Crypt Custodian

It's a fun little story with mostly strong gameplay Unashamedly incredibly game-y; don't expect to be immersed in a world here Upgrades are literally called "Upgrades" and require "Upgrade Points"; there are also "Special Attacks". If all you're wanting is 10 hours or so of metroidvania gameplay, this is a pretty good choice. Most levels feel incredibly similar to all the others; as far as the biomes go it's basically just copy/paste with a slightly different theme. There's a random theme park, and a random mountain, and a random rainy area; none of them exist in an interconnected world because of underlying history, etc, they've just been thrown out there randomly Exploration falls flat because there's no meaning to the world; no history/lore/world to tie it all together. I enjoyed the first 5 hours or so, but the second 5 hours were mostly a slog because at that point I had already mastered just about everything there was to do mechanically, but there was no mystery/curiosity pulling me forward Zone geometry/layout is basically interchangeable as well with the exception of a core obstacle or two unique to each world. But the map is laid out so generically that it's simply impossible to play the game without looking at the map; in order to traverse the world you're forced to constantly interact with your map interface rather than the world itself. Some weird UI failures, e.g., zone labels not displayed when zoomed out, and you can't zoom out of map then zoom back in in a different location, meaning that to move from one end of map to the other you have to move slowly while zoomed in - can take 10-15 seconds to traverse whole map, rather than 1-3s. Upgrade Point display when in Pause Window is bewilderingly designed. No graphic, just x/y, where x is how many you have available and y is total; not intuitive. Which abilities you have activated and which aren't isn't immediately visually salient either. In Pause Window you can't even see how many points each upgrade consumes

Sweet and enjoyable Metroidvania. Has plenty of options if you like to adjust difficulty up or down. Huge map, mellow music. I suck at games and really enjoyed completing it (on all the easiest settings). The normal mode is challenging enough to be fun for my young-adult kids. The unlockable boss rush mode is also hard enough for my kids to have to work at.

The first cute-cozy metroidvaina I've ever played. The artstyle is really cute, the plot is really cute, the characters, the monsters, the bosses, the "backstory" pictures and every dialogue... everything is really cute. The puzzles are cool, not too over-the-top but not too boring either. There's some extra modes for those who want some challenge, otherwise all the collectibles and power-ups are doable without too much effort. Overall a chill and fun experience, would definitely recommend! Pluto is definitely a good kitty :'(