Recent reviews by Samsara

Waste of money. Couldn't properly scale an old game. Couldn't get a refund because this sat idle in the background for > 2 hours. This might be good for increasing the frame rate of old games, but I could tell no difference with the scaling turned on or off, except when it would break everything.

The gameplay was fairly straightforward and 90's JRPGish as advertised and took about 15 hours. I enjoyed the atmosphere and music. The world was dark and a bit gritty with high fantasy and a "thief" main character. What more could I want?

Some of the characters had more depth than I expected, but there were also some cliche if not contradictory moments. Like, one of the most mature characters seems like a trickster when you first meet him. I enjoyed the plot. There was more political intrigue and character development than I'd expect in an $8 RPG Maker based game. I really liked unraveling the story.

I'd love to see what the developer can do with a larger budget and more experience. There's definitely an opportunity to polish this up a bit more and deliver the story with more of a punch, but it has a pretty good bite already.

Overall, I'd recommend to anyone looking for a classic JRPG, but I also may be biased because I watched the developer's story about his experience making the game on YouTube and really wanted him to succeed. If the game has more story fleshed out I'd play it again. I'd definitely pick up a prequel or sequel to this game if they're made because I'd love to learn more about the world & lore.

My only major criticism, aside from a number of minor bugs which I've reported (most have already been fixed), is the low difficulty. It's great if you're new to RPGs or are looking to just enjoy the plot without the hassle. I'd have liked more challenging content to go with the abundance of powerful gear and item that's easily acquired. I've recommended the developer add difficulty options instead of simply ramping up the difficulty so that the challenge level is more adaptable to the player's preference.

Just another lackluster Idle game.

The developers of Astalon did well to replicate the nostalgia of the NES/SNES era with this Metroidvania title. The theme is dark/tragic, and the atmosphere reminds me a bit of Faxanadu.

Normal difficulty wasn't hard at all, though I did get lost for a bit and need to backtrack and search for areas that I could access after finding new items or keys. I also death warped quite often since it's often quicker to respawn than travel to a warp point or lift.

I got the game on sale for $9.99 and it's definitely worth that, but possibly not the full price since the game can be completed in 15-20 hours by a casual player. Still, the duration felt about right for the size and complexity of the game.

I like that the mechanics of the game were simple and that new item drops were well paced. It's a solid, atmospheric game that could easily be expanded upon with more writing. I'd love to see a sequel with more plot and world to explore.

I fell in love with this game from the first moments of play due to its sci-fi meets Chrono Trigger atmosphere and Metroidvania mechanics. The game play and main plot left me quite happy, though it could have been a bit longer.

I was turned off by the gay/polyamorous character development for almost every NPC that's on the screen for more than 5 seconds. If that's just how people are are in this world, that would be understandable but since it wasn't part of the world story it seemed out of place. It could seem like pushy woke agenda, whether or not it was the intent of the writers, but it didn't ruin my experience. It did seem unnecessary.

If you're into 90s SNES RPGs, the Metroidvania genre and are tolerant to the overuse of polyamorous/gay relationship content in the sidequest then this game is a no-brainer, especially if it's on sale.