Custodian: Beginning of the End Reviews

It's a good game

Nice and original for me, maintains the interest and the surprises.

Very short, very easy, nothing "brutally difficult" even credits level isnt that hard. Gameplay is mix of lots and lots of games in the genre, nothing new. And most funny thing, when i get developer ass kicked(at the credis level) i got a crash. Tried several more times, still crash every time, so i cant finish the game cuz devs are handicapped. Too bad i cant get my money back.

It is Super Meat Boy meets Dark Souls. The aesthetics are beautiful and the bosses are huge and rad. I'd love for there to be some voice acting. The controls are fairly tight but suffer a little from slowness in the beginning. The upgrade system is fairly cool and the risk reward of each fight is well-balanced. https://youtu.be/OCIoQDwQrMs

The achievements don't work and it looks unfinished. There are many slots for special items and no items to be found. There are some light puzzles but the lantern is needed for them. Did my choice to sleep till morning change the outcome so that i missed a lot? Very confused.

Custodian: Beginning of the End is a brutal platformer, lot's of trial and error and patience will be needed with this game. +Beautiful pixel art. Some pretty environments. +Nice sounds and ambience. +Story telling is quite good so far. +Boss designs are very cool. Some nice art here as well and animations. +Love the combat mechanics and gathering of light energy. -Platforming while enjoyable will result in many one shot deaths by being impaled on spikes. So have patience while doing these. -Animation locks while doing certain actions will end up getting you killed, while frustrating this will be a learning curve. -There is some semblance of a Metroidvania map layout, but for the most part the game is quite linear. Not a bad thing just don't expect a typical formula here. Some minor issues here but overall still a great experience. Love the world the developer is giving us to play in, and i can't wait to play more of it. Regardless of the minor frustrations. Just git gud :D

The movement is all about jumping, really liked the long and high jumps with generous grip detection. This allows to navigate through familiar areas quickly in a Super Metroid manner. Just the unpredictable slopes mechanics paired with oneshot spikes makes it NES-without-savestates experience. Levels are not NES-like though - a lot of verticality and hidden areas. Can recommend for beautiful pixel art alone with many detailed animations. Just don't expect the Blasphemous level of polish. Edit: finished the game, then replayed the first half for 100% items. The game is obviously unfinished, that is a pity, the first grassy area is one of the best metroidvania areas I've ever played - superb exploration, challenging platforming, great custom lantern mechanics. Bosses difficulty was about right, a tad easier than in Hollow Knight, overall bosses was the most polished part of the game. If the game content ever updated in future - will replay it for sure.

A game with a lot of potential. If we are lucky enough and will be able to support it, we will have another wonderful pixelart soulslike metroidvania. There is not enough such games on steam. We need at least one such game per month.

I won't play this any further. I just can be asked to play a mediocre platformer that derives all it's difficulty from putting spikes just out of sight. The boss fights aren't that hard and once you realize you can stop and replenish your heals during the fight, the stakes really aren't high. Normal enemies I encountered are plants, mushrooms and rats - nothing unique or inspiring. They aren't hard either. Attack, move away, attack again - fighting is really basic. Finding treasure chests could have been fun - but all you every find is light, the resource you can craft heals from and lose when you die. Early on, you get taught to push down to see where lower platforms are. Then, when you are a bit further and traverse down, there lot's of spikes below hand-holds you can't press down on - or rather you can - and drop down onto the spikes. Slopes are used to let you fall into spikes, drops from above are used to catch you mid jump and drop you into spikes. Spikes are a one hit kill and put you either back to the nearest safe point or use a heal and put you a bit nearer with half health. There is some story to it, but it tries too hard to be mysterious. When I don't know what's going on and it's not interesting enough to care I won't stay to learn more. It also tries to incorporate some 4th wall breaking jokes... that doesn't mesh with the rest of the game. If there was anything interesting or unique to find it might have been worth it, but falling into spikes and doing the platforming again for nothing is just time lost I could spend on better games.

Controls feel very janky. When you move, you start out slow and then gradual speed up which feels very weird. Not sure if the game is translated from another language but most of the text does not make sence. Game starts with a tutorial section that lasts about 5 minutes, then flashes back in time and gives you ANOTHER tutorial section with the same stuff it just told you. Game just feels unpolished and bad.