Mandragora Steam Charts & Stats

Bought Madragora day one because the art style appealed to me and I love both soulslikes and metroidvanias. Beginning of the game was super fun too, but later in some design flaws reared their ugly head - I was particularly annoyed by lengthy boss runbacks including swarms of annoying enemies and instant death traps. Looking at you, Tome Mistress. Now I'm happy to say, the latest patch fixed most of my problems with the game. It's much more pleasent to play now, with more robust diffculty options, some balancing changes, new shortcuts and additional warp stations. Yes, even for Tome Mistress. Thanks for listening, devs! It's an easy thumbs up now.

Recommending the game for those who like RPG/2D Metroidvania. The idea of collecting items, lvling up, and having a talent tree is definitely interesting. It is a decent game for certain. I would give it a 4/5, while giving ender lilies a 4.5/5, Ori and the Blind forest a 4.7/5 and Celeste a 4.9/5 (Even though these are not exactly the same type) Not sure about how good the game is right now, the recent update have fixed a lot of problems, but still, the game just makes me feel like it's not really "completed" when I played it. A lot of details(in terms of the map exploration) and game balance(mathematically) could be better.

Incredibly lazy design the later you get in the game. You fight the same 3 bosses on rotation, I could write 100 pages of what's wrong with it. If you have played a decent metroidvania, this game plays like someone was described something like hollow knight but never played it and did their best to mimic something similar. You get 1 shot at the end of the game, even as a tank 2H vanguard im getting 2 shot with super high defense. There's 1 shot mechanics and the game forces you to RNG landing or trying to find the next platform forcing you to die a TON. The fall damage in this game is a joke, you will fall a foot and die instantly, just blows my mind as almost every metroidvania has no fall damage or mitigates it. Bizarre game

I really enjoyed this game. I know it has mixed reviews, but my review is positive. The story is good and the graphics and atmosphere are great. I found the gameplay quite good and very challenging. I had to eventually turn the enemy damage and hp down in order to play reasonably well. The crafting systems are simple, yet effective and the game is fun, which is probably most important. A few things I disliked was the need for lockpicks to open chests. It just ends up as a hassle and how they put the run button and the interact button as the same buttons. Other than that, as some other reviewers pointed out, the bullet hell on the last boss seems misplaced. It's not that difficult, but it is kind of an unusual mechanic to put in there all of a sudden. I didn't find the last boss to be much more difficult than other bosses in the game. Anyway, I enjoyed it an I'm happy to own it. Maybe I'll come back to it when they release New Game+. Solid game for people who like Metroidvania games that are also challenging.

I have rarely seen a game with so much wasted potential. The production quality is fantastic. The gameplay isn't. Lots of balance problems and poorly designed fights with really surprise difficulty spikes. The grind is too much. Some bosses can kill you in one shot as they come onto the screen. This is typically followed by a two minute run back to the boss, which again can kill you in less than a second. Just very dissapointing.

I really wanted to like this game. Liked the aesthetic, animation, combat vibe etc, but but when push comes to shove I've really stopped enjoying it. Perhaps I'm burned out when it comes to corpse runs or maybe I'm just not interested in hard core tests of skill anymore, but as the game has progressed I have found myself enjoying it less and less and getting frustrated more and more. At this point, I'm doubtful I will actually finish the game, and at $40 I just don't see it being worth it.

