Elderand

At the end of the day, Elderand feels more like a game you play in between big releases or to scratch a certain itch, more than a title you might get excited to play. The individual flaws of the game might not be absolute dealbreakers, but they undoubtedly muddy the waters and noticeably drag down the experience. A sale is the only time I would recommend people try out Elderand, but with genre giants like Hollow Knight and Ori and The Will of the Wisps all at a similar price point, Elderand remains a hard sell.

As a tribute to Symphony of the Night, Elderand is fairly charming. There are some familiar callbacks to that inspiration, but it’s not as immediately accessible and balanced as that masterwork, and its attempts to add complexity amount to little more than distractions and annoyances. There’s no shame in wanting to make Symphony of the Night over and over again, but perhaps Elderand’s developers would have been well-served by embracing that formula more closely — every time it tries to go its own way, it just gets itself into trouble.

Elderand is a worthy addition to the wider Metroidvania genre and offers plenty of bang for your buck. It takes clear inspiration from the best of Castlevania and marries it to challenging combat. That being said, there isn’t anything particularly new here, and there is a lack of consistency across the level design. The result is a solid indie game offering plenty for genre fans.