen to the next.

Exile's End allows you to save in any screen, but it's rather stingy when it comes to healing items. The only way to heal are from the limited number of health packs, and the rare pill drop from enemies. As a result, if you are low on health you'll find yourself grinding for such a pill drop. Fortunately, the game - outside of bosses - is not challenging at all. The majority of the damage you will get is from not being careful enough with the environment as you try to traverse filler content areas as fast as possible, desperately waiting for something exciting to happen.

Conclusion

The game would be great if enemies were more interactive and varied and the level design would do the graphical design justice. It's a real shame that the level design is so bad, because it is the one flaw making me not recommend this game. As it is, the game is bland and boring because of it.

OTM_SAN
OTM_SAN

I've wanted to like this game but the level design is quite boring. I was expecting better due to nice amiga like graphics.
Not recommended from my site.

Service Wars: Buttle Forces
Service Wars: …

I've only played 3 hours, but this game gives me twinges of Out of this World, Flashback, Super Metroid, a Boy & His blob, the cutscenes are straight up Wing commander or Ninja Gaiden and the music? The music is a perfect fit for the late 80s early 90s aesthetic the game is going for. Pretty much nailed everything! The ONLY negative I've found so far is the default CRT shader is a bit overpower with the bloom effect, but the subtle setting nails it. If you like side scroller action adventures, this game is for you.

Mabec
Mabec

Great atmosphere, cutscenes and overall graphics.
But sadly ruined by poor leveldesign, repetitive music (5-10 sec looped tracks), awkward controlls (missed my jumps more than once), very high difficulty just from the start and stiff animations.

It's not bad game at all, but it got more flaws then plus sides.
If this would have been a game for the SNES back in the days it would have been lost compared to Flashback, Another World, Blackhawk/Blackthorne, Prince of Persia etc. But as of this time and age, it still holds up if you keep giving it a first, second and third chance to grow on you, it really doesn't have much of titles to compete against out there.
But as for me, i keep comparing it to the mentioned titles above, making it mediocre at best.

5/10

Otto Sherman
Otto Sherman

This game felt unfinished. It wasnt a bad game it just didnt feel complete.

Lets start with the story, There is little of it. A few cutscences and some message logs , The latter mainly hidden in secret areas which makes me wonder if we were supposed to know what was going on. The main character may as well have been a sack of used socks as he has no story or information. It mentions a dishonorable discharge at the beginning, But thats all you ever learn about him. The other character that helps you may as well be wearing the same sack, as even less info was given out about him. The end has you make a choice without telling you that it is one, I ran forward and got one of the endings on accident and was left wondering "Do I care?" I had formed no attachment to my alloted sack of socks which caused the end choice to be a pointless one.

Up next is combat. It takes a while to get your first actual weapon until you do you are stuck with rocks which i thought was funny, The weapons themselves were well designed except the grenade launcher which for some reason if you hit an enemy on the top of its sprite, It would do the same damage as a rock or less. The placed explosives which I found no use for other than blowing up a clay pot i had put on a plate I shouldnt have and the cloaking device which lasted about a second and did about as much as covering youself in a sheet and yelling "im not here! You cant see me!"

Enemies! Largely boring. There are two kinds walkers and flyers. The walkers tend to walk straight at you and fire their respective weapons (Gun/fireball) Except the spiders which alternate between floor and ceiling, The chargers which rush you and explode when killed and the stalkers which turn invisible. And flyers do just that, Fly. Didnt matter the sprite they all did the same thing. There is a unique enemy that runs quite fast, kills very fast and is attracted to sound but ultimatly nothing was done with it. Wasted potential as it would've been quite cool if it stalked you through the game, Kinda like a SA-X.

Bosses! Where there any? Only one truly felt like a boss, even had a cutscene beforehand but nothing happens when you win, he drops a weapon and leaves you to your own devices. The cutscene had him holding a bag standing in front of a giant crystaline figure. Okay, Whats in the back pack? Where did it go? Whats with the figure? When I won I worried that the game might have glitched because no acknowledgement was made at all that I had just defeated a boss. No acknowledgement was made of the back pack or the figure which the man was obsessed with. So yea, The boss fights were uninspiring.

