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Two of them I'm going to talk about here.
The first is Ex Vitro, a free game on Steam that, I'm pretty sure, started its life as a literal Metroid fan game, but which was then converted into an original IP. The reason it is free, according to the dev, is because it is apparently too much like Metroid. Which, I mean, I guess, and I'm not going to complain about a free game, but if it hadn't been free, I would've paid (a reasonable sum of) money for it. If you like the old school 2D Metroid games, you'll probably like this. It took me about 5 hours to get 100% items and map completion (only had to look for help to get the final weapon, which also led to the 100% map/item completion). I only just finished this one for the first time today, a few minutes ago (as of starting this post).
Here's a small hint: if you're in a room and the mini-map is kind of pulsing orange, that means there is a hidden item in that room (above and beyond any other pickups that might be more obviously visible). These items are invariably hidden inside a wall that you'll usually have to crouch-walk to get to. Also, there will be a faint orange sparkle effect that should indicate where it is. (I'm not certain, but I think you might have to fire your weapon near the location to get this effect to appear?) In any case, on the map screen, it will let you know how many such hidden items are in each main area of the game.
The second is Lenna's Inception, which is a (not free [I got it for $4.99 USD about a month ago]) game in the style of the old school top-down Legend of Zelda games. I'm going to talk about this one a lot more than I did Ex Vitro above. I've beaten this game once already, but I am about halfway into a (much more difficult) second playthrough to try to get the best ending. There are multiple endings, which I will spoil the conditions for below, behind a cut and below some spoiler space.
But before that, I'll talk about the game in general. First of all, at the start, you can pick between 8-bit style graphics and music, which make it look and sound like an old NES game, and 32-bit style graphics and music, which make it look and sound like an old SNES game. Aside from that, it doesn't affect gameplay, but it's still a pretty cool feature.
Another thing about this game is that each time you play it, everything is randomized (unless, I assume, you use the same seed again, the seed being what you name the kingdom at the start). The entire overworld is random, the dungeons are random (both in placement on the overworld and in their interior layouts), and the items you get in each dungeon are randomly placed (e.g. in my first playthrough, I'm pretty sure I got the bombs in the first post-tutorial dungeon, but in my current one, I got the lighter instead). The NPCs you encounter on the overworld (and in some dungeons) are also random.
Big block of mild semi-spoiler random tips here (not going to bother with spoiler space here):
In this game, more than in any other Zelda-like game that I've played, you are going to want to, at least once for every screen: kill every enemy on screen, cut every bush, break every jar, push every tombstone, blow up every rock with a bomb (whenever you get bombs), etc. This includes going back to previous dungeons that may have had destroyables, once you get the proper item to deal with them from a later dungeon. The reason for this is not just for the usual coins and hearts and item replenishment drops you can get, but also because some of them might reveal meteor pieces (used to forge new weapons at the blacksmith) or heart pieces (used to increase health, same as in Zelda) and, most importantly, reveal entrances to hidden caves. The hidden caves are mini-dungeons that usually have a boss that will give either a meteor piece or a heart piece on defeat or perhaps even blueprints for new weapons. And here's the thing about these hidden entrances that appear... they can be on the overworld, inside the big dungeons, or even inside another mini-dungeon cave. Oh, and you'll want to talk to every NPC you encounter on every screen, if you can reach them. While most of the time, they just say a little throwaway line about game lore or give a small hint or whatever, they will occasionally offer to give/sell potions or tunics, or may even just hand you a meteor piece or whatever. Each potion and tunic is unidentified when you first find/buy them, so you'll have to use/wear them at least once to figure out what they do. Some are good, some... not so much.
Oh, and you'll have companions that follow you around. You start with Henrietta the chicken, but there are a few others you can get over the course of the game. Only one at a time, though, but once you unlock one, you can switch back and forth by talking to them again on the overworld, or wherever you happened to be when you switched. For me, the best by far is Paige the librarian, once you find enough of her missing library books.
One last minor thing, when you kill all the enemies, cut all the grass, break all the jars, etc. on any given screen, if you leave that screen and come back again, there's no point to doing it again, because there will be no additional drops. In fact, I think the enemies stay dead on that screen as well. However, if it's a dungeon, and you leave the dungeon entirely, when you go back in, it will all be reset, including enemies and any drops from destroying destroyables. And for the overworld, if you quit the game and then reload the save, the overworld will be restored in the same manner (i.e. enemies back, drops for cutting grass again, etc.) This is both useful and annoying, because once you've cleared out a screen/room you won't have to worry about that screen/room again... but at the same time, if you wanted to grind for money or hearts or whatever, you're out of luck until you "reset" them as described.
