Zapling Bygone Reviews

Worst map ever. Also, STOP PUTTING CORNIFER INTO EVERY METROIDVANIA.

The highlight of Zappling Bygone is that it tries some unique and interesting things and manages to pull them off pretty well despite being pretty basic and on the easy side. For example one of the first abilities the player unlocks is wall climbing which unlocks the map in an interesting way. It's quite open too, you can go beat bosses in any order which can make certain fights or areas harder or easier depending on where you go (and which abilities you obtain) first. It also has some customisation to the character allowing you to tweak the player character to suit your playstile to a degree. The downside to all this is that backtracking is kinda annoying since you can't teleport between save stations, only designated warp points and there is far to few of them. The mechanics were a bit rough for me too, with jumping feeling a bit floaty and contact damage meaning that it was easy to take a double hit from an enemy :/ It's also a bit directionless, the game doesn't really guide you in any way through the world so it can take a moment to figure out where you should be going sometimes. This is especially annoying with such limited fast travel. However, given how short and easy the game is, these won't be as bothersoime as they would in a bigger title. I recommend getting this on a sale, it's a fun short game play through for fans of the genre :)

Cute little game. Hollow Knight by way of Carrion, as you glob your way around a map and find skulls to steal that give abilities and charm slots. A bit opaque at times, the bosses tended to be fairly linear, and it definitely has some of the roughness around the edges from being a solo project. Had a good time.

It's not terrible but it has many things that soured the experience for me. I still enjoyed it a bit but sadly can't recommend it. The colour palette can be too dark. It's something difficult to see where I can or can't go. Same goes with enemies, sometimes I just don't see them. Probably my biggest frustration here. Would have prefered if everything was in pixel art. Besides the colours, the pixel art is quite nice but character art for dialog, skulls and perks in the menu are not in pixel art and they just look kinda off here. It's unfortunate that not all skulls give a permanent upgrade. So many optional ones that just aren't worth it for their slots when the ones you get for progression have good enough slots. It doesn't have to be movement abilities for each one, optional ones could get you health upgrades or something. Speaking of abilities, not the best at explaining them. My Metroidvania experience lets me intuitively know what they do but any ability you gain is never forced to use in the place you got them in to teach you the basics. You're just supposed to figure out where this new ability can even be used without being forced to try it out first. The length of the game also isn't that big for its asking price.