Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (2011)

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is an old-ish (2011) indie game which is a hybrid of a twin-stick shooter, metroidvania, and puzzle game. The game seemed to have potential, so I decided to give it a try, but I left disappointed.

You play as a little spaceship/UFO thing, navigating some caverns that structured in Metroidvania fashion, where you can explore somewhat freely and will sometimes have to backtrack to areas that were previously inaccessible after you get new powerups.

The boss fights are a combination of combat and puzzle, with you usually having to figure out how to actually damage the boss. There's a little scanning mechanism in the game that I do like. You can use it on bosses, as well as on anything else in the game world, and it will tell you which tools/weapons can be used on that object or enemy.

The general mechanics and formula are all here and there's nothing particularly broken about the game, but it doesn't feel like it does anything well either, and I was left with a very "meh" impression by the end. The game doesn't seem to have much personality, and the gameplay just doesn't feel rewarding or satisfying. Combat feels less like an interesting challenge and more just like another obstacle to avoid on your way to the next map destination.

A dark aesthetic with a stark contrast between light and shadow can work brilliantly from an artistic standpoint, as seen in games like Limbo for example, but it just isn't used for anything here. Worst of all, while a shadow aesthetic should work well for gameplay by creating easily readable enemy silhouettes, here it ends up actively sabotaging visibility in the final area. Everything was so dark there that the enemies blended right into the background, and most of the challenge of the area just involved trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. It had me wondering whether my game's visuals were bugged somehow.

Pass on this. There are countless other great indie games to play.