Make your way through more than 600 rooms, and unravel the secrets of your past by finding the five elemental orbs. Cathedral features a vast world, meant for exploring!
Mostly Positive
445 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Y | Y | Y |
| Swedish | — | — | Y |
[b]Recommendation[/b]
Armed with an 8-bit aesthetic and chiptune soundtrack both very reminiscent of Yacht Club game's Shovel Knight, Cathedral takes a more action-adventure/Metroidvania approach to the retro 2D platformer.
With its solid presentation; simple but snappy combat; and expansive world map full of platforming challenges, puzzles, treasure, upgrades, and secrets to find; Cathedral manages to occupy itself a very strong place among the C-listers in the genre -- alas, the C-list is as high as it goes, as its uneven and sometimes bloated level design, spiky difficulty, and extremely frustrating final stretch hold it back from being placed amongst more vaunted company.
This one's a full recommendation -- but just [i]barely[/i].
6.5/10
This is a great game, with a couple of exceptions, and my time with it was very entertaining. If you like Metroidvanias and retro styles, this game is for you.
The game could use a teleporter between save points, as using the item to return to a previous save point isn't enough.
The bosses are good, but their damage to the main character could have been reduced, as a couple of hits and you're dead, even with nine health bottles. (Still, after a couple of tries, killing the boss isn't difficult.)
Overall, it's a very good game. I'm looking forward to Cathedral: Сrow's Curse, because thanks to its demo, I was able to experience the first part of Cathedral!
x-- 7/10 --x
Really charming, and sometimes challenging, metroidvania!
I really wanted to like this game but it proved too frustrating. Mostly due to not knowing what I was supposed to do next! Which led to aimless wandering. I feel there's a really fun game here if it was more user-friendly with clear objectives and direction forward. 5/10
Falling and losing progress because the knockback damage from a bat. Cool.
Me encantaria recomendar este juego, pero no puedo, tiene muchos problemas, es un juego dificil, que a veces puede ser un poco injusto, pero ese no es un problema tan grande
Algunos problemas:
-La camara: se queda estatica cuando saltas, por lo que no te permite mirar hacia arriba cuando haces un doble salto, asi que no puedes ver si hay un enemigo o una trampa
-Los teletransportadores: estan ubicados en lugares poco accesibles o incomodos, por ejemplo: la aldea nevada, el templo del agua, la iglesia, el bosque, la montaña nevada y el lugar venenoso
-La armadura: estas obligado a comprar o buscar la mejora de armadura antes de ir a una zona nueva porque si no los enemigos te mataran de 2-3 golpes
-Los corazones: los corazones son un poco artificiales, porque si bien te sirven en zonas que ya exploraste, si vas a la zona siguiente los enemigos te mataran igual de 2-3 golpes
-Los puntos de guardado: en varias zonas no hay puntos de guardado cerca, por lo que si llegas a morir te toca recorrer 10 habitaciones para volver a donde moriste y buena suerte si mueres de nuevo
-Dinero: si bien te dan mucho dinero, se siente mal que al morir simplemente ese dinero se pierda para siempre, se debio implementar un sistema donde puesdes recuperar ese dinero, como en hollow knight
I've played and finished this on the Evercade platform, so if you're wondering why my playtime here is only a few hours or less… that’s why!
This game is an absolute gem from start to finish. The music is catchy and memorable even months after playing it, the difficulty is well balanced across all areas and ramps up naturally without any frustrating spikes, and player movement feels smooth and responsive rather than stiff or jarring. I could go on!
And go on I will! Each area has its own boss that’s well thought out and fair. You’ll probably fail a couple of times here and there, which I guess is where the “souls-like” comparison comes from, but honestly I don’t really agree with that label. Boss patterns are very readable, learning them feels rewarding, and deaths rarely feel cheap.
Maybe I just suck at 3D souls-likes… but Cathedral? No issues here!!
I also really appreciated the dialogue and characters you encounter along the way. Most interactions are short and to the point, but they add a surprising amount of charm and personality without ever getting in the way of the gameplay or dragging things out. It complements the game perfectly rather than interrupting it.
Overall I highly recommend Cathedral. There’s a ton more things I’ve not mentioned, but I think it’s best if you play it yourself and see what this hidden gem has to offer!
Fun game with horribly tuned bosses. Bosses are damage sponges and waste your time. Don’t start the game unless you just want to be incredibly frustrated.
Poor design, Puzzles with no hints, an overtuned boss.
Is the game playable? Yes.
Is it Beatable? Yes.
Is it fun? Not really.
This one had been sitting in my backlog for quite a while, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Rogue Legacy movement and combat in a Castlevania 2 style setting with cryptic hints, good puzzles, and 30 hours of content. I'd honestly put this above Blasphemous on my personal ranking list.