Now, for the full-on spoiler "best" ending stuff.
Spoiler space, just to be sure...
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So, the best ending. This game has a kind of Undertale-ish quasi-pacifist ending. I haven't completed it yet, but I know how to go about getting it. In a "normal" playthrough, you'd go through each dungeon, get the item (bombs, lighter, bow, etc.), fight the boss at the end, and move on to the next, so on and so forth. That's what I did in my first playthrough.
However, for the best ending, you want to not do that. Instead, you go to each dungeon, get the item, and then don't fight the boss yet. Once you get the main item from the dungeon (the one you get after fighting the glitch enemy in each one), just leave the dungeon entirely (or do what I do and clear out the rest of the dungeon, up to the boss door [which shows up on the map once you get the map item for each dungeon], without actually entering the boss room). At some point in the game, you will get the Power of Compassion, which you can use to then fight the bosses without killing them. However, just having the Compassion item isn't enough. You also have to do all of the sub-quests in the game in order to get the needed item for each boss. I won't spoil all the quests but, as one example, finding enough of the library books and pink slime drops for Paige the librarian to give you her locket is one of those sub-quests (another reason you'll want to cut all the grass, smash all the pots, and so on). This also counts for the final boss and two additional extra bosses that appear in the best ending run, though I don't think you need any quest items for them.
Anyway, once all of the above conditions are met, go back to each dungeon and fight the bosses as normal, while making sure to have the Compassion item equipped to a button for use. Then, from what I understand (I still haven't actually done this part yet in my second playthrough), when the boss is one hit away from being defeated, the Compassion item should start reacting, and that's when you use it. Make sure to save prior to attempting a boss, in case you accidentally kill them.
The reason I say this is much more difficult is because you won't be getting the full heart you'd normally get for killing the bosses, meaning that the only health increases you'll get must come from any heart pieces (four pieces equal one full heart, same as in Zelda games) you find in the overworld or in hidden caves or whatever.
Also, the reason I say "quasi-pacifist" is that it's only the bosses you have to avoid fighting, until the time is right. Unlike in Undertale, where everything should be spared if you're going for the true pacifist ending, all the normal mobs in this game can (and should) be wrecked, as usual.
Lastly, in this game (again, unlike Undertale), I'd say just go ahead and do a "normal" playthrough first, and save the "quasi-pacifist" playthrough later.
So, yeah, that's two games that I've played recently that are very similar to far more well-known games, but which I will still recommend anyway, because they're cool enough on their own merits, as well as being a couple of the better examples of Metroid-/Zelda-clone games out of a fairly large list of such games that I've played over the years.
The first is Ex Vitro, a free game on Steam that, I'm pretty sure, started its life as a literal Metroid fan game, but which was then converted into an original IP. The reason it is free, according to the dev, is because it is apparently too much like Metroid. Which, I mean, I guess, and I'm not going to complain about a free game, but if it hadn't been free, I would've paid (a reasonable sum of) money for it. If you like the old school 2D Metroid games, you'll probably like this. It took me about 5 hours to get 100% items and map completion (only had to look for help to get the final weapon, which also led to the 100% map/item completion). I only just finished this one for the first time today, a few minutes ago (as of starting this post).
Here's a small hint: if you're in a room and the mini-map is kind of pulsing orange, that means there is a hidden item in that room (above and beyond any other pickups that might be more obviously visible). These items are invariably hidden inside a wall that you'll usually have to crouch-walk to get to. Also, there will be a faint orange sparkle effect that should indicate where it is. (I'm not certain, but I think you might have to fire your weapon near the location to get this effect to appear?) In any case, on the map screen, it will let you know how many such hidden items are in each main area of the game.
The second is Lenna's Inception, which is a (not free [I got it for $4.99 USD about a month ago]) game in the style of the old school top-down Legend of Zelda games. I'm going to talk about this one a lot more than I did Ex Vitro above. I've beaten this game once already, but I am about halfway into a (much more difficult) second playthrough to try to get the best ending. There are multiple endings, which I will spoil the conditions for below, behind a cut and below some spoiler space.
But before that, I'll talk about the game in general. First of all, at the start, you can pick between 8-bit style graphics and music, which make it look and sound like an old NES game, and 32-bit style graphics and music, which make it look and sound like an old SNES game. Aside from that, it doesn't affect gameplay, but it's still a pretty cool feature.
