Elderand used Lovecraft elements and managed to lure me in through its Metroidvania gameplay as an ARPG platformer game.
Exploring through the dungeons of Elderand to uncover the hidden secrets of the world that involves a Great Elder One - Cthulhu. By fighting ugly, gruesome monsters out of your way.
The pixel art style is outstanding and heavily shows the atmosphere of the game's world-building. However, the monster designs are pretty repetitive with no variety which reduces the fun of the Lovecraftian-inspired game.
The game leans towards a few complicated controls, however, the challenging combat is what I thought made things fun and used the players' skills to utilize, just like every Metroidvania, it needs precise timing to defeat your enemies - or you could just barge your way in.
Elderand also has a lot of ways to enhance or upgrade your character The Nameless. You can obtain different weapons and upgrade your stats and skills throughout the gameplay.
Throughout your adventure there are limited story elements which I was expecting, I imagined it to have more Lovecraftian elements yet the lore is pretty average as the game focuses more on gameplay.
If you want a game that can be cleared quickly with focus and grinding, Elderand has a short playtime to accomplish, I managed to finish it with around ~11 hours of roaming around with a busy schedule.
Elderand is a good game, solid even, and is grindy. Although there are better Metroidvania out there in comparison to this game, I suggest you to give it a try.