Audio/Graphics! I play most games with music off so i cant really comment on that. The small parts of music i did hear sounded alright however. Graphics are probably the best thing about this game. I enjoyed them immensely, It felt like i had loaded this game through windows 3.1 with a backup floppy disk in case i didnt have enough memory. Good times.

Overall the game was boring, Its got a lot of space but its wasted and sparsely filled with anything of interest. There are two things however that I truly hated. The first was the map, I like to fill in my maps and in some rooms it seemed quite impossible as the missing pieces where high in the air or embedded in the walls. It was very annoying.

Second was the lack of any invincibility frames anywhere. If one of the walkers traps you in a corner you will keep taking damage until you die, and because your character reacts to every hit, escape is very difficult.

My overall completion was 84% and I was bored for the majority of it. Im sorry but I wouldnt recommend this game to my friends but I would recommend it to people I dont like.

unwaveringresolve
unwaveringresolve

Visual design is great, but just about everything else is only average. There are things to explore, but not much, and it's not very rewarding. The game difficulty is pretty erratic, particularly when it comes to bosses. The weapons are varied, but not enough that you're likely to use most of them. The plot is interesting, but it isn't conveyed very well. The music and soundwork are forgettable. I finished this game more because I was bored and obsessive than because I really wanted to see the end.

Dangerous Beans
Dangerous Beans

On the fence, but I'm upvoting because it's recent and there seem to be updates happening. If I swing back through a few months later and there's no progress then I'm going to switch my vote.

This is a story-driven metroidvania. The art and music is great and the controls are decent, but there are just so, so, so many completely bizzarre design deicsions that I just don't really want to play it anymore until there's an update. There are a lot of things that just seem like a blatant "screw you" to the player. The rocks and worms, for example. A weapon that's a complete pain in the ass to aim and a ubiquitous enemy that's nearly impossible to target without it. Then there's just plain dick moves like putting a worm in a narrow passage with spikes on top so you can't jump over it. The only way past without taking damage is to throw a rock a split second after entering the room. Otherwise the worm is too close and you can't hit it anymore. You'd think that a guy with a nifty power suit would be able to do nifty things like aim down slightly to kill the most common enemy in the game, but apparently that capability is not in the suit schematics. That's okay, though, because when you encounter shooting enemies they can't aim down either, so you can win gunfights against impossible odds by crouching and then just shooting until they're all dead.

I'm not really sure what the design goals were, but someone has a very unusual idea about what fun is.

Garlic Jr.
Garlic Jr.

A pretty cool mix of Flashback with heavy leanings towards Metroid best describe the feel of this game. The music score is quite simply phenomenal. Composed by Keiji Yamagishi himself, of "Ninja Gaiden" fame. The Royal Bath melody in particular I never grow tired of hearing. Enough can't be said about having really good background music to set the mood and accompany you while traversing around the depths of the planet.

Most would agree that controls are very important in a game like this. Thankfully you'll come to find the controls are very solid, tight, and responsive. Far to many indie games drop the ball when it comes to controls, but Exile's End certainly got it oh so right.

The plot itself is rather typical sci-fi fair with some interesting undertones. A lone survivor of a spaceship wreck, finds himself stranded on an alien planet. You'll find yourself surrounded by a hostile environment, trying to figure your escape, while unraveling this foreign worlds mysteries without giving away to much.

Level design is very well done indeed. I really have to commend the developers when it comes to this particular area. So many little touches all come together to pull off a well crafted game. For example, generally when you're forced to back track (in order to use a key item you just discovered in a previous area) you're usually given a handy short cut nearby to use. Back tracking is kept to a minimum as much as possible. Unlike some of the lesser enjoyable games of this style; Exile's End doesn't make the mistake of purposely using backtracking as a tool to pad the game in order to make it seem longer. It also features a helpful mapping guide very much like Super Metroid's, which fills in new areas as you explore them.

