Tag: Metroidvania

Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hornet silk

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker
Hollow Knight: Silksong. fourth chorus. X35 Earthwalker

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a metroidvania style action adventure game developed and published by ‘Team Cherry‘. Hollow Knight: Silksong came out the 4th of September 2025 on the Xbox Series X/S & Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, PS5, PS4 and PC. X35 Earthwalker has dived into Hollow Knight: Silksong and has a lot to say already. This game is excellent and has more silk for us to encounter. Let’s talk about this.

Hollow Knight: Silksong right off the rip is so far an excellent game. So much has happened already and this game doesn’t show mercy. Yes Hollow Knight: Silksong is a hard game. Don’t listen to fake aura fools who say games like this isn’t hard. It’s a hard game. It’s obvious but players are controlling Hornet. A character those who played Hollow Knight would know. She is basically attempting a climb. Reach the peak and demand some answers. Already X35 Earthwalker likes Hornet as a character. She is polite, comes off as mature and easy to get along with. Calling people sir and speaking with respect. She’s also dangerous and powerful. Liking Hornet so far.

Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hornet. X35 Earthwalker

The enemies work together in terms of design to ruin your day. They are placed to be annoying and can drain your life real fast. There’s even bigger enemies who hit you for two points of damage. Now of course when you can increase your health it will be less of a problem. The average player will have a tough time. Now remember when we said that Hollow Knight: Silksong is a metroidvania type game. These games have their patterns. You start off with no powers and abilities. you lost them all somehow or can’t use them. She off course must find abilities to get stronger and reach places they couldn’t reach before.

Now the game has overalled been a good treat. We like metroidvania games and most are very good. The biggest issue so far with Hollow Knight: Silksong is the bosses. There was one boss in particular who was a bad boss and not fun to fight. Its issue was that it had too much health. The bosses before and after weren’t a problem. This shows that a few things lacked good design. Besides that boss things are very good and challenging. There’s one quite scary dark boss that’s like a bat even had a cool feature. If you meet and talk with a certain character that character can join you in the fight against the horrible monster. That was cool and reminded us of instances in Elden Ring. This was cool to see.

The whole crest system is a welcome thing. It changes up how you attack, your attack rate, downwards attack and what tools you can equip. We advise players to try them all out. You could get surprised. X35 ended up switching his crest and staying with it for a good while. Use those memory lockets to unlock slots for additional tools. This allows players to actually create a build of sorts and even switch up depending on the boss or threats you are facing. The down attack does matter as some are harder to control. So when you want to bounce off the red flowers. There’s even a challenge area based on that. There’s many crests. So experiment and give things a chance. Search the world and get what you can.

Hollow Knight: Silksong. Title screen. X35 Earthwalker

Overall Hollow Knight: Silksong is an excellent game without question… but yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong is definitely overrated. People acting like it’s the greatest game ever and better than everything before. Not close. Yes, it is excellent and a good time for sure. Right now the game is feeling like a solid 9/10 right now. Very few errors. Respect the game for sure but calm down. We are looking forward to more of what Hollow Knight: Silksong has to offer… whether silky or not. We know it’s going to be great. Unlike the first Hollow Knight game, the story is sounding actually interesting. Talking to the pilgrims, the singing characters and different locations and trials and faith is so cool. X35 Earthwalker will conquer this game too. Now Hollow Knight: Silksong may have singing bugs but they don’t sing as good as… the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

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Shadow Labyrinth. Wait… is that?

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Combat in Shadow Labyrinth

Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D action platformer game developed and published by ‘Bandai namco‘. Shadow Labyrinth is said to be coming out the 18th of July 2025 on the Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 & 1, PC and PS5. X35 Earthwalker likes seeing recognisable things in games. Shadow Labyrinth is bringing a whole new take on a familiar face. Let’s take a look.

In Shadow Labyrinth, players control a dude referred to as Swordsman No.8. You have been awoken by this strange yellow orb that floats. Yeah that’s right. Shadow Labyrinth already playing with gamers right from the start. It’s Pac-man… sorry but Shadow Labyrinth says it’s called PUCK. We know pac-man when we see him but whatever. This game already bringing some pleasant laughs.

