There's a new release date announcement trailer which showcases some of the changes before the final release

Wow, okay, I'd say he proved them wrong! Game's got styyyyyyle now.

Okay this is pretty funny it still kinda looks like poop but a polished one this time :S.

Wow, seems kind of rare for a developer to just own the criticism like that especially in a trailer. Glad to see it is looking much improved.

I mean I love the showmanship but it kinda does just seem like it was just a case of yeah a lot of the footage was just in development shit they weren't done with and now they have this.

But it makes for a great video to turn it around into 'We've heard your concerns.."

It's a step up from Mighty No. 9.

I'm not sure how I feel about highlighting shitty forum posts. It looks better but the blood fountain at 1:16 looks bad in both versions. I wonder if this is what Wayforward has been adding to the project. The new Ori and Hollow Knight still look much nicer though.

Hopefully it'll be good. I know some people are burnt out on Metroidvanias but I cant get enough of them personally.

Besides the obvious improvements, I love Igarashi's showmanship...

I think this game looks pretty awesome and I've been anticipating it for a long time now.

...that said, the game's look has always been kind of a sticking point for me and it still is a bit. It looks like a PSP game. Far too late to change it now and I'd like to see it released sooner rather than delaying it for another year, but the whole "3D rendering but in 2D" doesn't look great to me. It looks good, don't get me wrong, but some part of me will always want the hand-drawn, sprite-filled Symphony of the Night-esque aesthetic that this game doesn't have.

.....this still has a terrible look

Has anyone picked this up? Steam people are giving it positive reviews so far, but I wouldn't exactly call those reliable. Wondering what first impressions are.

I didnt know this was a £35 game, that changes my opinion somewhat. I feel there have been a lot of great metroidvanias this year alone for less than half that price and there are more on the horizon.

I get that Igarashi has some clout but I would say that there have been better games than SOTN in that vein and the games he directed since werent even as good as that. I hope it's good, obviously, but I feel like they're really milking the nostalgia for all it's worth with this one.

Okay, is this some weird and new, presumably bot, shit?

@sethmode: Whoa that is strange. All I know is I have no idea what that post is even talking about. Especially on the parts about "the sport's appearance" and "delaying it for another year". The game came out today lol.

@casepb: Yeah, it was like it took his post and made it nonsensical? "The sport's appearance" was maybe my favorite part haha. It doesn't help that the original post was a month and a half ago.

I looked at his only other post and it's the same thing, just a bizarre, kind-of copy of a previous post in an iPhone bug report thread.

@sethmode: Yeah, looks like this bot is copying the text, converting it in another language then converting back to english. Looks like another "will make X number of posts" then spam like a MF once it gets past posting limitations.

After playing this for a few hours i would recommend this had a lot of fun. Coming back of my first post the art style while it's not my thing it fits the game well.

I'm glad this is supposed to be good. I love a good Metroidvania, so I'll definitely grab this at some point when I'm in need of a new game. 40 is a lot when stuff like Hollow Knight and Axiom Verge are much cheaper, but if it's worth it it's worth it.

This game is real solid but primarily because it is also just Aria of Sorrow.

@boozak said:

I re-bought Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for $90 on ebay.

Just let that sink in for a bit.

Jesus, I just had a look at how much those GBA/DS CV games were going for. Aria of Sorrow is surprisingly expensive.

I'm liking this overall, but there are little things all over that keep me from loving it. The cutscenes and overall production value is weird. I like the artstyle, but everything else feels kind of cheap in this half-step direction, where I feel like they would have honestly benefited from just keeping it simpler. It just looks like they spent probably a fair amount of money on them, but not enough to make them look GREAT, so they just kind of look weirdly bad, if that makes sense?

And the controls just feel...just the teensiest bit off compared to other Igarashi games I've played recently (most recently SOTN). I don't know if it's the animation or what, but something just doesn't feel quite right.

Still though, it is a very solid game that I'm enjoying, I just really wanted to love it and unfortunately, after 5 hours or so, I'm not quite there yet.

Yo, hard mode is actually brutal. I used the unlock code for it cause normal wasn't quite where I wanted it to be difficulty-wise after playing the first couple hours, and now I am getting my ass kicked. Really feels like Order of Ecclesia now, I love it.

@facelessvixen: Holy shit, I still have that game somewhere.

I agree 100%. I'm not really digging the whole "It's 2D but actually 3D!" thing. Like you say, a lot of the art design is actually quite gorgeous, but the way the characters move in this kind of slide-y way makes everything feel sort of . . . cheap, maybe is the word I'm looking for?

Weirdly, it reminded of the Bionic Commando Remastered game that came out about 6-7 years ago now (Actually, I looked it up and it's 10 years ago. Jesus, I'm getting old). It had that same kind of too-smooth animation, but it was OK because it was just a little XBLA game. I feel like this would have been better served by just making really, really good looking 2D art.

Whatever, it's totally not a deal breaker because I'm enjoying the hell out of the game.

The only issue I have with the presentation is that they really should have just had portraits or something for the dialogue because those models don't blow up to that size gracefully at all.