Gestalt: Steam & Cinder Reviews
Gestalt: Steam and Cinder is fun, engaging, and brimming with intricate details.
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder features a captivating steampunk setting with visuals inspired by the 32-bit era, but fails to deliver a memorable metroidvania experience. Despite its competent agile action and precise controls, the linear progression and lack of creativity in the maps compromise exploration. Combat, although varied in theory, becomes repetitive and boring due to limitations in mechanics and enemies; Furthermore, the story, despite being elaborate, is hampered by unnecessarily long dialogues and stereotypical characters. In the end, the result is an adventure that soon falls into oblivion.
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Gestalt: Steam & Cinder pays homage to the games that came before it without falling into a nostalgia trap of repeating the same elements from those it draws inspiration from. Instead it tries to refine them into a new and rewarding experience that while familiar, is not just more of the same.
Gestalt: Steam and Cinder is a fun Metroidvania-style adventure that’ll swoon players with its sublime visuals and slick combat. Combat and platforming feel great throughout, the story is intriguing and rich in detail, whilst the visuals are simply gorgeous … it really does have a lot going for it. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t quite nail the difficulty balance, with most foes too easy to take down and the boss encounters feeling like slogs thanks to their long-length and lack of move diversity. Fortunately, those issues don’t stop the game from being a blast to play, with Gestalt: Steam and Cinder easily standing out as another impressive release in the Metroidvania genre.