This game - where I've been currently stuck for hours, at the point of the final boss - just gives me a pure case of conscience, leading me to wonder: didn't the devs think not well enough at certain points? Did they intend to do everything that they created as it is, or lost control at some point? Or is it just me who's not a good player enough? Because things are very nuanced here, I'm not a great player, without being bad, still it seems I found a limit here as for my skills as one, where the pain overshadows the fun - and Mandragora has some very strong points to prevail as a very interesting game, if not a game that you'll love / or hate / or both, a game that sure didn't leave me indifferent, to say the least. To make understand better my inner conflict concerning the game, I've been actually loving it from the very start: the artwork is just finely done, some detailed graphics and well made musics, that may remind of some Castlevania games, the game system is coherent, follows the path of a souls-like game, so mixed with the metroidvania genre - but where things start to go a bit awry, something that most of not all players of the game will have noticed, is the controls: they tend to lag a bit, not in a souls-like way, where there is a natural latency between pushing a button and the time the action happens, but in a more unusual and awkward way, for instance, pressing on the roll button while attacking a foe will not only have a latency that will seem a bit weird, but also, if you pressed it twice, the double command will repeat after the attack, which can be frustrating to say the least, mostly if you fall from a high platform and die. I truly liked the game from the start though, to be very honest - it has some epic fights for a 2D metroidvania, is beautiful to look at, the different magical / combat possibilities are numerous, the world and characters are well made, with different endings to the game . . . that I'll probably never see - and this is where it puzzles me, to give a negative review just because I'm losing the game at the final point - so, is it only me, or did the devs do their thing right? I think they really did, for the most part: the game has a personality of its own, is really fun to play for the most (I already nearly dropped it at some points in the rift though, but it was still manageable), and yeah, frankly I enjoyed it and reckon it has a lot of qualities - my only true question in the end is: should I persist, when playing starts causing a pain much greater than the fun? I believe not. But this is just my own subjective opinion, which may resemble or largely differ from some other ones concerning Mandragora - I'd really say in the end, if you're very confident in your skills and want to have a fun time with a metroidvania, go for it eyes shut, you might find the game excellent and a joy to play. Otherwise, if you're searching for a game that won't mistreat you, considering you're an average player, well, you might want to turn around - or spend hours of fun on it without reaching the very end, to end up with a feeling of incompletion. Not a bad game by any means, will just feel unfair to some players, as it did for me.

[h1] Master of None [/h1] I really REALLY wanted to love this game. As an elevator pitch, Mandragora has all of the components of a successful title. Yet, every single one of those components start to fall apart around the halfway point. Progression starts to feel less rewarding, the build I chose (pyromancer) begins to feel less viable, and the enemies do an absurd amount of damage and take very little. Yes, I suck at souls games, but I find that there are always ways to circumvent difficulty through smart game design. That "one more try" feeling you get after attempting a boss or challenging area is completely lost here. I wanted things to be over quicker, and I started to ask myself "Am I actually having a good time?" The answer two hours in was "Sure, I guess", and after about 12, it turned into a solemn and regretful "Not anymore". However, there are still some redeeming qualities. The world design, voice acting, and story set up are incredibly charming and engaging. It just wasn't enough to warrant finishing my initial playthrough. The devs have a great outline for what should have been a home run. Sadly, as it stands, I cannot reccomend this game in it's current state. Hopefully they take the feedback well and turn this into a really rewarding experience, or manage to make an incredible follow up. Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree: 5/10