Brilliant game. Just like the old skool NES days.
Great pixel graphics and chiptune sounds. Very challenging. Loots of secret items to find and puzzles to solve. It took me a whole week to complete this. Well recommended.
+
Normal mechanics
-
Poor game in every sense.
6/10 If you want Metroidvania and there are no other options.
It is a very modest game in all aspects, it does not offer anything new in its genre. You can play, but it's up to you to decide whether it's worth it)
Exactly what I was looking for after finishing The Messenger. I like Metroidvanias, but only recently discovered that I do. I like the difficulty of this game; you need to be persistent but it's never unfair. Beating each boss feels like an actual achievement. There's lots to explore and a good variety in areas and enemies.
I got real retro vibes from this game, like flashbacks to the old Zelda games now and then (mostly because of some sound effects).
Only small downside is the music; a but uninspired and sometimes downright annoying. No reason not to buy this game though. Strongly recommended if you like the genre.
Es una linda fusion entre Ghost N Goblins y Metroid Prime.
Lo malo, es su dificultad o que, se precisan de X item para pasar en cierto lugar. Que el diseño de los mapas es confuso, pero es normal.
Um game divertido e no video não parece ser muito dificil mas é, bem punitivo, recomendo mas é pra quem quer enfrentar desafios fortes
A solid, fairly challenging metroidvania with nice retro aesthetics. It doesn't do anything particularly new, but executes the formula competently. I'm dropping it about a quarter in because, honestly, I don't have the patience to try the same boss for the 20th time (and, well, my reflexes aren't what they used to be), but that's my fault, not the game's. If you're a fan of the genre, this is a treat for you.
Gameplay wise Cathedral is fine. Comabt, movement, enemies (for the most part), and bosses are just fine. Where the game drops the ball is in its level design. And by God does it turn into an absolutely unpleasant slog.
The level design problems are as follows:
Big map with poor interconnection between areas (Lots of unpleasant backtracking)
Over abundance of overly complex rooms (Think Castlevania clock tower sans medusa heads)
Too many rooms with too many enemies
Lack of check/save points later in the game (Even more backtracking if you die or want to quit)
You can only change some of your movement/puzzle solving abilities at shrines (More backtracking)
I finally gave up at the Desolate Mine. An area that's dark, has no map, almost pitch black, and has infinitely respawning enemies that can shoot at you trough walls and off screen. I just did not want to be in the game anymore after that.
Its not a bad game, but really needs some love from the developers. The lack of an item to warp back to a town or different statues later in the game really hurts it's potential for speed running.
The difficulty curve is also a little high with enemy stats feeling unbalanced later in the game. Enemies do way too much damage and take to many hits to defeat.
I want to 100% this game and achievements, but there's no way I'm playing the game a second time and not buying armor upgrades. I'm guessing in the last few area's then everything becomes a one hit kill on you, and that's just not fun.
I'm probably not softlocked, but boy it sure feels like it. Wandered around for an hour trying to find progression and after one too many pitfalls that required me to do the same three rooms over again (and again and again and again), I wish I played this when I first bought it because it'd be a refund.
It's obvious it wants to go for the retro vibes, including difficulty, but I value my gaming time more and more as I get older and don't feel like bashing my head against the wall looking for the one block I didn't break or whatever the heck it is I missed. Feels pretty crap to have only realistically played this game for an hour, before an hour worth of retracing my steps did absolutely nothing. I don't know, maybe I'm just an idiot and didn't see the obvious thing but the constant backtrack loops for a missed jump is really irritating.
I had a pretty bad time with this one overall. It doesn't commit too many egregious sins, sure the music can get annoying and the end-game feels like a disjointed add-on - but really it just doesn't do all that much particularly well. I wanted to have a good time with it but sadly it wasn't to be.
I don't recommend this game because:
1. backtracking. I've only played about 2.5 hours and I'm already tired of back tracking.
2. Too much deadly platforming without adequate checkpoints. I like being challenged, but I don't like replaying the same parts I've already cleared to get back to where I fail. That's 80s gaming. I've been there, done that, and I'm ready for a more modern experience.
3. navigating where to go next is a chore.
