Exile's End Reviews
With a high level of difficulty and a pixelated aesthetic, 'Exile's End' is an affectionate tribute to a decidedly different era of gaming. My time with 'Exile's End' was decidedly mixed, although I must admit I'm not in the target demographic of players that really enjoy this type of experience. I admired the visual and sound design for creating some truly creepy environments, and for serving up a loving tribute to the Commodore 64/Amiga era, but I was left a bit more cold in the gameplay department. Getting lost in expansive, empty 2D maps isn't exactly my idea of a good time, and I've never been one to get terribly excited about "old-school" difficulty. With that said, fans of this sort of isolated retro experience might get a real kick out of Marvelous' take on the genre.
I wanted to love Exile's End, but the hard, honest truth is that I've played so many other titles like it that are so much better. Exile's End's main issue is that it doesn't do enough to stand out, to shake up the formula, or to be different. It tries too hard to say it's different to Metroid...But in the end all they did was make it into the same thing they wanted to drift away from.
The combination of tired "retro" design choices and brief length make Exile's End a tough game to recommend, even before recognizing that the Metroidvania genre is full of better options.