I really wanted to like this game. And for the first few hours of playing, I did. But the longer I played, the more issues and nonsensical gameplay choices I encountered which made the game not only not fun, but annoying. The game isn’t challenging, it’s tedious. But let’s start from the top. To give you an idea on what I’m basing this feedback on: I played a female Flameweaver, with a Fire Relic and a 1H Mace. My playtime was roughly 35 hours and I deleted my initial save file along the way and started a new one after the last major patch came out. I reached the end boss but have not finished the game. The reasons for that can be found in this review. IMPORTANT: THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS [h3]What I liked:[/h3] - The art style. I think it’s what made me spend the amount of time that I did in this game. It’s gorgeous. I liked the semi-realism and how the character portraits looked. I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the female characters weren’t conventionally pretty or overly feminine. - The voice acting. I didn’t expect a fully voiced game and while some actors did a better job than others, it was still pretty nice. I liked the personalities they conveyed. - The fast travel. Considering the size of the map, it’s such a time saver to gain this ability nearly from the start. That you can teleport without standing near a travel point is also really helpful. - The transmog feature. More games should have it. - The Developers’ willingness to listen. They do seem to actively read reviews and discussion threads both on Steam and on Reddit and want to make their game better. I respect that and hope they won’t stop anytime soon. [h3]What I thought was okay:[/h3] - The music. It wasn’t bad, but it was quite forgettable in my opinion. I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to the OST like I do with other games. - The story. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but they made an effort to give your character at least some motivation to do what you gotta do. There were lots of little side-quests, but the payoff and character development was rather weak. We got glimpses into NPC’s past but the quests still barely told you anything. - The accessibility settings. I always like games that don’t gatekeep their story by being really difficult to get through. But why stop at 70%? Make it truly accessible and allow the full range, not just up to 30%. Look at Nine Sols, they’ve done it right. - The map markers. I’m glad they exist, but I think they can and should be improved upon. An exclamation mark, a magnifying glass, a diamond, a flag, and a question mark are pretty vague symbols when you have specific kinds of herbs, doors and portals across the map. Furthermore, the markers are limited to a maximum of 20, which is not enough during long parts of the game. Before getting the grappling hook, I had to exploit a bug where I could place more than 20 markers and came up to nearly 50. Once you received the double jump, they shrunk down to just above 10. This should be a red flag to the devs. Balanced exploration is key. - The ability tree was alright. Nothing too complicated, nothing too simple. Some abilities feel unbalanced or are still bugged, though. Especially the phoenix skill can kill you more often than it saves you. Both in entropy levels (because respawning will still trigger the countdown for platforms to disappear, even though you have no control over your character during that animation), as well as the final boss fight, where it respawns you outside of the fight and you have to quit out of the game. - The cats and that you can pet them. It’s a gimmick. Could live without it, but it was cute, I guess? [h3]What I disliked: [/h3] - The weapon system. It felt way too unbalanced; I ran around with the same 1H mace I got near the beginning of the game until I reached the Dragon. Every other 1H weapon up to that point did less damage than the magic scaling mace I found in the beginning. As there is no way to upgrade weapons (placing runes on them doesn’t change much and is not a true upgrade), I had to either stick to the same boring weapon all game long or basically overhaul my entire build and switch to 2H weapons, because the game showers you with them. - Exploration didn’t feel worth it. Most loot was useless, schematics can be found in nearly every chest, but to craft them (if the stars align and they do happen to be useful to your build), chances are you have to grind first and level up your NPCs. - Fall damage. There is really no need to have it in this kind of game. - Your hideout. There was really no real use for your own little carriage and that obsolete training dummy, except to display the cats you collected. I visited that place literally once during the entire playtime. - The lockpicks. Just unlock all the chests and remove them. Finding the chests in the first place should be the challenge. - Off-screen enemies and gimmick-deaths. They feel shoe-horned in and aren’t there to make the game more difficult, but tedious. It’s not skill if you just have to know where something is going to drop down on you or kills you instantly. - Upgrades. The upgrades you get (grappling hook, double jump and gliding) feel badly executed and poorly placed in the game. Especially the double jump and gliding are received way too late and near the end of the game, so players can’t even get full mileage out of them. You’re not happy when you get those upgrades, no, you lean back, look at the ceiling, and groan “finally” in annoyance. Also, why do we get the gliding from the Coven and not from the Dragon? The creature with wings? This feels randomised and not thought through. The double-jump should’ve been received from either the vampire lord or his keeper. - Entropy Levels. I just can’t say anything nice about them. They’re bothersome to get through, the platforming is a disaster (and not what people look for when they install a game labelled as Soulslike and Metroidvania). Off-screen disappearing platforms, a timer running out, arbitrary fall damage and stunted camera movement do not add true difficulty to the game. They make it a chore. Games are generally played to have fun, and not to say “I’m so glad this is over!”. At least dying in them doesn’t waste all essence, but that would’ve been the cherry on top. - Respawn point placement. In the beginning they litter the landscape, but during the end you have to spend so much time running back to bosses that it takes you out of it. This is not designed to make something hard, it’s designed to make it laborious. - The final boss. Again, I feel like the Developers don’t quite understand the difference between difficulty and tedium. [h3]Conclusion: [/h3] I hope the game will receive further patches and that the Developers continue to listen to the game’s community to make it worth buying and worth playing. But with how the game is at the moment, I cannot give a positive review or recommend it. Yes, there were some parts I enjoyed, but considering how much more important the gameplay aspect is for a Metroidvania and Soulslike, I have to evaluate things differently in comparison to, say, a Visual Novel, where voice acting, music and story would’ve been so much more important. Mandragora feels like it had so much potential but the Developers seem to have forgotten what their game was supposed to be, or they never pinned that down in the first place. A lot of it feels weirdly unbalanced. It tries to be so many things poorly copied from other games and ultimately excels at none of them.

