Elderand: impressive visuals and not much else

Games of the metroidvania genre are very popular and extremely fun, if done correctly, after all, the possibility of a huge world to explore, skills to unlock and so many secrets to discover, is something very attractive to players and to the audience that follows them.

“Elderand” is an interesting case: it pleases you right away with its beautiful pixel art, large sprites, eye-catching scenery, and a good choice of colors that give a great mood to the adventure. However, the game did not bring me anything unique in its setting. The fact that the protagonist is a mercenary that you customize with only a few hair and color options and has no personality, did not make me feel interested in his story or more of his world.

Games like “Metroid” and “Castlevania”, which are the most popular of the genre, have a lot of personality in their respective worlds and protagonists, encouraging the player to want to explore more to see the story unfold.

“Elderand” has responsive gameplay, but not very interesting

“Elderand” has simple, uncomplicated gameplay. It is easy to pick up the controller and in a few minutes you are already controlling your character easily. I found the controls and movement for the platform gameplay responsive. It is also possible to get some improvements to the character, such as double jump or a hook, and with this access new areas and find new paths and secrets in old areas, something to expect in a game of the genre metroidvania.

The exploration and combat did not please me very much: the character remains motionless during the attack, which can cause a lot of unwanted damage, especially with its heavier weapons. I didn’t feel much fun especially facing bosses, after all, I would get close, give a blow, retreat and wait for a chance to attack by jumping, retreat and repeat. This strategy was used for multiple bosses, so I did not have as much fun as in other games of this genre. Despite the wide variety of weapons, they don’t have much difference in their attack animations.

The difficulty of “Elderand” is a bit high for the standard player, with a similarity to sous-like games, in which it is possible to die very quickly to enemies and bosses from the beginning of the adventure. However, death leads directly to game over and loading the next save, so be careful not to lose too much progress if you don’t find a save in time.

Challenges and beautiful art can be appealing to the public

The version we tested was the STEAM PC version. The game ran smoothly and without any problems.

During a stream, “Elderand” works well, after all, it’s easy to get to a live stream of this game and follow the streamer in the adventure, because it doesn’t have a super complex story or so much focus on character.

Its beautiful art, both of the scenarios, bosses and equipment, will certainly keep the viewer in the game, especially those who like to see the overcoming of difficulty in challenges and bosses.

The game is available in nine languages, during my play I saw no problems with translation of my native language, which will greatly facilitate the transmission and understanding of those who come to watch.

Fezudu