Exile’s End walks like a Metroidvania, and looks like a
Metroidvania, and quacks like a duck Metroidvania, but it darn sure isn’t a
Metroidvania according to its creators.
At first glance, Exile’s End seems like it can’t be considered anything
other than a Metroidvania, but the developers insist on calling it a cinematic
platformer along the lines of Out of This World or Flashback (or more recently,
INSIDE). So which genre does Exile’s
End actually fit into? The truth lies
somewhere in between, which is both to the game’s benefit and detriment as it
makes Exile’s End a unique blend of experiences, but it also feels a little
flat and boring as it doesn’t fully embrace any of the things that make the
genres it borrows from special in the first place. Exile’s End is still good, and fun, and the $10 price make it
worth a look pretty much regardless, but it’s just not spectacular. See our full review for all of the details.
Game Details
- Publisher: Magnetic Realms
- Developer: Magnetic Realms
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Action Platformer
- Pros: Great sound; nice presentation; solid gameplay;
- Cons: Doesn’t fully embrace its obvious influences; kinda boring
- MSRP: $10
A team of mercenaries is sent to a remote planet to see what
happened after contact with a mining colony was mysteriously lost. Just as their ship approaches the planet, it
experiences a massive electrical failure and the team crash-lands on the
surface. You play as the only apparent
survivor, a soldier named Jameson, and it is up to him to explore and solve the
mysteries of the planet.
Exile’s End is a retro inspired 2D action platformer that
blends elements of Metroidvania games – finding new items / weapons to open new
areas of the game – and puzzle platformers – solving simple puzzles to make
progress – to create a new and unique experience. The problem is that it doesn’t really fully embrace either one of
its chosen genre influences so you’re constantly waiting for something truly
interesting to happen but it never does.
What does that mean?
Well, let’s compare it to Metroidvanias first. The combat in Exile’s End is sort of simple and straightforward
and bland, but there also isn’t as much of it, nor is it as challenging, as
you’ll find in a typical Metroid-like.
The game gives you several different weapons to use but your best bet is
almost always to stick with the pistol and machine gun you get super early on
and every boss can be beaten with a handful of grenades. I would also say that, aside from the very
beginning of the game where you have very limited health and no weapons, it is
also a pretty easy experience overall.
Traps are obvious, enemies can be avoided, and patience is rewarded.
Comparing Exile’s End to cinematic platformers leads to
similar conclusions as well. To start
with there’s a lot more combat here compared to games like Out of This World or
INSIDE or The Fall, but that’s fine.
The real issue with calling Exile’s End a cinematic platformer is that
it is almost completely devoid of puzzles until the last third of the game and
even then there’s only a couple real actual puzzles. This is particularly disappointing because the puzzles that are
here are actually pretty clever and satisfying to solve, but there just aren’t
enough of them.
The result is that Exile’s End is just sort of “OK”. It is an enjoyable experience because it
isn’t too difficult and when it does hit a high point here and there it
motivates you to keep playing, but it is just sort of flat and unexciting
compared to the games that inspired it.
With that said, Exile’s End does do a few things really
well. The controls are fantastic and
precise and the platforming feels pretty darn good. Also, despite not telling you how to do anything or where to go,
it is pretty intuitively designed.
While the map is open and you’re free to go back and explore previous
areas with your new items and abilities to find hidden stuff if you want,
progression is generally pretty linear so it isn’t like Axiom Verge where you
have to backtrack across the entire map constantly. Key items are used in the same area (though the areas can be
decently large) they’re found in. I
also like the save system that autosaves every time you enter a new room. This can cause problems if you aren’t careful,
particularly at the beginning of the game as it might autosave when you have
only a tiny sliver of health, but I liked that it never sets you back too far
when you die. And because the game is
pretty easy, you shouldn’t die too often.
At least, I didn’t.
I think the sound design also deserves a special shout
out. It has been patched now,
thankfully, but when the game first came out on Xbox One there was a bug that
caused the music not to play. But I,
and I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, didn’t really notice until I had
already beaten the game. The ambient
environmental sounds are spectacularly good and made the levels feel real and
alive and extremely atmospheric. The
enemy sounds and weapon sound effects are awesome, too. The pistol is loud and powerful sounding and
satisfying to use. Of course, while
Exile’s End sounded great without the music, it definitely sounds even better
with the fantastic retro soundtrack composed by Keiji Yamagishi of classic
Tecmo games fame.
The presentation as a whole is pretty good in Exile’s End
with good looking sprite work on your character and the enemies and the
environments are distinct and detailed and look good overall. It would definitely fit right in on the
SNES.
In the end, I’m more than a little conflicted on Exile’s End. It isn’t a bad game, but it
doesn’t really hold up when compared to the games that inspired it or other
similar indies on Xbox One. It can
definitely still hook you, though, and keep you playing even if it is kind of
flat and boring. I liked it enough that
I beat it – in around 6-hours – and then almost immediately started a new game
since I knew where to go / what to do and could beat it much faster the second
time around. Exile’s End is solid and
fun and surprisingly compelling even if it isn’t always terribly exciting. Retro action platformer fans will dig it and
it is perfectly priced at just $10 so anyone curious should definitely check it
out.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.