Pac-man or Puck in Shadow Labyrinth

Shadow Labyrinth takes place on an unknown planet. The only clues are that you are awoken amongst “relics of wars past”. This Pac- we mean Puck has ‘chosen’ you to be the instrument of its will. That’s right. You are it’s bitc- we mean tool- no no we mean friend on this journey. Now games like this veteran and seasoned gamers know what to expect here. 2D action platformer. You’re going to travel to the right or left, face dangerous foes, upgrade and improve yourself. Back track to areas you couldn’t access or interact with before. Take down dangerous bosses and look cool doing it. 

What’s unique about Puck is that when you defeat mighty foes, especially, it literally consumes them. Give it time and lots of lunch and you’ll go from a simple prey or floating yellow ball to a full fledge monster/apex predator. That’s scary when you think about it. Imagine you in a fight, but if you lose said fight then you WILL be eaten by the victor. Knife and fork with 2 napkins.

traversal and exploration in Shadow Labyrinth

Now obviously there’s lore for players to get into and learn about this place, Puck off course and yourself sort off. Clearly a major league, intergalactic war took place here. Long before you even arrived. Not only that. You have monsters and dangerous foes to meet and deal with.

There’s many abilities to use and combine in combos for some serious combat and fire power. Do not be naive though. Find out what Puck wants and why it choose you. Keep that in your mind. 

bosses and dangerous enemies in Shadow Labyrinth

We checked out some Shadow Labyrinth gameplay and it’s what we expected. Like we said earlier we know games like this. The graphic style is handled well here and they make it work most of the time. Not a fan of some of these animations including the run one. We like the whole you evolve and become bigger and powerful with Puck. That’s the star mechanic here for sure. The action here is real though.

Overall Shadow Labyrinth looks like a good game so far. We definitely believe more can be done with this game. We know this game will get more crazy in the story, the transformations, the monstrosities and the action. The developers ‘Bandai namco’ have done a good job with this game so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what happens with Shadow Labyrinth. Now Shadow Labyrinth may have pac-man but even he isn’t as iconic as… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

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X35 Earthwalker ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is a 2D Metroidvania RPG (Role Playing Game) developed by ‘Adglobe‘ and ‘Live Wire’ but published by ‘Binary Haze Interactive‘. ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is said to be coming out the 23rd of January 2025 on the Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5 and PS4. X35 Earthwalker has a long history with Metroidvania style games. ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is here with something to show.

ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is set in what’s called the ‘Land of Fumes’. This place is special. It’s called a superpower. Like a powerful leading nation. Tons of magical resources are available here. Now to increase progression and advancement concerning the kingdom, the homunculi are here. They are “artificial life forms”. Of course something has to go wrong. Toxic fumes from underground has messed with the homunculi causing them to go mad. Now they are basically monsters. Watch out.

X35 Earthwalker ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Players control Lilac in ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist. Lilac is a Attuner. She has the power to save the homunculi. You wake up in what looks like a storage in a lab. You aren’t alone for long but encounter a homunculi who definitely has something to do with the ruin of the kingdom. Time to work together and recover lost memories… your memories and even find your friends. Assuming you have friends. Yes These events take place decades after the “Rain of Death”.

X35 Earthwalker ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Now certain fans who have been paying attention will recognise the style of this game. Remember Ender Lilies? Yeah. That’s right. The combat in ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is said to be a step up from Ender Lilies in terms of both “gameplay and exploration”. Players will be fighting with the help of their companions… so make sure to get them. There’s also additional difficulty levels. This means more options for the players. The babies can play on easy difficulty while the real players play for real. Shots fired.

X35 Earthwalker ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

We checked out some ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist gameplay and it’s what we expected. It;’s definitely a step up from Ender Lilies. There’s said to be 30 different skills that you can receive from your companions. So you already know there’s variety in the combat styles. There’s also lots of relics, items and equipment. Get them and also upgrade them as well. The combat is looking good too. The big boss enemies are bringing some intimidation. Also looking like a high risk fight too. Hopefully things match up… if you know what we mean.

