Pretty good metroidvania, even if the weaponry based platforming feels a bit too convoluted.

A very well built game for a ~20h campaign.

The game is not a traditional metroidvania in the sense that it will not give you many items, potions, foods or weapons to use. The focus is towards the 3 weapons at use and their progress trees, and building Inayah with some collectible upgrades, some of which will provide traditional metroidvania progression like double-jump.

What it does well:
- Has an extremely well done manouverability, Inayah is a pleasure to control, move around and attack with, controls are very responsive with fast and nimble movement. Platforming is very thought of, most of the traversal is simple jump and dash with only a few more complex rooms requiring good reflexes.
- Inayah has 3 different weapons at her disposal (swords, mace, fists), each with extremely deep and meaningful progress trees, and the weapons are used not only for combat but for traversal as well (fists can grab walls and do an extra jump, swords can swing up for added height, maces allow grabbing to some hook points).
- Character setup is excellent: Inayah can be built by the skill trees of her weapons, by choosing from a broad selection of dozen of "implants" and "injectors", all that can improve combat, movement, health, etc. Weapon upgrades don't simple provide additional damage (there are even few of those) for each weapon but more perks and critical
- Graphically it is beautiful, colourful and luxurious, even though sometimes a bit too much and makes it difficult to distinguish between first-plane game and background. There are around half a dozen biomes, all very different and recognizable.
- Story is very simple but the storytelling is further developed with NPCs, their stories and events probably more than it had to. There is a lot going on to explain the past of Inayah and the motivations and experiences of all the tribes and NPCs. Everything is voice acted.
- Map is large, well represented and easy to navigate, is displayed in "rooms" and not as a whole thing, and you can zoom into rooms to see in detail each.
- Many difficulty options! Can adjust platforming and combat difficulty with boss health and damage from a large range to customize your challenge. Game is very stable and performs very well.
- Combat is satifying, Inayah moves very well and many upgrades improve her combat capabilities significantly. Each weapon functions severely differently. Swords are fast, can attack also upwards and downwards (upwards for higher jumps, downwards to hop on traps - and both also can attack enemies), they can parry and be thrown. Maces do big damage, are slow and can ground pound. Fists are fast and dont allow movement while using, but the more they attack the faster and stronger they become. Switching them in combat is possible, encouraged and there are even talents that grant bonuses for attacks between them.
- BOSSES: this is really where the game truly shines. Bosses are absolutely incredible. They are super well designed, it's not just a new brute attacking left to right, they all have their peculiar mechanics, their rooms will participate in the fight somehow and provide something different and will keep you on your toes constantly. At higher difficulties doing a proper build becomes a necessity. There are 20 or so of them.

What it doesn't do so well:
- Storytelling sometimes feels too much, characters have a bit longer than necessary conversations and you end up skipping (at times). Voice acting is... really off, and that gets in the way more often than not. The stakes and the story would seem a bit darker, but the whole cast speaks with an enthusiam resembling a a Scooby Doo episode that always creates an uplifting mood, which contrasts a bit with the worldsetting.
- Map traversal is sometimes exhausting because the map is quite big and you can only fast travel between specific spots, which are sparse and few. So there is a considerable amount of backtracking just because of this. The save points are also scattered but there are more of them, and not always close to fast travel spots.
- Random mobs are few, skippable and otherwise uninteresting. This will make the world feel empty at times. Mobs provide little reward too. Unless they get in the way you will be easily rolling through to skip ahead.
- Some of the "metroidvania-style" progression is locked through some doors or barriers that are opened through added capabilities of a companion that is always following you. This companion does little besides this and is essentially doing nothing other than opening doors. This could have been done by upgrading Inayah herself, but I suppose it works in some fashion.

Summary:

Inayah: Life After Gods is a fast paced, dynamic rich metroidvania with a deep weapon progression systems and character builds that is a joy to interact with, both shining in memorable boss encounters. This dynamic is only held back a bit due to the length of its map not being supported by more abundant fast travel mechanisms that force you to backtrack plenty through a mostly empty world, even if platforming through it is butter smooth.

This game is a beautifully crafted story world with depth and heart!

Super fun combat, great looking game.

I recommend this to all

The graphics is beautiful. Interesting way of playing with all those weapons. The map is huge and packed with secrets. Controls are tight, which makes every jump and dodge feel great.

Great game! The idea of choosing weapon at very beginning that changes playthrough path is quite unique. Liked it