The puzzles you encounter are fairly easy to solve. If not a little vague at times. Which encourages some old fashion problem solving skills. The solutions always make sense. It is nice that the game doesn't give you to many hints, or constantly try to hold your hand at every step of the way. In this way it stays true to it's retro roots.

Graphically it's very much up to par with some of the top SNES games of the golden era. The animated cut scenes look fantastic. Each of the area's has it's own unique look and theme which differentiates itself from the last in distinct ways. Keeping the game fresh each time you move into a new zone. Bosses, enemy monsters and other characters fit the unearthly forms that you would expect.

Difficulty is only moderate in normal story mode. The game allows for saves and also autosaves at the start of every screen you enter. This make it's pretty forgiving. Trying to find all of the items and secrets can be the most difficult part. I never found myself stuck for very long or felt any part of the game was unfair and overly frustrating. People looking for more a real challenge have Survival Mode avaliable.

Had this game been released on a 16 or 32-bit console of the day, I think the magazines of the time would have probably rated it atleast an overall 8.5 out of 10. It doesn't really do anything new, but what it does do well is bringing together elements from many classic games. Blending them into a different perspective with top quality gameplay.

Very high quality indie game that deserves a chance. If you've been searching for a game that can stand up to some of the best that 90's classic console gaming had to offer look no further than Exile's End!

Kripthmaul[支持者]
Kripthmaul[支持者]

This is an okay game if you're looking for some retro metroidvania game....But it has one major flaw that no one can overlook. IT HAS NO F*****G QUEST INDICATOR. So you spend 5/7 of playtime just going to and fro every corner of the map searching how to use the last item you got..... It really frustrating.

Furthermore, I happen to have skipped the cutescene were they tell you what you'Re doing in the game, so now, I have not a single clue.

Cranjis McBasketball
Cranjis McBasketball

First, let me say that I BARELY recommend this game.

A quick breakdown:

Gameplay: 4/10
Controls: 8/10
Music: 10/10
SFX: 8/10
Story/writing: 6/10
Graphics: 9/10

Overall: 7/10

This game is designed to look like an old-school NES or C64 game. If you grew up on games like this then this game is really satisfying at first.

Due to that, I enjoyed going through it once. I am not sure if a person without said experience would. It essentially has NO replay value in my mind. The level design is horribly boring and the gameplay is not very challenging.

Overall, I give it a recommend because the look and sound of it is so beautiful and it was intriguing enough that I played it all the way through.

MAZ
MAZ

Really great game with old school aesthetic. Once you get rolling and have some gear under your belt you start to feel like a bad ass.

The music is really cool and the game is pretty addictive and fun to play!

Ron
Ron

Despite the fact that the second sentence in the game's official description on Steam declares it to be emphatically "NOT a Metroidvania," I can assure you, gentle reader, that it is. Or at least, it pushes enough of those buttons to qualify as such in my book. I view that as a plus, counting Symphony of the NIght and Super Metroid among my all-time favourite games, period, let alone in this genre.

I can see where the developers may be coming from, though. It incorporates elements of other games/genres, notably Flashback, Out Of This World, and the C64/Amiga aesthetic, blending it into at most, a gritty subgenre of Metroidvania. I'm not sure why they wanted to distance themselves from that label, but it's not helpful to generate confusion amongst potential buyers.

On to the game itself. It's short. That's not necessarily bad, but it's something that needs stating. What it lacks in length, it makes up for in flavour and feel. The mood is just right, aided by the backgrounds and soundtrack. The game also features cut scenes that are very much in the style of the NES NInja Gaiden series. There's mostly still images and basic dialog, that serve to tell a story with a lot more implied background than what is covered in game; lends the impression that the setting is more fleshed out than it probably is (a plus, I'd say).

It also has, what I'd call "genre expectations" that lie squarely between that of Flashback and Metroid - you start out completely unarmed and un-powered, in a hostile environment where even a fall from sufficient height can damage or kill you very easily. Health ups are few and far between (at first), and your first foes will be killed literally by throwing found rocks at them. Along the way, it transitions somewhat, so that by end-game, it feels like the early part of most Metroid games. You've got your double-jump, a couple guns, all but one with limited ammo. There are no crazy shinesparking abilities, wall jumps, or anything like that.

