Timespinner

Wears its inspiration not on its sleeve, but like a modern celebrity, it wears it proudly... Tattooed upon its face for all to immediately see and recognize. It lives up to those lofty inspirations well in every way except the story. The developer really could've used a second, third, or possibly fourth opinion and rewrite. A large portion of story and dialogue is all that holds this game back from being an all-time classic. That said, it's gameplay and everything else that is clearly a loving homage to the genres that inspired it keep it at least mentioned honorably in the conversation.

This game was Absolutely INCREDIBLE. The game itself gets 5 stars. Love the melding of Chrono Trigger and Symphony of the Night style gameplay. Simply a Master Piece. Wish the game had been longer however. Now the reason it gets 2 stars. Before you can even get to the title screen a pop up asking for strange permissions appears. I selected NO and was still able to play. However all achievements were locked. I beat the game and recieved ZERO achievements for it. These were the Permissions... ( Access to your Xbox Live Profile information and associated data, and sign you in to its services. Timespinner will be able to access basic properties about your xbox live profile including your gamertag, friends list, activity, stats and rankings, settings and content you share. Accepting these permissions means that you allow this app to use your data as specified in thier terms of service and privacy statement. The publisher has NOT provided links to thier terms for you to review.)

Prettyy spot on gameplay for the metroidvania genre. Large interconnected world with good combat, bosses and exploration. You level up weapons as you use them which is aneat idea. Around half of the weapons (of which there are only around 15) were just the same as others, so I felt little draw to level them up. No big deal from a game made by like one guy. Dude even put in multiple endings and a randomized dungeon which is awesome. The story wouldd be fine if a bit bland (a classic revenge plot) but unfortunately the writing is trash. Most characters act like horny high schoolers in half their conversations, always flirting or alluding to what npc they want to sleep with. Lines like 'you're my magic meat machine' are just awkward when theyre so common. The game doesnt have a militant feminist agenda as others have said, but it does have a cast of almost exclusively LGBT+ characters. This would be fine and welcome if they were written well but they arent. Really needed a 2nd draft

Great metroidvania game. 3 hours in, (ive noticed zero feminism\man hate mentioned by other reviwer. ) exploration works well, with breakable wall secrets so keep on lookout for them. Dual weild weaponry, AI Familiars and equipment, relics, spells and potions\food, as well as leveling for character, weapon and familiars. A near perfect copy of Castlevania: SoTN in its systems and mechanically in how it plays, and thats NOT a criticism. The story and setting are much removed from Cvania games though. More of a Star Ocean feel. Its been good so far. Definitely worth a buy at 20. If you like metroidvnia games you'll love this. UPDATE: The game does not suspend well, so before opening netflix or powering down, make sure to hit a save point. They are reasonably spaced, so its a minor annoyance at best.

This is a really good Castlevania clone that's about on par with the quality of the GBA/DS titles in terms of gameplay. The issue is that this game's story is Tumblr-level fanfiction, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on whether you want humor with your Metroidvania. The one hetero couple in the game ends in murder and the main villain is an allegory for the patriarchy. Also Hojo from FF7 shows up at one point and then delivers a Star Wars twist out of nowhere, so that's a thing.