Overall ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist is looking like an excellent game. You can acquire a mount which can just push its way through foes. Defeat powerful enemies and get companions. Time your dodges and rolls for evasion. Truly get into some serious scraps. A nice looking map but not great. The animations are nice as well. There’s quite the story here and they clearly want to make it deep and sort of dark too. The squad who worked on the music for Ender Lilies, Mili, is here as well to compose more music. The developers ‘Adglobe and Live Wire’ have done an excellent job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to hear what this game truly brings to the console. ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist may be trying to bring an upgraded experience but it’s still too low for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Mars 2120. Sci-fi Metroidvania

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X35 Earthwalker Mars 2120

 

Mars 2120 is a sci-fi metroidvania game developed and published by ‘qubyte interactive‘. Mars 2120 is said to be coming out the 28th of March 2024 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and pc. X35 Earthwalker is the master of metroidvania games. Mars 2120 will need to make a strong impression. Let’s take a look.

Mars 2120 is off course set in the future. Basically the first Mars colony has gotten itself into some trouble. It needs help and off course we need to know what happened and what’s going on currently. This is where the player comes in. Players control Sargeant Anna Charlotte, also known as “thirteen”. You lead a team of elite space marines. No not the ultra marines… wrong dudes. 

X35 Earthwalker Mars 2120

Now obviously things go wrong and you get separated. Otherwise it wouldn’t be this type of game now would it. Mars 2120 wants to really be the ones to nail the whole combat thing. There’s a lot of combat layers here. Mars 2120 has loads of melee combat. There’s even combos. skilled players can juggle enemies and even string things together for great control over the battle and big damage. combat slide, lunge, strike and more… maybe take it to the air.

On top of that are the elements. Some special abilities are tied to elements like fire, electricity and ice. Yeah we see the connections here. If it isn’t obvious by now then let us explain. It’s clear that Mars 2120 has been inspires by other games. Metroid prime clearly and castlevania: symphony of the night (the best castlevania game). Two top tier games. Getting ideas and inspiration from them can easily work out well. so about those elements. Metroid Prime had the same thing. Wave beam (electricity), ice beam (ice obviously) and plasma beam (fire). Let’s see how Mars 2120 will handle all this.

X35 Earthwalker Mars 2120

We checked out some Mars 2120 gameplay and it’s not exactly what we expected. The game visually looks better than expected too. That’s great. The animations are very good. Not the highest levels but very good and gets the job done. The elements look weak here. They need to be applied more clearly and more powerfully. The special abilities are going to mix things up but we hope the variety and the elements of them are epic. It’s a 2024 game after all, we expect bigger things than the past. Do your best game. There are also bosses off course and some look great while others looked kind of generic.

Overall Mars 2120 looks like it’s going to be a great game. We can’t give it the excellent rating as we have some real questions concerning the story and the secrets of mars and the first colony. Combat and cool enemies are one thing… a big thing still. We like the variety of the levels and the environment designs. We can see how Mars 2120 can be top stuff. The developers ‘qubyte interactive‘ have done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an ear open for this game. Now Mars 2120 may have serious combat but it all looks plain when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’  

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Blasphemous 2. This Game?

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X35 Earthwalker Blasphemous 2

Blasphemous 2 is an action metroidvania game developed by ‘The Game Kitchen‘ and published by ‘Team17‘. Blasphemous 2 is said to be coming out the 24th of August 2023 on the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4 and pc. Blasphemous 2 is here to bring more weird stuff our way. X35 Earthwalker will have to see if this game got the goods or not. Let’s take a look.

Blasphemous 2 is described as the “second scripture in the blasphemous series.” The main dude is back, also known as the “penitent one”. The story continues from the DLC ‘wounds of eventide’. The weird stuff. Well their whole game is weird but do y’all remember the heart in the sky, all about the return of the miracle and the birth of a new so called miracle child. Yeah, so make sure you up to date concerning the story for the better experience.

X35 Earthwalker Blasphemous 2

So yeah, woken up again… but in a new and strange land. You aren’t near what’s suppose to be your final resting place. You have to pass the time somehow so might as well get up and explore this place. There are guaranteed long forgotten secrets. So make sure to discover them. There’s always something going on with how games like this end and then want to start up the sequel. 