As to the shortness - it's metroidvanian in that you need to do a little backtracking, but you don't need to do a lot of it. More if you want to find all the secrets, but there aren't a ton of those to be had, but finding them without using a map may take some time. All are visible though, so it may involve a bit of "pixel hunting" to discover them all.

I'd give this game a recommendation based on the fact that I liked all of its main inspirations, and it resulted in a "just right" experience that meets in the middle of all of them, but it's something I"d certainly want to wait for a sale. It's good, but it's no Axiom Verge.

HoLee Sheet
HoLee Sheet

I picked it up on a whim in the summer sale and boy I'm glad I did. This is a nice hidden gem for Metroid and Flashback fans. Stood up all night and beat it and almost 100%'d it. Starts out slow but opens up very nicely, catchy soundtrack too.

D. W.
D. W.

This game is not great. It's graphics are wonderful, but it has a lot of questionable design choices that make it more of a hassle then a challenge.

zment
zment

From wikipedia: "Metroidvania games generally feature a large interconnected world map the player can explore, though access to parts of the world is often limited by doors or other portals that can only be opened after the player has acquired special items, tools, weapons or abilities within the game. Acquiring such improvements can also aid the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and often includes retracing one's steps across the map."

This game features a large interconnected world map the player can explore, though access to parts of the world is limited by doors or other portals that can only be opened after the player has acquired special items, tools, weapons or abilities within the game. Acquiring such improvements also aids the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and includes retracing one's steps across the map.

Now tell me, how is this NOT a metroidvania as the store page blurb says?

Anyhow, I enjoyed it for the most part, and people who enjoy 2D platformers or Metroidvania's will probably enjoy it too. I loved the controls and the graphics. If I have to give something that I didn't like: the level design is a bit too drawn out and even boring at times, and the enemies feel like they would need more love.

Pros:
Nice graphics
Tight controls

Cons:
Dull, even boring maps
Enemies are uninspired and tacky

Bottom line: It's fun to play, it looks good, and the cons can be forgiven, especially if bought on a sale.

haushalterjess1988
haushalterjess1988

good ol' snes frustration. love it.

BigBlueDinosaur
BigBlueDinosaur

Much like "Inescapable" (a very similar, if simpler take on this formula by the same developer), this game is a modernized take on late 80's, early 90's computer platformers like Shadow of the Beast, Rad Warrior and Flashback. It has Metroidvania style elements, but like the description says, it really isn't meant to be considered such. The graphics look like those games and the sound is like an old Amiga or Atari ST game. It's unforgiving and requires patience and trial and error to some extent, but it isn't extremely difficult in the long run. If you enjoyed classic platformers from the Amiga era, you'll probably enjoy (and get a nostalgic rush) from Exile's End. By the way, if you've played Inescapable, you'll notice this game is almost like an expanded, improved version of the same game.

[//] Speed Lancer
[//] Speed Lancer

Mediocre. Controls okay, but very poorly explained. Found the first door with a switch, accidentally threw a rock through it, which apparently isn't supposed to happen because I couldn't throw rocks through any other doors. Few minutes later, got an NPC prompt to "head east", lead to a dead end. Headed back where I came from, past a creature I couldn't seem to kill with rocks, found another dead end. Couldn't go back up where I entered the area from because you drop down a long way after getting the suit upgrade to survive the fall. Might come back to it later, but I won't recommend this to anyone.

SargeSmash
SargeSmash

So, Exile's End. I knew it looked a ton like Inescapable, and, well, it's the same guy. There are some big-name Japanese veterans in on the game as well, including Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden composer) and some folks that worked on Secret of Mana, among other titles.

Interestingly, the game doesn't bill itself as a Metroidvania, but by some measures, it is. It lacks the sort of level-up progression of the Castlevania side, but it definitely includes its fair share of unlocked abilities to enable progression, a map system to get around (something Inescapable lacked!), and a few hidden rooms for optional upgrades as well. But it does feel a bit closer to its stated inspiration, Commodore 64/Amiga games of a somewhat non-linear nature. There's probably a little Flashback/Out of This World as well, although the controls are much more responsive.