4. Annoying enemies. Like they took the worst parts of Castlevania. Who apporved that?
5. I don't really see anything that sets this apart from other similar games.
I've played this game for almost 40 hours over the past two weeks, so I feel like I've given it a good run. That being said, I can't honestly give this game a thumbs up. As a metroidvania there are some glaring issues. In metroidvania games the player can backtrack to pickup upgrades that will help them progress. But in this game the upgrades are so minute, they are almost non-existent. Such as.... 1% increase in weapon, 1% increase in shield... for a total of 4% increase in both. I mean, come tf on. You grind for gold to buy these minute upgrades in the store, and after three upgrades at three different stores you essentially run out of upgrades to buy, and you are left with tens of thousands of gold just sitting in the bank, rotting away. What is the point? The upgrades don't help, and you need help as the game progresses because it gets INSANELY hard towards the end. It makes no sense... the game plays through at a constant level of difficulty, until you get to the 2nd to the last level (the Inner Sanctum), then the difficulty shoots up 10x. I struggled forever getting past a ceiling of spikes that kept falling and almost gave up after playing it over and over and having to do the exact same thing each time as there was no room for error, only to meet the Inner Sanctum boss and having to give up for good. I mean, it is extremely upsetting to spend 40 hours on this game only to have to give up so close to the end simply because it is impossible to get past. I know there are players that can do it, but I shouldn't have to be a master gamer to beat the 2nd to the last boss... it shouldn't be this freaking hard. And something I absolutely despise is that you have to do a bunch of rigamaro every time you die before you can actually restart the battle. The reset points are a good 30-45 seconds before the battle, and all that extra crap each time is stressful. If I'm going to play a boss 100x just to fail, I at least would like to just jump directly into the battle instead of having to break a floor, fall, open a door, recharge my health and arrows, then start the battle. And this extends to the save/warp points as well, as they are too few and far between that it takes a ridiculous amount of time to recharge yourself and save the game. All of this combined with poor controller response and an insanely repetitive soundtrack that stresses you tf out while playing... spending more than $5 on this game is a huge loss in my opinion.
All that being said, if you enjoy NES era games that are just as unforgiving, then you might really like this. I played it 40 hours so it has some value, but I can't recommend it at the $15 price tag.
[h2]歡迎來到陷阱地獄的類銀河城[/h2]
首先，這款遊戲光第一關的第一個地圖，就可以看到滿滿的機關設計，讓我內心的不安感油然而生，而在後期這份預感也得到應驗了，成為我玩得最難受的類銀河城之一。
[h3]●缺點[/h3]
[b]-陷阱、陷阱還是陷阱[/b]
這是我玩過陷阱史上最多的類銀河城，多到我幾乎跟玩跳跳樂沒什麼太大區別，甚至比跳跳樂更加難受。而且它的地圖設計非常渾蛋，現在的類銀河城通常在你通過一大串的陷阱跳跳樂後會給你開啟捷徑，以便你日後探索不用再走一次嚴苛的陷阱關卡，但這款遊戲沒有，逼得你每次探索都得再走一次回去。
而且很多設計的岔路都是你走過去的時候得經歷了滿滿的陷阱，走到底才發現這裡過不去，然後又得繼續經歷滿滿的陷阱折回去，地獄般的體驗讓你無數次體會，真是優良的地圖設計^^
[b]-怪物與陷阱的傷害太高[/b]
玩家初始的HP是三格，前期稍微勤勞點探索的話會來到5~6格HP，而在這個前期每個怪物與陷阱傷害大約都是直接扣你2格HP，被摸兩三下你就準備死了。
有個減緩容錯率的盔甲以及藥水恢復量，但價格都非常昂貴，沒有努力刷一點錢是無法得到這個效果的。前期想要有好的遊戲體驗就必須農金幣，真的是好快樂^^
[b]-怪物硬得誇張[/b]
光前期我就能體會到這些怪物硬得不可思議，很多怪物少說都要砍5下才砍得死，加上怪物傷害特別高的缺點簡直就是雙重折磨，容錯率極低。
[h3]■總結[/h3]
整體而言大概是這樣，玩到死靈法師的巢穴我就沒有繼續玩了，那裏的設計簡直是喪心病狂，齒輪還有飛天骷髏簡直要人的命。
唉這款遊戲明明第一體驗就很好的，8bit的BGM特別好聽.....像素風的美術又很好看......到底為什麼地圖跟戰鬥可以設計得這麼讓人高血壓= =
如果你是喜歡高難度的復古風街機遊戲，這款或許很適合你吧，反正對我來說是不適合。
Definitely on the more difficult side of metroidvanias (like Hollow Knight or Aeterna Noctis).As far as progression goes, the game is rather linear and sometimes a little nonsensical - you may need to trigger a cutscene to make an NPC spawn in a completely different area that opens a gate for you in order to progress. There's some minor annoyances with the camera when you're moving vertically, but other than that it plays well. The bosses are unique and challenging. A number of the upgrades you can find are inconsequential, but the ones that are significant really make a difference. The difficulty curve's a little awkward as armor upgrades in new towns are big upgrades and so the areas immediately before those upgrades are tougher than others. I really liked the music as well, though I can see people not liking the weird breakdown sections most songs have.
Overall, I really enjoyed Cathedral. It's my second favorite metroidvania, behind Hollow Knight
The game is ok. About a 6/10 in my book.
Exploration is too ambitious than rewarding, padding the overall pacing.
