Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials Reviews
Batbarian wades into the Metroidvania genre with enjoyable exploration, tricky and inventive puzzle mechanics, and an array of impressive accessibility options. A more helpful map that included signposting would make this a real Metroidvania highlight, but it still comes highly recommended for fans of the genre.
Ultimately, while Batbarian may not blow your mind, it'll offer the odd chuckle, and mechanics just robust enough to keep you coming back.
Overall, Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is a simple game, but a very good one. I heartily recommend it to anyone who’s willing to put up with a bit of trial-and-error.
A wonderfully crafted Metroidvania that should have genre fans plenty excited. It's blending of combat, platforming, and puzzling keeps the gameplay fresh and varied throughout its entire 20-hour story. It may not be the most revolutionary game ever made, but it does what it set out to do very well.
A game that is clearly not perfect, but if very fun and I think that's what counts. I recommend it without problems.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is everything you'd expect from a good metroidvania and has a rich world to explore, great text and beautiful audiovisual compositions. If some aspects of the gameplay seem to need a little more polishing, the overall experience is challenging and thought-provoking, and a warrior's relationship with a bat, if it once seemed unlikely, now makes perfect sense.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is a very solid Metroidvania game. While the story isn't anything special, the humor in the writing is good enough to keep you paying attention to the cut scenes.
The art and music style bring the jams of the retro age as well as its storytelling and humor bring a modern sensibility. Despite the occasional difficulty spike (which can be adjusted with assists), Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is a game worth trying out. If only to see what's really going on in that cave.
Batbarian has you play as a barbarian who's friends with a bat and that's pretty cool. Not only that; its gameplay strikes a perfect balance between combat and puzzles to make a supremely rewarding formula and it's quite funny to boot.
What’s interesting with indie games is their consistent ability to seem familiar at first but then consistently surprise you by defying expectations...
Batbarian has been saved by the new mechanism of using the bat in the gameplay, so it can be recommended for those who are interested in Metroidvania games.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is what I might call shallow metroidvania. It doesn't take advantage of everything the genre has to offer, but presents enough to have what a game needs: fun and challenge. It would hardly be on my best-of-the-genre list, but the humor and the soundtrack will have a place in my memory and may prompt me to play it one more time.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
With an in-your-face title and wacky cover art, Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials was initially not my cup of tea, but that’s me judging a book by its cover. Nevertheless, Batbarian manages to excel in multiple gameplay elements with beautiful artwork, ambient soundtrack, witty story, inventive puzzles, and evolving combat mechanics. Along with its refreshing arsenal of accessibility options and dozens of hours of gameplay, Batbarian is a hidden gem that Metroidvania and puzzle lovers will fall in love with right off the bat (no pun intended).
The level of challenge won’t be to everyone’s liking, but for those who do like this sort of thing, then Batbarian is a game that will give the player a run for their money. It’s hard, but never unfair, and it lures the player onward with an interesting plot and retro graphics. This one stands as an example of what a good indie developer can do with a classic game genre, breathing life into it and making it their own.
Minor control and performance quibbles aside, you don’t need a keen sense of echolocation to see that Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is an exceptional addition to the Switch library. With killer presentation, an exciting world to explore, and a unique approach to its puzzle-solving mechanics, it’s a must-have for any fan of the Metroidvania genre.
I found much of the gameplay to be frustrating in a bad way, with plenty of cheap shots and unclear mechanics making the questionable momentum even harder to deal with, and yet I kept playing after unlocking the bad ending. I even kept playing after obtaining the normal ending, spending several hours slashing at random walls in search of the secret switches that have to be activated to get the best ending. Why? The easiest explanation is that the characters—most of whom start out as joke-and-sarcasm dispensers—had grown on me to the point that I wanted everyone to have a good ending. Despite all of my gameplay complaints, Batbarian has a surprising talent for growing on you.