Playing through Mummy Demastered and so far my feeling is very positive. It is a solid Metroidvania that I think is fairly well polished.
I think one of the key factors to enjoying a Metroidvania is that magical point where you have collected enough items to make further exploration fun. You want to feel powerful enough that you don’t fear …
Playing through Mummy Demastered and so far my feeling is very positive. It is a solid Metroidvania that I think is fairly well polished.
I think one of the key factors to enjoying a Metroidvania is that magical point where you have collected enough items to make further exploration fun. You want to feel powerful enough that you don’t fear dying far from a save point, and thus you generally want to push farther. Backtracking to a known save point is not ideal and Metroidvania’s that are well designed have you “coming upon” a new save point at just the right moments.
Despite getting stuck in the game for a bit I was willing to just keep exploring and revisiting old areas a number of times. I had enough mobility items and weapons that made it enjoyable blasting through bad guys searching for secrets.
As an aside, I didn’t hit that point with Hollow Knight and had to put the game down. A big part of that was the lack of map until you discovered it. Combine that with not getting upgrades quickly enough it meant pushing forward was far more risky.
My biggest gripes with Mummy Demastered are the bosses and the weapon load outs. Bosses are boring because they are complete bullet sponges and you run out of ammo. In the normal levels it is much less common to run out and it is fun to make liberal use of your weapons. For boss battles you blow through your special ammo in the first 10 seconds and there is no way to refill. I have seen other games push the risk/reward by spawning limited destructible items that make boss battles more engaging.
This game’s other huge flaw is forcing you to pick a weapon load out AND you can only change at Ammo refill rooms, which are rare. I think for most games weapon load outs are a horrible design choice. Part of the fun is experimenting with weapon combos and which ones feel the best for your playstyle. If I get bored or picked a bad set I want to switch immediately. I hate being forced to limit my choices because more often than not I stick with a know set that works.
Another aside... Weapon load outs was my biggest gripe with Anthem. I didn’t have any clue what weapons I liked playing with and being unable to swap during a mission meant the cost of picking wrong was high. Combine that with the long load times and I never wanted to experiment.
Ultimately Mummy Demastered seems more akin to Metroid than Castlevania, and I really like that.
