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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is one of the best metrovanias i have ever played.

AzureFlame

AzureFlame

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,254
Kuwait
The exploration, puzzles, challenge, length, areas variety and the size of the map is just amazing, I think this is the biggest map for any metrovania game and almost every place is well designed and filled with secrets and puzzels, also the ost and art are amazing, some of the tracks composed by legends, Michiru Yamane (Casltevania) and Matoi Sakuraba (Tales).

My favorite place in the game is a place called Haunted Manor which has a song composed by Yamane herself, that place in particular is perfection in terms of design and puzzels imo.

I have to thank the game developers alot for this amazing game, what a great surprise for a fan of this genre.

So for those who played it what do you think about this game as a fan of the genre? Also i apologize for any grammatical errors, english is not my mother language.

Check the main game OT here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/mo...d-kingdom-ot-pepelogoo-in-wonder-world.84731/
 
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DrMoguera

DrMoguera

Member
Oct 27, 2017
432
It's seriously excellent yeah. The way the dungeons and puzzles evolve is really Zelda-like, but also beyond Zelda with how far it pushes every element of the game, whether it's unique to that area or one of your monster forms which never feel like they hit a point where they become useless. Probably my favorite game of (now last) year, which is pretty crazy since it was the last game I played through!
 

Amirnol

Member
Oct 27, 2017
479
How does it compare to Hollow Knight? That's my new gold standard for the genre.
 
Valcrist

Valcrist

Tic-Tac-Toe Champion
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,710
It's in my top 3 for best games of 2018. It also sparked my desire to play video games again.
 
ryushe

ryushe

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,814
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the Wonder Boy remake but I liked it enough to be looking forward to playing this... That is once my backlog clears up and after it sees a sale or two.
 
OP
OP
AzureFlame

AzureFlame

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,254
Kuwait
Amirnol said:
How does it compare to Hollow Knight? That's my new gold standard for the genre.
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That game is next on my list, probably the only one left for me to experience in that genre, but I can tell you that Monster Boy gameplay is slower paced and more old school like, also the art alot more colorful and vibrant.

ryushe said:
I wasn't a HUGE fan of the Wonder Boy remake but I liked it enough to be looking forward to playing this... That is once my backlog clears up and after it sees a sale or two.
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If you liked Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap then you will love this, it's better and bigger imo.
 
OP
OP
AzureFlame

AzureFlame

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,254
Kuwait
Bedameister said:
How hard is the game. Are there challanging boss fights?
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You might get lost alot or get stuck on some puzzle, some enemies really hit hard but you also have alot of savepoints in the game, the boss fights are not really challenging tho.

It's no old school Castlevania or Mega Man hard that's for sure but it is kinda challenging, especially in that one dungeon in the later half.

It took me around 20 hours to reach the end, but now I'm trying to 100% the map and get all the items, I still don't know the solutions to some puzzles and hidden secrets left for me.
 
Mugman

Mugman

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,369
It was definitely one of my favorite games this year just for the soundtrack alone. I will say I thought some of both the dungeon and boss design got pretty unclear to a frustrating degree (mostly haunted manor stuff), but yeah, it was a great game.
 
PrimaryAccess

PrimaryAccess

Member
Oct 28, 2017
71
Such a great game. I have enjoyed every second of it. It's definitely one of the best games I have played in 2018.
 
Bedameister

Bedameister

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,944
Germany
DarknessTear said:
A lot of people call it hard. My death count was around ~190 by the time I finished my 100% playthrough.
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AzureFlame said:
You might get lost alot or get stuck on some puzzle, some enemies really hit hard but you also have alot of savepoints in the game, the boss fights are not really challenging tho.

It's no old school Castlevania or Mega Man hard that's for sure but it is kinda challenging, especially in that one dungeon in the later half.

It took me around 20 hours to reach the end, but now I'm trying to 100% the map and get all the items, I still don't know the solutions to some puzzles and hidden secrets left for me.
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Hm not sure what to think of it. I love Metroidvanias but I suck at 2D platformers and I really can't stand hard games.
I loved Hollow Knight but I couldn't finish ot and had to drop it due to the boss fights.
Are there difficulty options in Monster Boy?
 
Fularu

Fularu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,609
It's kind of sad that Monster World games are called « metroidvanias » now when Monster World 2 predates Super Metroid by 4 years and SOTN by almost a decade :/

But yes Monster Boy is a wonderfully crafted game with insane heart and insane difficulty at times :p
 

Deleted member 3010

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,974
I still don't have the game but it's been a lock since launch. I just have way too much shit to play lol!
 
J-Wood

J-Wood

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,808
How is this on switch? I had no idea this existed but now I'm very interested
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
60,241
J-Wood said:
How is this on switch? I had no idea this existed but now I'm very interested
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No issues at all. Game performs great.

If you're a trophy fanatic, no trophies of course.

Amirnol said:
How does it compare to Hollow Knight? That's my new gold standard for the genre.
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Very different games. Hollow Knight oozes atmosphere and you can really get lost in the world.

This game is more blue skies, tighter paced, and has way more puzzles.
 

Deleted member 32359

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 10, 2017
319
Game is one of the best of 2018. Worth every cent spent. I haven't finished yet (last part I guess with like 90% discovered) but it has been an awesome game from the beginning for me.

Also the game is not that hard:
- improve your equipment from the start you'll be more than ok (of course you'll have to be curious and look for chests)
- it's pretty easy to get money to have potions and appropriate equipment for each area

For real it's challenging but in the best way possible. A few puzzles and some more complex boss strategies are the things you may have 2-3 tries before passing but that's it. No bullshit difficulty here.

