Gretchen Leigh

I finally finished this one after putting a few hours into it a couple years back. It's an extremely well-crafted side-scrolling Dark Souls that everyone thinks is a Metroidvania.

The combat is excellent and a high point of the game. Later boss encounters in particular are some of the most satisfying times I've had with an action game in a while. Traversal is equally enjoyable after unlocking a few abilities and wonderfully fluid in last quarter or so once you pick up the last big ones.

A few things brought this one down for me a little below where a lot of other folks place it. While the art style and aesthetics did frequently win me over, too much of the game is draped in drab color palettes and minimal musical accompaniment. Even more unfortunately, the duller areas in the game are mostly grouped towards the beginning, which is an interminable slog that put me off the game until I finally built up the willpower to break through. But I'm glad I finally did, because the back half has some fantastic bits.

I didn't do the vast majority of the optional content. It's possible that I might revisit it at some point and revise my rating if there's a lot of worthwhile stuff there. As things currently stand, it's a pretty dang good game, but I'm having a lot of trouble understanding why anyone would put this above SotN.