Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Reviews
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a mediocre Metroidvania through and through. It starts with a solid foundation but lacks the kind of all-around refinement and conceptualising to be taken seriously. There's some fun to be had here, but it's not worth the price of admission.
Grim Guardians has a few issues, but ultimately is a fantastic retro style platformer that fills the Castlevania shaped hole in my heart.
Inti Creates knocked it out of the park with a game that feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch. What little I have to complain about is so minute it feels like nitpicking. If you’re a fan of Castlevania, but are fed up with the sheer volume of metroidvanias flooding the indie scene nowadays, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is the perfect pick.
This game may yet be my favorite Inti Creates title of this era. A well-considered, refined, and lovingly realized tribute to Castlevania combined with the quirky, yet fully sincere personality of Gal*Gun makes for a one-of-a-kind platformer. Although I do have some grievances with the overall execution of parts of its level design and partner system, the smile I had on my face the majority of the time outweighs that many times over. Stylish, funny, and breezy all at once—Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is an easy recommendation.
Some of the enemy designs are clever callbacks to Mega Man and Castlevania, but ultimately the title manages to stand on its own merits. Even though they never seem to stop dictating all the action happening on screen, Shinobu and Maya are delightful to play as and make enough banter and jokes between them to keep the narrative light. If you'd rather purge something new than the dozens of games in your backlog, Grim Guardians provides a devilishly fun ride.
With a more energetic soundtrack, funnier dialogue, better GUI, and a more useful super move, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge could be one of the best. Even with these nitpicks, expect another excellent Inti Creates game that is on par with some of the classics it is inspired by.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a good action platformer that comes together remarkably well. Another score for Inti Creates’ catalogue of fun 2D platformers.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
For now, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge comes highly recommended. It may be the best Castlevania in years at heart, but it’s also unmistakably its own distinct thing, too, rather than simply being a slavish recreation of a Konami classic. Its solid gameplay, well-crafted mechanics and interesting structure all show that there’s still very much a place for classic 2D side-scrolling action in today’s video game market, and I sincerely hope it ends up a big success.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge mixes classic elements with modern concepts in a great adventure. The idea of alternating between the two heroines with distinct skills is explored in the stages with a good variety of situations and the balance of linear areas and exploration bits is well-dosed. Some decisions are annoying, such as being unable to access the map freely but the charismatic atmosphere and good audiovisual elements compensate the issues. In the end, those who like good platforming adventures will appreciate Grim Guardians.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
It took a long time for Grim Guardians: Demon Purge to grow on me but once it did, I became hooked thanks to its assortment of clever abilities and oodles of secrets to discover. So, if you long for the return of old-school Castlevania then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.
Despite some small nitpicks, I still very much recommend Grim Guardians: Demon Purge. It not only showcases Inti Creates’ skill at breathing new life into old series, but it does so with panache. The combat is varied and complex, and the challenge, though sometimes frustrating, nevertheless kept me invested during the entirety of my playthrough. Not to mention you’ll unlock a new mode and difficulty after beating the game once. Plus, if you have a friend close by, you can both play a sister in local co-op. If you enjoy platformers and are hankering for a new Castlevania-inspired adventure, look no further.
While the game is an excellent spiritual successor to the Castlevania series, it also does enough on its own to help it stand out from the crowd.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge manages to play with the format of one of the great action platforming classics and show again their mastery of the genre. Though some details such as not having a map during gameplay can make the experience more confusing and tiring than it should have been, this is still easily recommended for those who like the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge is a wonderful addition to the genre with lots of ideas taken from Iga-era games, while adding their own high impact gameplay into it.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is the latest homage to the Castlevania series from Japanese developer Inti Creates.
For Metroidvania fans and lovers of Inti Creates' works, Grim Guardians certainly does enough to please. Getting to grips with combat negotiations and levelling up your weaponry brings with it a sense of reward and progression, and it's enjoyable to backtrack for secrets. It's not quite on the level of Curse of the Moon, its closest relative, but it's not far off - and the sibling switching idea is at least novel and fun to work with. Gory, spritely, and occasionally creatively inspired, it hits all the right notes, just sometimes in a little too sparse a manner to be considered overwhelmingly compelling.
With its stunning pixel art visuals and an intense mix of slashing and shooting challenges, Demon Purge satisfies
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is Inti Creates at its safest, working in a genre it is most comfortable with. That’s not a criticism, given how talented the developer is at this stuff. If you enjoy the older Castlevania games, you’re going to love this. At the same time, as confident as this production is, it’s hard not to wish that the team at Inti Creates had pushed themselves a little further for this outing. It’s just a little too safe for broader appeal beyond its main niche.
Despite being technically competent, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge fails by playing too safe in certain aspects, leaning too much on its inspirations, and also by not paying attention to simple and basic things expected from the genre. In the end, it delivers an average and unimpressive experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review