I hope we'll have sequels or similar games at least <3

note: I know people are easily seing what type of games you're talking about when talking about metroidvania game but this is not totally comparable imo.
 

Amirnol

Member
Oct 27, 2017
479
entremet said:
Very different games. Hollow Knight oozes atmosphere and you can really get lost in the world.

This game is more blue skies, tighter paced, and has way more puzzles.
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How does compare in terms of content? I was blown away with how long Hollow Knight took to get the true ending, and the amount of optional areas and bosses.
 
Aeana

Aeana

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,949
I'm so glad people are finally starting to give it a look. At release, it seemed like it might actually be doomed to obscurity. It's incredible, and definitely my game of the year.

The song mentioned in the OP:

 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,051
The game is pretty amazing so far. I am still early, but really loving what I have played so far. It just looks so great and my biggest fear was controls and if the character would be floaty or slide when platforming and this is not the case and it plays perfectly.
 
Xtortion

Xtortion

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,652
United States
Amirnol said:
How does it compare to Hollow Knight? That's my new gold standard for the genre.
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Very different games. HK is a traditional Metroidvania where getting lost is part of the fun and you're constantly having to figure out where to apply your toolset in order to proceed. Monster Boy is more similar to Guacamelee where it has a Metroidvania ability progression, but the game almost always tells you where to go next and the areas feel more like escalating individual levels that just happen to be interconnected. HK is a better game for exploration and combat, while Monster Boy excels at puzzles, platforming and tighter level design.
 
B. Spaceman

B. Spaceman

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,296
Spain
To me this is the full potential of the Monster World games finally realized. It is truly great.
 

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
No lies detected! It's on my GOTY list. Took me completely by surprise. Feels retro yet new in the weirdest way. Controls perfectly as well. I was so sad to see at the top 2018 Metacritic thread that it didn't make the list even at a meta of 88 simply because there were only 13 critics that had reviewed it :(
 
Chackan

Chackan

Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,099
Really on the fence with this game.

It looks gorgeous, but I am a bit worried that it doesn't cativate me enough.

One of the best metroidvanias I played recently was Shantae and the Pirate Curse. The goofy narrative and great set of secondary characters is great!

Another metroidvania I consider to be amongst the best is Hollow Knight, but man can that game be hard sometimes :|

Where does Monster Boy stand?
 
MrNewVegas

MrNewVegas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,727
Chackan said:
Really on the fence with this game.

It looks gorgeous, but I am a bit worried that it doesn't cativate me enough.

One of the best metroidvanias I played recently was Shantae and the Pirate Curse. The goofy narrative and great set of secondary characters is great!

Another metroidvania I consider to be amongst the best is Hollow Knight, but man can that game be hard sometimes :|

Where does Monster Boy stand?
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Pretty sure most put it on the low end of hard.
 
TheMrPliskin

TheMrPliskin

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,564
It looks fantastic and I'm glad to see so many positive impressions. Looking forward to checking it out with the PC version.
 
ultramooz

ultramooz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,341
Paris, France
Bedameister said:
Hm not sure what to think of it. I love Metroidvanias but I suck at 2D platformers and I really can't stand hard games.
I loved Hollow Knight but I couldn't finish ot and had to drop it due to the boss fights.
Are there difficulty options in Monster Boy?
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I personally found it unfairly hard as there are many monsters appearing from nowhere and making you fall from platforms - or killing you. Also there are die-and-memorise platform sequences that you have to learn before being able to pass them because some trap will kill you without warning.

Checkpoints are not far away, but the repetition got to me and I stopped playing after really trying to like this game.

And I don't mind dying in the souls game or dead cells.
 

Deleted member 6230

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,118
This game is really good but my one gripe is combat feeling just a tiny bit better. I haven't unlocked all the forms yet so maybe that changes
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
18,865
USA
It clawed its way into an amended spot in my top 10 of 2018. I picked it up on Christmas Eve and have loved every single moment of it, save for maybe getting stuck in the section that I'm currently stuck on. But someone shared some wisdom in the OT when I cried out for help, so I may finally be able to move on... And to my shame, it was definitely a case of "the puzzle you were stuck on is a lot easier than you think." :(

Haha, but yeah, game is absolutely incredible. I'm going to go for a Platinum trophy, I think.
 
Jobbs

Jobbs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,639
I didn't like this at all. I know most people seem to respond positively to the visuals, but I think it's very very visually messy. It lacks any particular identity with respect to color selection and just looks overly loud. Animations are poor/sloppy and feedback/fx are underdeveloped. I hate how enemies just vanish when they die. That's not good enough in 2018.

It's fine if you like Monster Boy, but to me this looks like amateur hour compared to the better games of the genre like Hollow Knight and Ori.
 
Big One

Big One

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,277
It's really a fantastic game and it isn't that hard at all (basically just requires you to learn boss patterns ala Zelda). In fact I'm more than willing to label it was a Zeldavania more-so than a Metroidvania as it has more in common with the Zelda series than Metroid. So many cool puzzles and I actually love getting stuck in this game only to find the "Aha!" solution moment.
 
Nocturnowl

Nocturnowl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,128
Amirnol said:
How does it compare to Hollow Knight? That's my new gold standard for the genre.
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I'm gonna be the downer guy and say, not nearly as strong.
Granted I'm not done yet.

Monster Boy is solid, but its edges feel rougher, combat isn't really anything above serviceable.
Its strong advantage is how puzzles are part and parcel of the whole package, people point out rightfully that it can be a bit like a 2D Zelda to use a recurring example.
It's not really got the same exploration focus, which is fine but just to temper expectations compared to Hollow Knight's absolute trek.
 
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