Hitting switches and unlocking doors is key to progressing through the tower The first map I unlocked seemed huge, and looking back at it now I can't help but laugh at how much I didn't know. The map is big and sprawling, with tons of secret passageways, hidden items, and shortcuts to unlock. The tower you explore in this game might be my favorite Metroidvania environment I've ever come across. Like any good gothic horror story, the world of Astalon: Tears of the Earth is one of its primary characters. The Tower The map shows you which rooms youve explored and how rooms connect To put it simply, the idea of having multiple characters available to you starts neat and just gets cooler and cooler as you make your way further into the tower.

Others occur throughout the tower, or are purchased from the in-game shop.įor fear of spoilers, I'm not going to dive deep into any other ways that this system evolves over the course of the game. Some of these are triggered by visiting campfires. You also learn more about your characters through story sequences that unlock as you play. You can still mostly play as anyone you want – barring those specific obstacles – but it's nice that the characters become more unique as you go. A strange familiar starting following the wizard around. The archer gets the ability to wall jump infinitely. Character Growth Campfire scenes progress the story between the three charactersĪs you progress through the game, you'll find items that tweak the way the characters feel even more. Bouncing back and forth between characters is really fun, and different players will probably pick favorites depending on if they prefer close-, medium-, or long-range combat. Throwing a magical orb as the wizard can activate switches. Specifically, the blue knight's sword can cut through vines. What that means is that you can use any of them to conquer platforming challenges early in the game, but you might need to find a campfire and switch characters to get past other obstacles. Each of these characters operates on the same basic physics but has a unique attack. Having three characters available to use at the start of the game is the first really interesting thing Astalon does. Inside, they have to battle their way through tons of monsters as they try to find a way to unsully the stream. A few cutscenes at the start of the game show them venturing across a post-apocalyptic wasteland until they find a dark tower. The basic setup for Astalon: Tears of the Earth is that three characters are trying to find out why their village stream has suddenly become poisoned. Three Characters on a Quest The three main characters of Astalon Tears of the Earth The thing is, if you are in any way intrigued by a retro-stylized action platformer, you can just stop reading now and go buy the game already.

I'll do my best to tell you about what makes this game work and where it's got a few problems. From the atmosphere to the moment-to-moment gameplay to the way that it builds long-term progression, this game is darn near perfect. This game takes the absolute best traits from Metroid, Castlevania, Megaman, and Dark Souls, and mixes them all together into an absolute instant classic. Astalon: Tears of the Earth is, in nearly every possible way, entirely my jam. I already loved it.Īnd that, I suppose, is the third disclosure I need to make. While both of them were super cool and I really enjoyed that conversation, it didn't substantially change my view of the game. There is so much still that I haven't seen that I didn't want the game to end! Second, I did have a chance to sit down and chat about this game with its creators when I was only a few hours into it. The game warned me that I was approaching the end, and I absolutely bailed. I got right up to the final boss before starting to write this review. First of all, I haven't actually finished Astalon: Tears of the Earth.

Let's get some full disclosures out of the way at the top. Geek to Geek Media was provided with a review copy of this title. Platform: Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Windows, Linux, Classic Mac OS