We heard there’s a whole horde of ugly and weird enemies waiting for you. Hopefully there’s at least one good looking foe. Blasphemous 2 is suppose to have a more full and non-linear world. This also means there’s more to do. Take the npcs for example. There’s a bunch of new ones. Some will help, others will ask for help. Some will send you on “death defying” missions to get forgotten items.

X35 Earthwalker Blasphemous 2

You know Blasphemous 2 is going to have more weird bosses. They are described as twisted and that’s fair. Off course get ready for their attack patterns and learn the right timing and openings. They should be easier to beat thanks to upgrades to the combat. New weapons, executions, bigger combos and improvable skillset.

We checked out some Blasphemous 2 gameplay and it’s what we expected. Animations look slightly better. The world has stand out locations and the overall visuals are are better overall but it’s tough to tell from here. How far will Blasphemous 2 go concerning the designs, details and bosses. They did wuss out on some things last time. 

Overall, Blasphemous 2 seems like a good game. X35 Earthwalker was never interested in the Blasphemous series. The first game failed to impress or even interest him. Hopefully they do better this time. The developers ‘The Game Kitchen’ have done a good job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker will wait to see if this game will impress us. Now Blasphemous 2 may have a hew land to explore but it’s too small and simple for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Recompile. Hacking adventure

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker
X35 Earthwalker Recompile

Recompile is a hacking adventure game developed by ‘Phigames‘ and published by ‘Dear villagers‘. Recompile is said to be coming out 2021 in August on the Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC. Recompile definitely looks coo. There’s quite a bit going on. Let’s take a look.

Recompile is all about computer technical stuff. This world is a large ancient mainframe. Players will have to explore this “ancient digital landscape”. You are basically this AI who’s on a journey towards attaining true sapience”. It’ just one big digital adventure. Also we hear that Recompile has different critical paths for players to take and explore. The narrative of the game changes based on the player. Your “play style and choices matter”. So players can expect their own unique experience.

X35 Earthwalker Recompile

You can run, sprint, jump, fight and even more when you acquire the abilities. Don’t forget that Recompile is described as a metroidvania style game. So you will start of basic but will eventually find new abilities and powers. We even saw the ability to literally fly like a jet in a straight line. The game claims there’s “a full complement of powerful weapons and abilities are available”. We hope so. We even saw firearms, off course digital but still a gun. The action here is real.

Read this whole explanation that Recompile has. “The untimely fall of the Seven Suns lead to a millenia of neglect, gradually transforming the Mainframe’s vast repository of code into a race of half-sentient, half-deterministic subroutines. They exist in a state of flux, as if trapped by their programming in a kind of twisted digital purgatory”. We definitely need more information and hope this is clear in the game itself. We do know that the player needs to make choices concerning the beings of the mainframe. Either help them or go against them. Most of them are hostile though so keep that in mind.

X35 Earthwalker Recompile

Let’s quickly go over a big feature of Recompile which is the hacking. Pretty much everything is hackable and you can mess with them. Power grids, the inhabitants themselves, logic gates, locked doors and even massive machines. Thanks to the fact that they are powered by “interconnected logic gate circuitry”. Make certain beings obey your commands. Override, disable and even invert to your advantage. So basically hack everything. Hacking is a huge weapon and ability for you.  

We checked out some Recompile gameplay and it’/s not what we though it would be. It’s definitely all 3D and far more action than your typical metroidvania. We certainly like the variety of locations and how digital and data-like everything looks. It’s designed well. We like the sounds of the lasers, blasts and attacks made. Computer sounds which is very fitting here. We like how there’s multiple options and upgrades available from what we can see. We hope there’s more though. Recompile its about AI, data and computer stuff right? We would imagine that through data there should be endless creative means of upgrading and doing new stuff. Everything looks smooth and still smooth during combat. We are seeing quite the variety of enemies from snake like ones, to drones, shape build ones and others that look more like beasts.

Overall Recompile is looking like a very good game. Very different from what is already out there and we like that. We respect unique games. We like the good pace and platforming. We like the combat and the variety available. We aren’t sure how the finding upgrades and powers work though. We need more information. There’s excellent in game effects and lighting. The developers Phigames has done a great job so far. We at X35 Earthwalker look forward to seeing Recompile in action. Now Recompile may have data, AI and programs but all that too insignificant for… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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