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The Last Case of Benedict Fox |OT| Benedict's Mansion

cormack12

Gold Member
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Every 2D game these days uses the "metroidvania" tag. Doenst look like it has any of its features at all and it's prlly just a linear 2D adventure that you'll finish in a couple of hours. Had it on wishlist for a while but will wait for steam impressions.
 
No reviews yet?? That always makes me nervous when no one was given early codes ahead of release, so that reviews could be ready in time for launch.
 
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Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
The initial release video (I think 2 years ago or so during a Microsoft event) grabbed my interest. I didn’t know it was going to be a metroidvania type game, I just thought of it as an action/platform title with creepy ambience.

Either way I’m looking forward to playing it!
 

Salz01

Member
Care to say why?

Combat? Controls? Exploration?
For me, it was the exploration , combat. It’s been a few months now. Was expecting a bit more out of it. It was a demo and maybe they changed some things. Also it has a very Darkness kind of vibe. Which is a good thing I guess.
 

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Wow, this game is reviewing extremely poorly on Steam right now. Seems like folks really do not like the control scheme and lack of ability to rebind (even on controller apparently).
I thought this looked awesome and while I didn't try the demo I am still going to give it a go.

Sitting at Mostly Negative right now (but only 11 reviews currently).
 

Astray

Gold Member
Wow, this game is reviewing extremely poorly on Steam right now. Seems like folks really do not like the control scheme and lack of ability to rebind (even on controller apparently).
I thought this looked awesome and while I didn't try the demo I am still going to give it a go.

Sitting at Mostly Negative right now (but only 11 reviews currently).
Was actually considering buying it day 1 on Steam until I saw the reviews (15 reviews rn), all of them negative.

Seems like it should have had an early access period to iron out some things.

Added it to my wishlist in hopes of improvement.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
30 min in. Definitely more jank than I expected from the trailers. Movement, jumping, combat all just feel clunky and unsatisfying. Story is kind of hard to follow so far but its early. Art and graphics are solid for an indie game. More puzzles than I expected already, but I haven't solved any of them yet. I dont think I have items for them yet.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
First boss down. It was alright. Feels like it's missing a final pass on sound design on the enemies. Feels a lot better when you get double jump.

Accessibility features are actually great. You can customize difficulty on combat, puzzles, and exploration (map assistance) all individually.

Art style so far is the star of the show, so far.
 

Shakka43

Member
I'm playing Afterimage at the moment but will follow with this one as soon as I finish it. It's a great time to be a metroidvania fan.
 
Hold B to skip is permanently onscreen. Guess I skipped too much story. I think Im glitched.

Yes these controls are agravating. Hold B to back out of things or do anything else is getting on my nerves.
I did not know this was going to be so Heavy on combat.
I’ll try again with a new game this weekend but this isn’t a good first impression.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
Hold B to skip is permanently onscreen. Guess I skipped too much story. I think Im glitched.

Yes these controls are agravating. Hold B to back out of things or do anything else is getting on my nerves.
I did not know this was going to be so Heavy on combat.
I’ll try again with a new game this weekend but this isn’t a good first impression.
You can turn off "hold to confirm" in the options.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
Game crashed. Lost 30 min of progress. I think I'm good for tonight lol. Its mid at best. Some elements of the art and voice acting are enjoyable.
 
No professional reviews on release day (nothing on metacritic that I can see anyway) is strange.
We recieved codes earlier today and were notified the copies are late due to the fact that they wanted the reviewers review the game with final patch day that arrives at launch. Ours won't be up till Monday.
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
Im back to where I was when it crashed but can't get through the locked door in the house all the way on the right with 3 symbols. I dont know if an item glitched out or what but if anyone has those 3 symbols I may need the solution. Don't see any walk-throughs up yet.
 