Early on, the game is pretty tough, but this gradually starts to smooth out, especially once you get the shock absorbers so you can fall from any height without taking damage. There are also some instant death spikes to worry about... but the game is quite lenient, giving a checkpoint each screen with the auto-save, and four save slots, which record progress at each screen transition.

Graphically, I love the look of the game. It really does look like a period piece in a lot of ways, with some spiffy-looking but somewhat repetitive tiling that would have indicated a lack of memory back in the day. The executable itself was a whopping 31 MB, of which you have to figure a fair amount was the soundtrack.

Gunplay is fun, once you get one. You've got a bit of a pause between shots that you have to account for, and the weapon is governed by an energy meter. Enemies will cough up crystals to restore that, though. You'll also find other guns, but they tend to consume a lot of juice. There are also a few limited-ammunition items like a machine gun, grenades, and a grenade launcher. You'll also find first-aid kits scattered about, but these do not replenish, so be careful you don't use 'em all up. You can only carry one of those at a time, too, so feel free to use one if you're almost dead and come across one in an area you'll never revisit. Enemies will also drop restoratives, although not quite as often as you'd like.

There are a few boss battles, with the best option there being the grenade launcher, if you have it, then finishing things off with your SMG. Or throwing grenades, that works too.

I wish that the game did a little better job building up suspense in spots, because it doesn't always feel like it maximizes parts of its story. I would have loved to have known a bit more about the protagonist outside of the intro sequence. I also wish the game would lead you just a little bit more. It can be quite cryptic about where to go next. One particular spot is quite egregious, and if I hadn't decided to check a Let's Play, I would likely have been stuck for a while... although I'd probably have uncovered some other secrets in the process.

Anyway, for the whopping $5 I dropped on the game, I definitely got my money's worth. I probably should have bought it a while back, despite the "Mixed" reviews on Steam. This, like Inescapable, was a game that somehow was greater than the sum of its parts.

Zeebrax the Astral Lifejacket
Zeebrax the As…

This short metroidvania (and it is a metroidvania) is bare of flashy gimmicks and multi-stage boss battles, but its simple elegance is its strength. I can't recall the last time I played a game with such responsive, no-slip, frustration-free controls. The atmospheric score, the simple yet attractive graphics -- they wove a world of adventure that wasn't harshly insistent, that invited me to diffuse my stress into a sprawling, but never confusing, map.

The story could have been richer. The ending(s) could have been more extravagant. But in light of the warm feeling of Zen that I felt the entire time I traversed Exile's scanlined warrens, I can complain of very little.

Professor Q
Professor Q

The Metroidvania Review

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How Metroidvania is it?
High Fit – In spite of the store page’s pleas to the contrary, Exile’s End fits the Metroidvania Mold extremely well, and is probably the best genre to categorize it as.

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Full Review

I’ve noticed that for some people, presentation is everything. If a game has good graphics, a story that is written to be exciting or entertaining, and great music, that’s all they need. Exile’s End really attempts to push the boundaries of how far presentation can carry a game. Beauty of course, is in the eye of the beholder, but if you’re nostalgic for the era that Exile’s End is trying to emulate, you’ll probably find the game to be quite beautiful. At the very least, the cut scenes are basically perfect in this regard. If you’re one of those people that appreciates presentation above all else, then you may enjoy what this game has to offer. For myself though, I’ve always been one to analyze the level design, then the gameplay, first. To me, even wrapped up in all of its graphical wonders, Exile’s End commits the cardinal sin when it comes to rating a game; it’s boring.

