Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse Steam Charts & Stats

peak

6hrs in and im having a blast

Beautilful artstyle, nice sound. Smooth gameplay and combat.

The game is kinda like Dead Cells, but not as fast paced. The game is pretty solid, but expect to do some grinding for materials. If you do get this game: 1st: look up how equipment is upgraded (ring, necklace, broach) because you will need the final upgrade to finish 100% and if you mess up the upgrade process you'll be back to more grinding. 2nd: build decor stuff at your base for basic buffs. 3rd: prepare to some bosses multiple times for crafting items Pretty visuals, nice music.

I think I'm in love with this game. This was such an amazing experience, and I think it's become a favorite of mine when it comes to the metroidvania genre. It's simple, but incredibly effective at what it does. The power ups add a lot to the game, and some are even option, but I got them all and they were fun to get. Anyways, as for more on the game... [h2]PROS[/h2] I don't even know where to start with this one. Obvious from the moment you boot up the game, the art is gorgeous. Almost every review mentions this, but it still needs to be said. Making hand-drawn animation for a game like this isn't as simple as drawing the pictures. The anticipation frames, the speed that enemies and the PC attacks, every action was thought about to create the pace of the game. The pace is GREAT. I think movement and action speed are the most important aspects of a good metroidvania, and so often it gets overlooked. This game NAILS that. Moving along from that, I like the enemy selection as well. There are a lot of enemy types in this game, and it expands as you move through each level. There are 4 levels to the game (technically), and each section adds a good number of enemies to the rotation. Also, these four levels are created INCREDIBLY effectively. Each one is unique, and another important aspect of this genre is the terrain and level layout, and how it relates to movement. Again, this game absolutely nails it. Each terrain setup and enemy layout is structured to make sure you have plently of opportunities to use all of your ability options, while giving you something interesting to see while you explore. There are rarely any dead ends in the game with nothing in them, as each path has SOMETHING of value that rewards you for exploring. They're incredibly well laid out, and also have replayability when you get relics (upgrades) to go back and access areas of the map that you couldn't reach before. I actually really liked the village building. I will admit, when I was first introduced to the idea of building the village, I sorta wrote it off and thought I wouldn't engage with it much, and mostly focus on the core metroidvania gameplay. I was WRONG. Building the village is so fun, and oh my god, I would be so screwed if I never engaged with this feature. Crafting is so fun, your upgrade trees are ties to this feature, and this is also how you get equipment among other features as well. I went from not caring for it as a feature to building a massive complex of structures that spanned from wall to wall of the screen lol. I really loved this feature, and when a run wasn't going my way, I would just spend time building the village and moving stuff around while rethinking my strategy. Finally, the rougelike element. I think having a metroidvania roguelike is a difficult balence to strike, because you have to weigh movement and explorability with replayability and variety. However, like I keep saying, this game just gets it. I like the grimoires and blessings you get that make you stronger, and it makes each run of each level unique for that reason. Some upgrades make some runs better than others, and I think it overall adds tons of variety and strategy to how you explore. Do you spec the PC to get through the level, or to beat the boss? Both? Bleed, or stun? High critical chance, or higher overall damage? There's so many ways to spec the PC and cater the run towards your preferences, while limiting you just enough to where you have to really think. [h2]CONS[/h2] I am sorry to disappoint here, but... There really isn't much to say in this section. But, I will do my best to be objective. I think how grimoires are categorized (common, rare, and legendary) doesn't always seem accurate when their rarity is weighed against what they do. Having an extra potion slot is absolutely Legendary. However, is doing 50% more damage to an enemy with full health really a good rare option outside of exploring the level (such as when you fight the boss, where this ability is useless after hitting them once). However, I think this can be circumvented based on just... Reading. If you read which one you like more, you'll see which one is more valuable to you personally, regardless of rarity. I used to not be a fan of how the game sends you back to the church at different stages of exploration throughout a level. Most levels need to be explored three times to unlock the three locks on the boss door, and after each lock is taken off, you're sent back to the church. I previously thought this was a little disruptive, because if you're on a roll and are lucky/skilled enough to have not lost much health, you can't just keep going to the next area of the level and instead have to break your momentum to go back to the church. However, like I'm sort of implying, I don't think this is as big of an issue as I once thought. Going back to the church, regardless of how well or bad I was doing on the level, gave me a chance to rest at the village, build some resources, and decide how my next bout of exploring would go. Plus, going back to the church/village encourages you to play with the village building mechanic, whereas exploring a level over the course of hours without ever going back here may make this feature (which you NEED to engage with to reach your full potential) undermined. However, I can see how people still may not like this feature, so I want to log it anyways. Finally, the stage bosses. Some have complained that they're a little to tanky/spongey, and honestly, I don't fully agree with this... Mostly. I think the main expections to this are the Academy boss and final boss, which have multiple stages and LOTS AND LOTS of health. I am a little embarassed to say that I lowered the difficulty when I reached both bosses just to get through the fight, because these two encounters simply have too much health (espeically the final boss). While the boss fights themselves are incredibly fun, I think the amount of times you have to hit them, even with lots of skill and upgrades you've invensted into, can hinder the tight pacing that the rest of the game has. [h2]CONCLUSION[/h2] I really like this game. Casltevania: Symphony of the Night is and will probably always be my favorite metroidvania, followed by Metroid: Dread. This game is my third place pick behind these two AAA titles, which is a huge testament to how well pulled off this game is. It's beautiful, fun, simple, and has tons of variety to keep you engaged and thinking through the entire game. Also, please do not go by my playtime for how long this game takes to beat lol. I did everything I could, tried to build the village to do everything and unlock every feature, and I got every relic/optional upgrade. Basically, if I was gonna play through this game once, I wanna do everything, so I did. In reality, you'll likely spend 12-14 hours on this game for a normal playthrough. There are 4 stages and 5 bosses, and each are incredibly fun. Finally, the game is worth the full price, so if any of what I've said (or even the trailer) has captured your attention and interest in this game, please PLEASE just buy it. I bought the game at full price and don't regret it in the slightest, and if there's a sale, forget everything and just BUY THE DAMN THING. It's such a good game, and if you like metroidvanias with beautiful art and animation, you'll love this game. An easy 9/10 game, I can't wait to play it again and see more from this team.

