Aggelos (2018)

I thoroughly enjoyed Aggelos! I'd even say it's made it into my top 5 indie Switch games. The reviews I watched likened it to Wonder Boy, which I've never played, but I was getting some strong Zelda II vibes when I started playing it. It's like they took all the things I liked about Zelda II and used those things but trimmed out all the things I didn't like about Zelda II.

I finished it with 97% completion in about 12 hours. The only thing I didn't get was the woodpecker challenge (downward thrust room), which leads me to one of my few complaints: controls. The controls could have been better; I felt like too many abilities were crammed into one button in combination with the d-pad. I wish each ring ability had been it's own button. Also some of the controls could have been a bit tighter. The controls are the only reason I deducted a star from my rating. As difficulty progressed, I ended up switching from my Switch Pro Controller to the Joy Cons for the better d-pad.

The difficulty was great! It was nice to play something challenging without being cheap. I feel like a lot of newer games are less challenging than the games from the 90s, and this one does it right. It was a good balance between dying a few times but still getting better/stronger and being able to proceed.

I bought this on an eShop sale for $5.50 and it was well-worth it!

The final boss was the best boss fight in the game, and a really fun boss fight in general!

Pros:
+ Great looking sprites, backgrounds, and colors that are reminiscent of a high-budget, end-of-life NES/Master System game

+ Platforming makes good use of (mostly) fun skills and spells

+ Just the right level of challenge, not too hard, not too easy

+ New areas are fun to explore and don't overstay their welcome

Cons:
- Chiptune soundtrack, while decent, is nothing remarkable and easily forgettable

- Very little reason to use magic in battles

- Control issues that haven't been fixed/patched

- Combat doesn't vary much regardless of new skills

- There weren't more of those awesome Woodpecker trials!

Final Thoughts:
Fun game! It definitely scratched that Dragon's Trap/Monster World itch. There weren't too many surprises but none are really needed in this type of game. Just exploring, grinding some gold, and uncovering secrets along the way is really all you need to have a good time. I really liked those oversized monster and boss sprites! Some of the dungeons had fun puzzles to tackle but I found enemy placement to be pretty annoying at times. The lack of health drops forced a lot of backtracking to a savepoint to heal up and continue exploring. Using spells felt a bit awkward at first but you eventually get used to the layout.

There's not much else to say about the game. It's a solid game, JUST above average. Still, I wouldn't mind giving it another run in the future to experience it again. Now if only I can get off my lazy ass and get around to finishing Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom sometime this year!