This was a game that had the mood not been right, I would have probably kept putting it off. Knowing it was a big influence on, practically the namesake of, the Metroidvania genre, I expected it to be one of those experiences where you can see the skeleton (no pun intended) of a game style that will ultimately become very timeless and powerful, but that this particular game itself would not rise to the status that some of its descendants. Boy, was I wrong. This game was absolute fire from the very beginning. I love the atmosphere, the mechanics, the character, the design, all the ability-building and weapon combos, the music, my god the music, just everything about it. It became very evident about halfway through that this was going to be an all-time favorite, and it exceeded even those expectations. This is a game with so much endgame content that I loved so much, it could be the rare instance where I actually come back to it and try playing through it again as Richter, which, from what I've read, seems like an even better, or at least different experience.

Reviewed on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023, 9:21am.