Pimpollo818

Member
played for an hour or so and dropped it. combat feels forced, exploration never felt surprising or fun. also, a lot of collectibles with text that need to be read in menus.

my fav thing was the GTA3 style hump jump lol
 

Roberts

Member
I'm probably overly optimistic but It is a patch or two away from where I would like it to be. The artstyle is amazing and in theory the gameplay design that mixes metroidvania and point and click adventure is great, but the performance on XSX is not good - it never ever feels even close to being 60fps. Also, controls and animation can be quite janky. If they make a patch, I will return.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
This is definitely an interesting release. It has some clear flaws, but there's also elements of brilliance at times as well. I'm saying through it now and having a good time. Definitely glad I didn't drop it, but you have to have a high tolerance for unoptimal game design at times. Seems like a small team reaching for high ambitions but doesn't fully stick the landing in multiple areas.

1. The double jump feels so weird because its not a jump, but a grapple onto the ceiling. Very odd.
2. The puzzles are rough.
3. Accessibility features save the game. Turn everything on easy. The combat isn't good enough to worry about mastering it. The puzzles are obtuse and not good, but switching it to auto complete isn't bad either. It basically makes every puzzle a key instead. You still have to find the key and bring it to the right place, but then you don't have to fiddle with that conundrum machine. Exploration on easy just adds icons to the map that are basic features in all metroidvainias. Should be the standard setting honestly.

The game really shines in art design. Some small parts of level design are also surprising but I won't spoil. Also enjoying the story now as well. Its told almost entirely in notes so read the items. The characters and voice acting are also cool. The companion obviously, but even the tattooist just have a cool vibe.

The game reminds me of Trek to Yomi. Some areas are a home run and other areas are super rough.
 

Roberts

Member
This is definitely an interesting release. It has some clear flaws, but there's also elements of brilliance at times as well. I'm saying through it now and having a good time. Definitely glad I didn't drop it, but you have to have a high tolerance for unoptimal game design at times. Seems like a small team reaching for high ambitions but doesn't fully stick the landing in multiple areas.

1. The double jump feels so weird because its not a jump, but a grapple onto the ceiling. Very odd.
2. The puzzles are rough.
3. Accessibility features save the game. Turn everything on easy. The combat isn't good enough to worry about mastering it. The puzzles are obtuse and not good, but switching it to auto complete isn't bad either. It basically makes every puzzle a key instead. You still have to find the key and bring it to the right place, but then you don't have to fiddle with that conundrum machine. Exploration on easy just adds icons to the map that are basic features in all metroidvainias. Should be the standard setting honestly.

The game really shines in art design. Some small parts of level design are also surprising but I won't spoil. Also enjoying the story now as well. Its told almost entirely in notes so read the items. The characters and voice acting are also cool. The companion obviously, but even the tattooist just have a cool vibe.

The game reminds me of Trek to Yomi. Some areas are a home run and other areas are super rough.

Agreed. Despite thinking of putting it aside, I loaded it up between my Loop Hero and Ghostwire sessions and ended up enjoying it despite the flaws. I would rate it a bit higher than Somerville as far as day1 GP indies go.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
How's everybody finding this game? Is it worth the purchase?

The game looks beautiful and just high-quality, but there are 0 reviews on Metacritic (WTF!).
 

Fredrik

Member
Played for 2 hours or so til after a boss. Feels janky, stutters even on performance mode, input latency, strange controls. Can’t say I enjoy it but it’s unique and has little hand-holding which is always a plus. Worth a try on Gamepass no doubt but I wouldn’t buy it.
 
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Roberts

Member
I think it was worth waiting for the patch. Performance is solid now and while controls are never as tight as in best metroidvanias, I think this one adds interesting gameplay variety to the genre. Good game
 

Roberts

Member
I'm Thinking of getting this. How hard is the game?
It’s manageable. I have only played two or three hours and haven’t really got stuck anywhere. Combat is relatively easy as long as you use block correctly. It’s not as combat focused as, let’s say, Ori games. Puzzles seem very vague at first but you will eventually get clues to solve them.
 
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