➤ 9 Years of Shadows, the review of a (almost) metroidvania that comes from Mexico 🕹

The review of 9 Years of Shadows, a side-scrolling action game that comes from Mexico and tries to offer its own version of metroidvania.

Available from March 27, 2023 for PC and Nintendo Switch, 9 Years of Shadows is the newborn's first game Mexican team Halberd Studios who, as his first project, decided to go back and propose a work clearly inspired by Castlevania, also receiving the support of Michiru Yamane, composer who worked on the aforementioned Konami series, and Norihiko Hibino, who was in charge of the Metal music. . Solid gear.

Obviously looking only at the past is not enough and you always have to find a way to say something original and personal. Did Halberd Studios make it? Find out in ours Review of 9 years of shadow..

Europe and Apino

9 Years of Shadows, the review of a (almost) metroidvania that comes from Mexico — Europa and Apino are the characters but they are also our weapons of attack.

We are Europe, a young woman who lost her parents nine years earlier after the arrival of a curse that stole the colors of the world. The girl has trained herself to find her own path and finally finds herself right in the immense castle known as Talos where the source of the curse is located. There, however, she is immediately attacked by an impossible to defeat monster, Belial, and in her escape she is only saved thanks to Apino, a small spirit that resides inside a teddy bear. Apino protects her and also restores the colors inside the castle.

La history of europe and pineapple is a classic journey that uses action and fighting to tell of the difficulties of life and how suffering always risks submerging us. The castle also has its own mythology, which you can discover if you find a series of giant crystals that tell it. Overall, however, 9 Years of Shadow struggles to convince from a narrative point of view, often revealing itself to be quite banal and with several characters lacking depth, complete with an Alucard-like character who appears a bit out of nowhere and doesn't. I don't have much interesting to say.

It's a little more interestingadjustment, which in an illogical but certainly satisfactory way is divided into several very different areas, with poisoned gardens, lakes, magmatic areas and not only everything inside the castle. In purely artistic terms, the Mexican team has done a good job, especially with certain scenarios that are extremely detailed: over the years the style of the game has changed several times as can be seen in the development diaries, but the result ending is excellent. Even the bosses and mini-bosses always have unique visual designs, but it's a shame that the common enemies are repeated a lot, a problem that also affects the playable level, since soon there will be nothing new ready to try. us. Additionally, most enemies are not very aggressive and go down with just a few hits.

The problem is also the combat system, which in common battles is uninteresting since apart from a single combo and a charged attack there is not much else available. We have dodge, but only backwards and no invulnerability, so don't expect to dive through enemy fire while looking for an opening to attack. Europe has a number of Shapes/armors associated with various colors. (with a design clearly inspired by the Knights of the Zodiac), necessary to unlock locks of the same color or to inflict more damage on enemies, depending on the aura that surrounds them. Unfortunately this mechanic is not very interesting in common confrontations, especially once we have strengthened Apino a little, which is our ranged weapon. The sprite is very powerful and allows you to face multiple battles from a safe place, to defeat the enemy without putting yourself at risk.

The team tried to balance this mechanic by linking it to the shield of europe: The girl has two hit points, but the shield absorbs the damage first. However, if this is zero, a couple of shots are enough to end the game. Attacking with Apino consumes the shield, so you have to be careful, but it is possible to recharge it by holding a button for a few seconds or with a QTE (not easy but not impossible either). In boss fights, the mechanic works because the time available is limited and you must act judiciously, but in normal fights you can stay at a distance and torment your enemies without worry. Considering the lack of variety in common enemies, on average the battles are uninteresting: this weighs heavily since enemies respawn simply by changing areas and it is rarely possible to scale them without fighting.

exploratory powers

9 Years of Shadow is presented as a kind of metroidvania, but we must clearly understand how the team used this term. in a little more eight hours of play We complete the adventure, with a completion percentage close to 100%. It is a small game, given the genre, and the design of the areas also reflects this. 9 Years of Shadow offers a series of new powers from phase to phase that allow you to advance through the levels. What's missing is the need to backtrack, since you can get pretty much anything on the first try. If you are precise and careful you will be able to complete the game as if it were a single linear adventure, without having to go back even once.

Europe's powers are used almost exclusively to continue in the new area and you can't really decide where to go. Exploration is minimal. and the few secrets present are linked to some walls that must be broken down (they are very obvious and often marked on the map) to find a room with a reward, that is, an item necessary to improve the life of Europa or the attack.

At least in the later stages the level design becomes a little more interesting. At first the linearity is extreme and you only have to do a few fights and jump on a couple of platforms, but once we have obtained the armor we will unlock it. additional movement capacity, complete with alternative shapes such as the mermaid to swim in water, the snake to go through tunnels that often become microlabyrinths or the phoenix that makes us ride currents of hot air and more.

The component a platforms It's actually the most important element of 9 Years of Shadow, although it will never be overly complex. The bosses themselves, especially, require you to understand the attack pattern, avoid all hits by jumping between platforms and using the various armor powers, and then when the enemy stops dealing as many hits as possible. For those looking for a game where you really have to "fight", 9 Years of Shadow is not the right choice: most of your time is spent staying out of range and moving around the arena.

Let's be clear, it succeeds most of the time. pleasant or even funny in a couple of situations, but in general we are talking about an unbalanced game, with little content and some elements clearly underused, such as the colors of the armor that only in a few boss fights do you really have to use them all to obtain advantages. Honorable mention, however, for the soundtrack, always compelling that pushes us to run as fast as we can towards the new goal, giving us energy.

Conclusions

Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 19,99 € Get it who {brand_origin}.it 6.5 Readers (7) 7.0 your vote

9 Years of Shadow is not a true metroidvania and should not be approached as such. It is a scroll-type action game, quite linear most of the time and with little content, since 100% can be achieved in less than ten hours. The combo system is very simple, with few moves available and the ranged attacks are too powerful. At the core are the platforms, which become much more varied as new ones appear, without seeming overly complex. If you are a fan of the genre, you may want to give it a try as soon as you find it in a price range that you think is appropriate, but don't expect it to be your new benchmark as far as price is concerned. quality.