Exile’s End’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to present in terms of gameplay. It starts out interesting – to me at least. You’ve crash landed on a planet with all of your allies dead or missing, and you’re hanging on by a thread yourself. Your environmental suit is malfunctioning, so you can’t even fall very far without taking severe damage. It’s a great setup for a Metroidvania game, even if it’s a little frustrating. That genre can really cash in on the idea that you start out as a weakling and eventually become an all-powerful conquerer, and you certainly start out weak here. Exile’s End seems like it’s trying to be atmospheric – certainly the claims that it’s actually a cinematic platformer rather than a Metroidvania testify to that. But its slower movement and pacing – albeit perfectly functional – sort of kills that atmosphere rather than build on it. This is especially true in the long run as monsters are encountered to the point where dispatching them becomes routine rather than a terror to be faced – thus it sort of fails at being a cinematic platformer. The game’s progression is wholly Metroidvania-like, but you never seem to move beyond backtracking through boring enemies so you can flip switches; you never end up being the powerful master of his environment. The end result is a game that wants to be something else, ends up to be most like the thing that it claims not to be, but then sort of fails at being good at that anyway.

While moving through the stages quickly becomes tedious, exploration does give some very meaningful rewards – so there are some positives in the gameplay. Bosses aren’t particularly well-designed in terms of patterns and telegraphing, so upgrading your armor and weapons really takes the edge off of having to face them. Thus finding ammo upgrades still gives that wonderful sweet taste that you may have experienced in other exploration-based games. It’s just a shame that moving between them can be so uninteresting.

Another way exploration is rewarded is feeding you more information on the story. It’s fun to find communiques and tidbits that unfold the plot more organically, rather than only having it fed to you through forced cinematics – even if said cinematics are also a highlight of the game. The game ends off on a ponderous note which I consider a major positive overall, but ultimately the narrative is still probably similar to something you’ve heard before if you’ve dabbled in any sci-fi prior to playing. There’s also a huge missed opportunity to tell that story through the environment itself. Some areas are better than others, but overall levels feel like they were made in service to the gameplay rather than to create a sense of “place” – which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the gameplay was actually good.

There are some very talented people involved with Exile’s End, but in the end it falls apart due to poor direction. It never really sets itself apart in the ways that matter most and while it’s not that bad, it exists in an environment where it can be safely ignored. I feel like any of the 2D Metroid games capture what Exile’s End does best, but better. While the more atmospheric Metroid-like version of Metroidvania is slimmer pickings than its campier Castlevania-inspired brethren, I don’t think that’s enough to recommend slogging through this one.

2 out of 5

db
db

First: this IS a metroidvania. It has some bad design decisions as that but it's clearly one.

Second: many reviews went on and on about the fall damage in the first level. Just to be clear: we are talking about the first five minutes of the game and a few jumping sequences, none of them really hard. Don't be afraid of them.

The game itself has a nice 90's vibe, and while mid-game you will feel that they run out of graphics assets (or rather the budget to create them) it's a nice little game for that few hours while it lasts. If you can get it cheap. go for it.

Metzelmax
Metzelmax

OMG. Who made this and thought it was a good idea? There is so much wrong with this game I am just gonna list it:

1) Auto saves every room. Which on paper is nice to have but in reality it saves your health too. Which means all damage is permanent with no way of healing outside of health kits and there are no health kits. Like literally. There is one you find at the beginning of the game and then nothing for hours. And if you didn't know that's how it works then you took a lot of fall damage early on and have to complete the game 1 hit from death.

2) Fall damage. The game starts you with your suit damaged so you take fall damage from miniscule drops. Which means you have to crawl forward in the beggining holding down on every ledge for a few seconds until the fking camera decides to actually pan down.

3) Throw rocks. This is your only weapon for first hour. And you better pick them up before you leave the screen because you know, it autosaves you without any otherwise.

4) The worst bossfight in human history. Which is when I gave up. You have max 5 stones at that point and have to fight a beast that charges at you in what isn't even a combat arena but just a normal corridor with no way of avoiding the thing. I watched a playthrough on youtube to see if its doable, but they just took one unavoidable hit damage and ran past the boss to pick something up and run out of the room, skipping the fight.

5) And then there is the music: Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee Doo Doo Dee into infinity.

6) ah also the game doesn't save your options so each time you start the game you have enable fullscreen and turn of the crt filter again and again.

This game is distilled garbage in videogame form.