- Enjoyable gameplay, charming art, excellent music
- Frequent crashes and performance issues
- High price for limited content
- Unfair DLC and costume monetization
- Lack of map hinders navigation
- Recommended for fans, especially on sale
Emotions
Players expressed satisfaction due to the game's high quality across various aspects, including its art, writing, music, and overall gameplay experience. The familiarity of the game, its successful revival, and specific features like item searching and challenging genre elements also contributed to positive feelings.
Disappointment stemmed from numerous issues such as game bugs, performance problems, and a perceived lack of features. Players were also let down by the game's content-to-price ratio, poor design choices, and the absence of expected features like modern graphics in a modern version or specific language support (Japanese, Russian, Chinese).
Frustration was primarily caused by technical issues, including game freezes, crashes, and performance problems, even when meeting system requirements. Other sources of frustration included high DLC pricing, restrictive purchasing, unskippable cutscenes, and the lack of essential features like an area map or proper keyboard configuration.
Joy was frequently associated with the game's overall quality, charm, and engaging gameplay. Specific elements like the characters (especially Shantae), the game's aesthetic, humor, and a sense of nostalgia for GBA-era games also brought players happiness.
Players felt excitement due to engaging gameplay, interesting characters, and the introduction of new mechanics. The release of the game itself, the enjoyment of new content, and a general liking for the Shantae series also generated excitement.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 68% · Negative 32%. Score: 32 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently find the game to be highly enjoyable, fun, and charming. Many express general satisfaction with the overall experience, highlighting its inherent appeal and solid gameplay.
- The game's visual presentation, including its art style, animation, character designs, and sprites, is widely praised. Players find it cute, charming, and well-executed, contributing significantly to the game's aesthetic appeal.
- The game is well-received by existing fans of the Shantae series, who appreciate its adherence to the established formula and character dynamics. It's seen as a solid and reassuring entry that maintains the series' core appeal.
- The game's music and sound design are noted for their quality, particularly in capturing the GBA era's style. The soundtrack is described as breathtaking and solid, enhancing the overall experience.
- Players express significant appreciation for the revival and release of this previously canceled 'phantom work.' The excitement stems from finally getting to play a game that was long thought lost, especially a new GBA title in the modern era.
Negatives:
- Players report frequent game crashes, freezes, and significant slowdowns across various stages and modes, including a 40fps lock. These technical issues severely impact gameplay fluidity and overall enjoyment, making the game feel unpolished and at times unplayable.
- Many players feel the game is overpriced, especially given its short length (around 5 hours) and perceived lack of content compared to previous entries in the series. This leads to a sentiment that the game does not offer sufficient value for its cost.
- There is significant dissatisfaction with the monetization strategy, particularly regarding costumes and DLC. Players are frustrated that costumes, which act as alternate game modes, are locked behind expensive Deluxe editions or bundles, with no option to purchase them or upgrade separately.
- The game has critical issues with language support, specifically for Japanese and Russian. Players report needing to change their PC's region and language settings to English for the game to even launch, which is a major inconvenience and barrier to play.
- The keyboard configuration on PC is problematic, with dance and magic inputs being hard-set to specific keys ('Q' and 'D') regardless of user keybinds. This creates awkward controls, especially for non-QWERTY layouts like Azerty, forcing players to use default inputs.
Gameplay:
- Based on limited and varied feedback, the game is seen as a fun retro Metroidvania platformer with engaging gameplay consistent with the Shantae series, featuring pixel art and new mechanics. It offers dense content despite its length, with good animations and HD character art. The game also includes transformations, dancing, and abilities to progress, with magic mode costumes offering replayability. Some minor points include a small DLC spell bonus, easy start, and the ability to skip dialogue. However, some feel it's a novelty title, and the multiplayer arena is outdated. The overall importance is low due to the scattered nature of the feedback.
- Players frequently get lost and frustrated due to the absence of an in-game map, especially in multi-layered or maze-like areas. This makes navigation a chore and detracts from the exploration experience, with many locations feeling empty or difficult to traverse.
- The game's story is engaging, and the dialogue is consistently praised for being fun and humorous. This contributes positively to the overall player experience.
- While boss fights are generally considered fun, the game reuses the same boss multiple times without any changes to difficulty or mechanics. This repetition can make later encounters feel uninspired.
- Players enjoy the aspect of searching for hidden items and collectibles throughout the game's environments. This adds to the exploration and replayability.
Performance:
- A specific workaround for the black screen issue on Steam Deck involves forcing the game to run in Proton Experimental compatibility mode. This suggests that compatibility layers or specific configurations might be key to resolving some technical problems.
- While many users report performance issues, some players have not experienced any slowdowns. This indicates that the problem might not be universal and could be related to specific hardware configurations or software environments.
Recommendations:
- Many players recommend the game primarily to existing fans of the Shantae series or the genre, often suggesting waiting for a significant sale for others. Some express strong enjoyment and a desire for more games in the series.
- Players are experiencing issues, particularly with language support (Japanese) and optimization, leading to negative reviews. They indicate a willingness to change their review to positive if these problems are addressed.
- There's a desire for more flexible purchasing options for DLC, specifically making the Deluxe Edition and costume packs available separately. Some feel the current bundling is not ideal.
- Players suggest that newcomers to the series should play 'Pirate's Curse' or 'Seven Sirens' before trying this game, implying it might not be the best entry point.
- A user suggested including a .gba file for those who wish to use an emulator, indicating a niche desire for alternative play methods.
Miscellaneous:
- The game is frequently recognized as a port of a Game Boy Advance title, specifically the canceled Shantae Advance: RR. Players appreciate its historical significance as a 'phantom work' brought to life, but also acknowledge its GBA-era limitations, sometimes referring to it as a 'reheated dish' in the context of modern releases.
- Players are experiencing a significant issue where the game fails to launch correctly in Japanese without existing save data. A common workaround involves changing the system language to English to create initial game data, then reverting to Japanese. This indicates a critical localization or launch bug that needs immediate attention.
- These points represent very sparse or low-quality feedback, including personal preferences (not a fan of Limited Run Games), vague comparisons (similar to Risky's Revenge), platform-specific interface comments (no 'Yes, but-' for Steam reviews), and minor observations (no GBA ROM, launch discount). While noted, they offer little constructive insight.
- The multiplayer battle mode is criticized for being exclusively multiplayer, lacking any AI opponents. This limits its accessibility and replayability for players who prefer solo experiences or cannot always find other players.
- The story is considered adequate but does not significantly advance the overall franchise narrative. Players find it acceptable for what it is, but it doesn't offer compelling new developments for long-time fans.
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