El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron Reviews

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is ranked in the 71st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
5 / 10.0
Oct 7, 2021

I looked forward to giving an game like El Shaddai a try, but its aged...everything...fails to hold my attention.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 26, 2024

If you missed it back in 2011, El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON HD Remaster is a second chance to experience a MUST PLAY in gaming.

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8 / 10
Apr 26, 2024

El Shaddai feels genuinely more creative and interesting than a lot of the titles it would consider bedfellows today. It shares a place with the likes of ICO, Nier, and Panzer Dragoon in its arcane design and historically inspired symbolism. Elsewhere, it borrows from the likes of Okami and Mizuguchi's Rez for its abstract, acid-trip beauty. It's true that the combat can become routine, the platforming occasionally frustrate, and some of the boss encounters appear slightly samey, but it runs smoothly and assuredly across 11 visually astounding stages. El Shaddai, more than anything else, is a game of moments, and a lot of them. It's certainly one of the most intriguing titles in the action-adventure, hack-and-slash genre, and deserves the attention this time around that it never achieved on its original release.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 28, 2024

Playing El Shaddai portably feels right. The combat system is easy to get into and not having to deal with any camera system makes this game feel very accessible for action game newcomers. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster is an audio and visual tour de force that you never forget. It makes sense why it was brought back after all these years.

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7.9 / 10.0
Apr 29, 2024
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75 / 100
Apr 29, 2024

It's not a game for everyone, but it's one that we'll never get tired of recommending. If El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster manages to "click" for you, you'll never be able to forget this biblical hack and slash.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Evan Norris
Top Critic
Unscored
May 1, 2024

Presenting El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron to a new audience and preserving it for future generations is a great thing, especially considering its cult status. Whether that audience will enjoy it is another matter entirely.

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8 / 10.0
May 2, 2024

El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON HD Remaster updates to HD one of the most peculiar titles from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Though the title inspired by Enoch's book isn't immune to occasional performance issues on Switch, this is an excellent reminder that experimentation and establishing connections to art should be more valued in the game industry instead of being left only to indie works. Overall, if you'd like to relive this adventure or to know it personally, Nintendo's console is indeed a good way to do it. It's just better, due to the aging marks, to adjust expectations.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review