Another thing about this game is that each time you play it, everything is randomized (unless, I assume, you use the same seed again, the seed being what you name the kingdom at the start). The entire overworld is random, the dungeons are random (both in placement on the overworld and in their interior layouts), and the items you get in each dungeon are randomly placed (e.g. in my first playthrough, I'm pretty sure I got the bombs in the first post-tutorial dungeon, but in my current one, I got the lighter instead). The NPCs you encounter on the overworld (and in some dungeons) are also random.
Big block of mild semi-spoiler random tips here (not going to bother with spoiler space here):
In this game, more than in any other Zelda-like game that I've played, you are going to want to, at least once for every screen: kill every enemy on screen, cut every bush, break every jar, push every tombstone, blow up every rock with a bomb (whenever you get bombs), etc. This includes going back to previous dungeons that may have had destroyables, once you get the proper item to deal with them from a later dungeon. The reason for this is not just for the usual coins and hearts and item replenishment drops you can get, but also because some of them might reveal meteor pieces (used to forge new weapons at the blacksmith) or heart pieces (used to increase health, same as in Zelda) and, most importantly, reveal entrances to hidden caves. The hidden caves are mini-dungeons that usually have a boss that will give either a meteor piece or a heart piece on defeat or perhaps even blueprints for new weapons. And here's the thing about these hidden entrances that appear... they can be on the overworld, inside the big dungeons, or even inside another mini-dungeon cave. Oh, and you'll want to talk to every NPC you encounter on every screen, if you can reach them. While most of the time, they just say a little throwaway line about game lore or give a small hint or whatever, they will occasionally offer to give/sell potions or tunics, or may even just hand you a meteor piece or whatever. Each potion and tunic is unidentified when you first find/buy them, so you'll have to use/wear them at least once to figure out what they do. Some are good, some... not so much.
Oh, and you'll have companions that follow you around. You start with Henrietta the chicken, but there are a few others you can get over the course of the game. Only one at a time, though, but once you unlock one, you can switch back and forth by talking to them again on the overworld, or wherever you happened to be when you switched. For me, the best by far is Paige the librarian, once you find enough of her missing library books.
One last minor thing, when you kill all the enemies, cut all the grass, break all the jars, etc. on any given screen, if you leave that screen and come back again, there's no point to doing it again, because there will be no additional drops. In fact, I think the enemies stay dead on that screen as well. However, if it's a dungeon, and you leave the dungeon entirely, when you go back in, it will all be reset, including enemies and any drops from destroying destroyables. And for the overworld, if you quit the game and then reload the save, the overworld will be restored in the same manner (i.e. enemies back, drops for cutting grass again, etc.) This is both useful and annoying, because once you've cleared out a screen/room you won't have to worry about that screen/room again... but at the same time, if you wanted to grind for money or hearts or whatever, you're out of luck until you "reset" them as described.
Now, for the full-on spoiler "best" ending stuff.
Spoiler space, just to be sure...
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So, the best ending. This game has a kind of Undertale-ish quasi-pacifist ending. I haven't completed it yet, but I know how to go about getting it. In a "normal" playthrough, you'd go through each dungeon, get the item (bombs, lighter, bow, etc.), fight the boss at the end, and move on to the next, so on and so forth. That's what I did in my first playthrough.
However, for the best ending, you want to not do that. Instead, you go to each dungeon, get the item, and then don't fight the boss yet. Once you get the main item from the dungeon (the one you get after fighting the glitch enemy in each one), just leave the dungeon entirely (or do what I do and clear out the rest of the dungeon, up to the boss door [which shows up on the map once you get the map item for each dungeon], without actually entering the boss room). At some point in the game, you will get the Power of Compassion, which you can use to then fight the bosses without killing them. However, just having the Compassion item isn't enough. You also have to do all of the sub-quests in the game in order to get the needed item for each boss. I won't spoil all the quests but, as one example, finding enough of the library books and pink slime drops for Paige the librarian to give you her locket is one of those sub-quests (another reason you'll want to cut all the grass, smash all the pots, and so on). This also counts for the final boss and two additional extra bosses that appear in the best ending run, though I don't think you need any quest items for them.
Anyway, once all of the above conditions are met, go back to each dungeon and fight the bosses as normal, while making sure to have the Compassion item equipped to a button for use. Then, from what I understand (I still haven't actually done this part yet in my second playthrough), when the boss is one hit away from being defeated, the Compassion item should start reacting, and that's when you use it. Make sure to save prior to attempting a boss, in case you accidentally kill them.