The hardest part about this game is having to stop playing it after beating it. Good thing I'll be coming back on a higher difficulty. Fantastic game, highly recommend.

As a metroidvania, this is a charming little game. There is a lot to like in the gameplay, as well in the artstyle and (despite having few tracks) the music is very pleasant and fits well with the game. As a “farming sim”, it is rather basic, but by design. The village was made specifically to be an optional fun ground, despite necessary for you to get better upgrades. As a roguelike, however, I did find this game was lacking some variety. The game comprises 4 different stages with a selection of levels in them. Because of this, the mix with metroidvania and roguelike created this kinda awkward space where the level design has to be consistently similar, but also change so the RNG can make it a little different every time. This created (to me) an experience that was never fully satisfying, because I was forced to go down the same similar paths every time with limited change. Never the exact same so I would be able to know where everything was, but never different enough to truly feel new every time. This overall level design made me feel like the bosses just had massive runbacks, that I was forced to do with at least minimal exploration to get the roguelike power ups. I would, personally, enjoy it more if the game just committed to a single style. -Either remove the power up system and re-balance everything to the village upgrades and make a pre defined map that feel like a classic metroidvania map; -Or randomize everything more so I feel every run is more unique, with more variety on levels, enemies and upgrades; Something that really puts emphasis on the sameness to me is the enemy variety. The enemies you fight in the first level continue to appear all the way to the final stage, which is not to say that new enemies aren’t added…. they are… but for some reason the new ones are always just stronger additions to the existing enemies, rather than a completely new roster for the stages. I would have suggested the inclusion of at least changing the skin of older enemies so they fit better in the later stages. The possession mechanic, despite being rather basic (just a very limited amount of enemies you can possess), was a fun addition. I was expecting the game to be built around it, so it disappointed me to see it was a second thought inclusion. However, it was still enjoyable enough to make me enjoy it at all. The combat is where the game shines to me. The skills, the magic attacks, the movesets, the bosses, they all clicked for me. Because of this, *I* would have probably enjoyed it more if it was a full metroidvania rather than a full roguelike, but I digress. If you are interested in the game, I fully recommend it. Don’t come expecting a masterpiece genre defying game, but a nice experience crafted by a very small team. The game is worth your time and attention.