Exile's End

Finally, an old guy as the protagonist

Got this game when it come out for the Wii U and apparently it was released on PS4 and Steam as well. The reason I got it was its metroidvania style gameplay. You play as Jameson, a grizzled mercenary... I think. Together with another group of soldiers have been sent put by this mining company to find the son of the CEO that has gone missing on this mining planet. But as you approach the planet interference causes the ship to crash and everyone running for the "lifeboats". Of course Jameson is the only one that survives so he find himself on this alien planet with a malfunctioning suit and in the beginning without weapons. Even jumping can kill you since you take fall damage until you upgrade your suit. So don't jump too platforms below you, just walk off the cliff and land on the closest platform.

Nice doggy!

So most things kill you, too long in the water you drown, there's areas contaminated by radiation that kills you and the wildlife ain't nice. You find a gun and can finally fight back and you even locate your target. But since the electromagnetic storm is still raging you can't escape so you need to go to the ancient temple the planets inhabitants looked away since apparently there is something there that controls it. Then it turns to Metroid Prime. No really, this ancient civilisation locked away this evil under the temple and you have to stop it together with the last ancient one that is still alive? The story got a bit unclear, but it mostly is due to me taking a year or so long break (I really have a bad habit of doing that) before coming back.

Maybe not so nice doggy!

The break is probably due to not being able to progress further after finding the mine. And that is one of the more irritating parts of the game. The map isn't as useful as it should be... or more like Metroids map is. First of, the map doesn't indicate that an opening/door leads to another area which can be frustrating since you can't tell if you already been there and couldn't progress or if it connects to another area of the planet. Also, I couldn't find a good description on the weapons and items I picked up making me run in circles I just out of desperation used a wrench on a red wheel and that lowered the water to let me progress to the next area. The worst example being after fighting a hard boss in the Cathedral and I'm rewarded with a new gun. I remember that there was a laser beam door blocking my access to another part of that area so I went there and fired the gun... nothing happens. I run around for a bit, but gets so frustrated I searched the web for an answer and lo and behold, I was on the right path, but you needed to charge the gun... apparently twice when I tried it. I didn't know it could do that and it wasn't even mentioned. Another puzzle like that was how you needed to blow up a pot with water to get rid of a locked gate. I had to look it up to realise that your explosives could be used for that purpose. Another thing that irritates me is apparently you can't get 100 % on the map. For example there is spiked floors that are way too far dawn to map out the whole are and if you die the map resets to before you entered the room and certain areas are blocked off by the ground, walls or ceilings. That feels rather weird to not be able to fill it all out. Does any other metroidvania game do that?

Other than that it was a really interesting game and story. The music is catchy at times and the 2d pixel art is mostly better. It also has some cutscenes, although maybe not as fluently. But I guess I didn't get the real ending since I was able to get to the warrior tomb and either me or the alien had to sacrifice themselves in order to active the ritual to re-seal the darkness lurking. Which is rather anti-climatic I must say. And from the things I gather you need to find some hidden messages that will turn the story around I presume. Some other time when there is a walkthrough to follow I might go for it, but right now there ain't one and I have other games in my back-catalouge to finish.