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Astronite Review (PC) - Gaming with Joy

Name: Astronite Review (PC) - Gaming with Joy - Astronite - TapTap
Uploaded: 2023-04-17T16:10:33+08:00
Duration: 6 min 10 s
Channel: Gaming with Joy
Description: Astronite. Exploring in this game is really fun to do, there are a lot of puzzles to solve and a few of these echo chambers that are a nice reference to old games and they. game review

5K View2023-04-17

Astronite is a charming but pretty brutal metroidvania with fun level design and smooth gameplay. Your mission is to get to the center of the planet that used to be your home to investigate if the dangerous entity called 'The Unknown' is still living down there. Many didn't return before you and things do not look good for you either, because you are forced to make a crash landing and now you are stuck on this planet that is full of deadly creatures.

Astronite is one of those metroidvanias that lets you start with your full equipment, but takes it all away after 5 minutes. I'm not the biggest fan of this trope, because now the abilities you will unlock later in the game aren't a surpise anymore, like you will already know you will get your jetpack and your dash ability back. Nevertheless I really enjoyed the fun upgrades, because they aren't at full capacity straightaway, only by exploring the whole map will you be able to get them back to their original state. There are also some new abilities you will unlock later on, so not everything is spoiled at the beginning luckily.

This game has already pretty difficult platform sections and some enemies can be really annoying, but what makes it even more difficult is the fact that you will lose all or atleast 75 percent of your currency, if you have bought a perk, when you die. You can get it back if you manage to return to the place where you have died before without dying again, but there are a few areas that will really stress you out if you have collected a lot of currency and didn't spend it yet. I barely made it to the end where an upgrade or a lever is waiting for me, but now there is a dead end and I have to go all the way back again without dying and it's honestly very stressful. I like a bit of challenge, but I would have appreciated a breakable wall at the end, so you aren't forced to do it all over again but in reverse. There were only a handfull of these sections thankfully, but each one of them managed to stress me out, because I was really afraid I would lose all my money.

There is only one shop where you can spend your money and you can reach it with all these teleporters. Everything you can buy is already on display, so you already know what will be worth saving your money for and I really liked that.

Exploring in this game is really fun to do, there are a lot of puzzles to solve and a few of these echo chambers that are a nice reference to old games and they will reward you with an upgrade. They were a nice change of pace and I really appreciated their addition. I really like it when games have these easter eggs or all these references to other games, it's a nice gesture.

Exploring the map and unlocking everything took me only 5 hours, so this game is pretty short, but I really think less is more in this occasion. Would I have loved to see more areas and fun upgrades? Sure, but I'm already happy with what I got. I really enjoyed my 5 hours with this game and the overall presentation is really charming and fun.

There is almost no music sadly, but I really enjoyed all the fun and goofy sound effects, especially when you are talking with someone or something else. The boss fights had a nice difficulty spike, but only a few them gave me a bit of challenge, because they had random attack patterns and some of them didn't. But all of them had an unique design and they were very enjoyable to fight against.

So in general Astronite is just a really solid metroidvania, it's pretty straightforward, but it has these fun and creative touches, that make it a really enjoyable experience. It's not easy, but it's also not headscratchingly difficult, there are a few difficulty spikes but all of them are managable if you are well equipped and have spent your money wisely. It's a shame there is barely any music, but I can't think of anything else I didn't like about this game.

I can imagine the price of this game is a bit expensive if you look at the amount of content, but I think this game is really underrated and overlooked and definitely worth your money, especially when it's on sale. Everything about it is really solid, I only experienced one crash and the difficult sections with a dead end were scary and annoying, but they didn't harm my overall enjoyment while playing this game.

So be ready to return to your home planet and beware of everything that lies ahead, so you can get rid of The Unknown and make your home safe again!

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