Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider Reviews

You know when a platforming game has tight controls and good boss fights and it's satisfying to play? This is the opposite of that feeling. Blazing Chrome was awesome, but this controls and plays like shit.

I tried to give this game a chance despite the lukewarm feeling this studio's previous entry gave, but after a few tries it suffers from a lot of the same problems and a few unique ones of its own. The main issue here is that the actual level and boss design is clumsy--encounters are either stupidly easy or annoyingly difficult until you crack the way the game wants you to do them. The default moveset never at any point feels empowering or fluid, especially the walljump, which has a set angle and basically requires a buffer before touching any surface. The dash attack has an enormous cooldown and the default attack is always required multiple times to kill enemies which is flatly unsatisfying. Graphics in this game are the one kind of good thing, but any time you're looking at them, it's because you're staring at a still frame or waiting for something to load for upwards of ten seconds. This is especially egregious in boss encounters, which have a Mega Man X2 level of boss wind-up, when we've since learned the smart thing to do is just start the fight immediately on retries. Platforming sections are egregious timed global damage cycles, often including micro-cycles which don't align with the global. This is beyond amateurish, and the extent of 50% of the playtime will be slashing boxes and stationary lasers and other stupid things instead of interesting enemies. I really wish this studio would learn how to make a game that feels good to play instead of just using 'retro' as an excuse for stiff and clunky gamefeel and bland level design. Would not recommend.

Great action-packed slasher with platforming. Quite challenging, but after you acquire the Long Sword in the water level, the game gets a bit easier. Great visual art design and soundtrack. Enjoyed it very much.