Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists Steam Charts & Stats

The spring's secret ability is how you open the black lock since no one is willing to say it.

"Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists" is a nice little metroidvania about a dryad and their tribespeople fighting against an apocalyptic wasteland of rotting overproduction. It definetly has charm, the spritework is colorful, the worldbuilding is quite unique, main-characters movement feels distinct, the different seed-mechanics work well, the music is fitting, plus the wasteland track reminded me somehow of "Closer" from "Nine Inch Nails". (I was a little bedazzled because of the NPC-dialogue, but I soon found out that their lines are a collage of different famous song lyrics. I mean, this is kind of cool, I guess). Sadly, it is a little buggy, the enemies can sometimes stunlock you (I would have preferred the infamous Belmont-knockback) and it is quite short (3-5 h.). Another caveat: You cannot load your cleared save-file, which is quite a shame if you want to see the other ending (where you 100% the collectibles) without another playthrough. Nevertheless I had my fair share of fun with it. Definetly recommended for genre enthusiasts who like it unique and short and dont mind the aforementioned points.

Super underrated and absolutely solid metroidvania with sequence breaking in mind Axiom Verge / Super Metroid lite

This is a charming time! It doesn't exactly reinvent the Metroidvania but by being less than half as long as an average example of the genre (I easily finished this in a single session) it manages to keep itself from ever feeling stale. The various references to different rock and metal songs can sometimes feel forced, as can the social commentary, but both give the writing its own unique texture. The setting is easily this one's strongest feature, with its muddy colors and dark, oppressive setting perfect for an album cover--not sure why there's a level set on a steampunk-adjacent airship, though, it feels out-of-place (and just cribbed from Shovel Knight). If I had one major hiccup with the gameplay, it's that I think locking the player out of being able to go back for the alternate endings once you beat it once is very silly. Sure, it's a short game (and I do like the thematic idea that each "run" is similar things happening again on another layer of waste), but I'm just much less inclined to re-collect all 40 collectibles I just gathered over the last 3 hours than I would be to just sneak out and find the final 10. Perhaps a more explicit warning would be useful.