[h1]Mandragora Review[/h1] [b]Playtime:[/b] ~30 hours [b]Experience Level:[/b] Completed the game, planning more playthroughs with different classes [b]Rating:[/b] 8.6/10 [hr][/hr] [h1]Introduction[/h1] After completing [i]Mandragora[/i] with around 30 hours of playtime—and planning to try more classes—I’ve gathered my thoughts. I won't comment on the EULA, as while it's important to some, it doesn't factor into my personal evaluation. This review focuses solely on the gameplay experience. [hr][/hr] [h2]Pros[/h2] [olist] [*] [b][i]Genre Execution:[/i][/b][i] While Mandragora doesn’t introduce revolutionary changes to the Soulslike or Metroidvania genres, it blends them really well.[/i] [*][i] [/i][b]Story & Progression:[/b] The story isn’t groundbreaking but serves as a solid backbone for the gameplay. It kept me engaged and made progression enjoyable. [*] [b][i]Build Variety:[/i][/b][i] There’s a wide array of classes, weapons, and gear, allowing for deep customization. After level 20 or 25, you can reallocate your points, making experimentation with different builds easy and rewarding.[/i] [*][i] [/i][b]Boss Fights:[/b] There are many boss encounters. Some mini-bosses are reused, but I never felt it was excessive. The main bosses are unique, with well-designed, challenging movesets across all classes. That said, the "Fire Caster" class felt a bit overpowered against most of them. [*] [b][i]Visuals & Design:[/i][/b][i] The art direction is stunning, and enemy designs are top-tier. It’s one of the most visually beautiful games I’ve played recently.[/i] [*][i] [/i][b]Stability:[/b] I only encountered two minor visual bugs throughout my entire playthrough—nothing game-breaking or disruptive. [*] [b]Side Content:[/b] The game is packed with side quests, bounty hunting, treasure hunts, and crafting. The importance of gathering blueprints and materials adds a lot of depth and replay value. Easily enough content for two or three full playthroughs. [/olist] [hr][/hr] [h2]Cons[/h2] [olist] [*][b][i]Runbacks:[/i][/b][i] Some boss runbacks are extremely long. While the level designers did a good job implementing shortcuts, there were still at least three instances where dying meant a frustratingly long run back to the boss arena.[/i] [*][i] [/i][b]Platforming:[/b] Platforming sections in the Entropy areas felt forced—though the rift segments were optional, they didn’t quite fit the rest of the game’s flow. [*] [b]Lack of New Game+:[/b] There’s no New Game+ at the moment. I’ve heard it’s planned for release in the summer, which would be a welcome addition. [/olist] [hr][/hr] [h2]Conclusion[/h2] [i]Mandragora[/i] is an awesome game. I had a ton of fun, and even after finishing it, I’m still hooked. It has a few minor flaws, but they’re easily outweighed by its strengths. With a rich gameplay loop, excellent design, and high replayability, I highly recommend it. [h3][b]Final Score: 8.6/10[/b][/h3]