The reason I say this is much more difficult is because you won't be getting the full heart you'd normally get for killing the bosses, meaning that the only health increases you'll get must come from any heart pieces (four pieces equal one full heart, same as in Zelda games) you find in the overworld or in hidden caves or whatever.
Also, the reason I say "quasi-pacifist" is that it's only the bosses you have to avoid fighting, until the time is right. Unlike in Undertale, where everything should be spared if you're going for the true pacifist ending, all the normal mobs in this game can (and should) be wrecked, as usual.
Lastly, in this game (again, unlike Undertale), I'd say just go ahead and do a "normal" playthrough first, and save the "quasi-pacifist" playthrough later.
So, yeah, that's two games that I've played recently that are very similar to far more well-known games, but which I will still recommend anyway, because they're cool enough on their own merits, as well as being a couple of the better examples of Metroid-/Zelda-clone games out of a fairly large list of such games that I've played over the years.
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Date: 2024-02-05 09:36 pm (UTC)From:I've got the dlc wishlisted for now. I'll wait til I've actually played through the game and found I like the music enough first. ^^
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Date: 2024-02-06 11:19 am (UTC)From:It was quite a bit easier than I thought it was going to be, despite the fact that I only ever found enough heart pieces to make one (1) single extra heart beyond the three you start with. I only got two heart pieces in mini-dungeons and had to buy the other two from the two merchants that sell them. Apparently, when you don't kill bosses, the game detects this and decides to make heart pieces far more rare, in favor of the meteorite pieces and other such. But then, the only things I even bothered getting with the meteorite pieces in the second playthrough were the Tungsten Sword (sets enemies on fire and has a beam attack on charge that ignores collision with obstacles/walls), the Damascus Katana (allows you to swing really fast while moving [and, I guess, also has a spin attack on charge, but I hardly ever used that]), and the Silver Bow (the only weapon that kills those fucking spike ball things that roll around following along the walls [basically the same as the Spark enemy from LoZ games]), as I found those to be the most useful compared to all the others, the first time through.
As for why it was still easier than I thought it was going to be, here's one more hint, for if/when you ever get the game: acquire a "Blood Tunic." The Blood Tunic basically lets you cheese the bosses (and anything else, really), because if you use it in the inventory (i.e. just go to the tunic section and select it, as if you're equipping it), it will refill one heart worth of health. You don't even have to leave the menu to refill your health to full. Just keep "reequipping" it. If you're doing the True ending run and only have three or four hearts worth of health total, it's very handy. I'm not sure if the Blood Tunic is available to find or buy anywhere via the usual methods as most everything else seems to be, but after finishing one of the side-quests, it unlocks the ability to make any tunic you want, as long as you sacrifice one of the ones you already have and a potion (e.g. trade in the worse-than-worthless poison tunic and a blood potion to make a Blood Tunic, which is what I did).
And... yeah, as I mentioned in the post itself, if going for the pacifist "don't kill the bosses" ending, definitely save before trying to fight them, because I did indeed accidentally kill a fair few of them instead of properly using the Compassion item and had to reload, including during the "true" final boss sequence. Some of the bosses are tricky to know when they're about dead, especially the later ones that have second forms.
Some things I noticed during the second playthrough in general. Apparently, some of the weapons/items you can get may not even show up in a given playthrough at all. In my first playthrough, it gave me proximity landmines to mess around with. In this playthrough, though, instead, I got a weird kind of paper airplane bomb, that you can fly around and crash into enemies and such. Neither of those things were all that useful compared to just regular bombs, mind you, but that's still kind of neat. I also know there's apparently an upgrade to the spring item you get that allows for double jumping, but I haven't found that yet, either. And apparently there's also a gun with only one bullet? Haven't found that yet, either.
Also, some of the "biomes" were different in the second playthrough. There was a snowy area in the second playthrough with some weird little snowman enemies that could only be killed with fire that wasn't there at all during the first playthrough. I recall there being a desert biome in the first playthrough that didn't appear in the second one, either.
There's still a fair bit I haven't done yet, of the stuff I know about, such as doing more of the hallucination challenge arena thing, or using the phoenix ash on the chicken to power it up, and such, so I'll probably be playing through this again at least another time or two at some point, especially considering the whole thing is randomly different on every playthrough. I think there's also one more ending I haven't seen yet, at any rate. And there are some other game modes that I haven't touched at all, yet.
As for Ex Vitro's music, I don't recall any particular tracks that stood out as being especially memorable, but it was pretty good on the whole. Quite atmospheric and kind of Super Metroid-ish. I may also get the soundtrack myself if it goes on a sale at some point.