I got this game for $5 so I'm not going to be too harsh.
Overall, the game is fine.
Level design is to be desired.
If the maps had more upgrades, more bosses, less money grinding, and overall smaller map size this would have been an 8/10 easily.
It is what it is.
Actually it's an OK game riddled with TONS of bad game design choices and weird controller issues. I give it a 6.9/10, therefore I do NOT recommend it, not because it's terrible, but because with such a low score you can find a myriad of better games to invest your time in.
Cathedral is one of three games that holds a prestigious position of F tier in all Metroidvanias I have played. It's not just full of overbaked ideas, the kitchen is gone, reduced to ashes. There isn't a single idea in Cathedral that hasn't had every ounce of fun painstakingly removed from it before being slathered in another coat of wax and left out to rot in the sun.
Unfortunately, while I've completed Cathedral twice with near 100%, it's not exactly a memorable experience. I remember hating the graveyard, and its enthusiasm for backtracking over and over with horrible cycles that make you wait for no other reason than someone didn't care how the rooms would actually be traversed by an actual human. I remember hating the bosses although, I can only remember vaguely remember three at this point.
I find myself even more confused that the most memorable aspect of Cathedral is its terrible soundtrack. I can think of dozens of games with stellar soundtracks, but none others with soundtracks as awful as this. I've played so many rage games, so many games with just meme music, and none of them stand out to me as this terrible.
The mere existence of Cathedral is a demonstration of the hubris of man.
That's a crazy one, it feels like playing an arcade game with frantic combat. The retro inspiration is not hidden, and it's also quite challenging, the bosses had me giving my all to survive and win. The gameplay is fast and dirty, you will need to crush the enemies.
The map had a nice marker system, and there were interesting ideas with progression abilities. The main progression was quite linear and not many side areas beyond some collectibles.
Some people might hate a number of design decisions taken by the game. After beating the game I feel satisfied and full, will go take some rest.
A competently execution metrodvania platformer well worth your time if you're a fan of the genre. The game that most comes to mind is Shovel Knight, particularly given the vast number of upgrades - I would definitely recommend Shovel Knight over this game, but if you like Shovel Knight this is a similar game at almost the same level of quality. Cathedral doesn't do anything too innovative or amazing, but I had fun with it and fans of the genre will have fun with it too.
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there's no reason this game shouldnt be more popular. it's very good and feels fluid to play
Nadie debería jugar este juego. No lo recomiendo.
not fun
I'm about 10-ish hours into Cathedral and while there are a lot of piece I like about the game. There are more frustrating parts that outweigh all the good this game accomplishes and I simply cannot recommend it towards other players. There are a lot of quirks about this game I enjoy, spritework and music are good, but both get very repetitive after backtracking and spending a lot of time platforming and puzzling. Its been a decent road so far.
Although, a later water dungeon is perhaps one of the worst in the entire game, being bland on the inside with uninspired puzzles and projectile-throwing enemies that will hit you for half or more of your health bar, almost exclusively when trying to perform more difficult platforming sections. As of writing this review, I am battling the boss of that same dungeon and I cannot stress how frustrating it is without spoiling too much. All of the boss' attacks are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ deal way to much damage, have random spreads and come out lightning fast, and can trap you in a corner without remorse, not to mention the mechanic of the dungeon used to battle the boss being difficult to setup for hits and offers the boss blind spots, rending all of your unlocked tools useless. Very bad game design, unironically one of the worst I've seen from a game this polished. Most bosses are like this unfortunately, moving fast and hitting hard, with little strategic counter-play other than "get lucky" with the attacks that they throw out.
Edit: ending up cheesing the boss, 100% not the way you are supposed to beat it, I don't care though, it is a horribly made fight.
If you really enjoy Metroidvanias and you have experience with the genre and its common quirks, you may enjoy this game, but for literally every other casual player, this is not the game for you.
Honestly one of the best games that I've played through in 2024.
The game is challenging and brutal, especially during the part of the game leading up to the second boss (Which a lot of people complain about) but its far from being as impossibly difficult as people claim.
Its important to note that this game is more like a 2D Zelda rather than what one would think of when dealing with a metroidvania.
There are dungeons, equipable items that let you solve puzzles, linear progression tied to solving quests and NPCs.
The combat is simple, fluid and satisfying (infinitely better than Shovel Knight, which some reviewers like to compare the game to due to its graphics.. yet its nothing like it at all) same with the movement. This game deserves much more love and recognition.
I was genuinely enjoying this game, the movement, oldschool sprites and feeling of getting lost, but sadly after 6 hours I'm dropping it. One particular boss is a difficulty spike like nothing else I've seen in gaming for a very long time.
Reddit threads describe this game ending boss as "souls like", asking the play to play perfectly for multiple minutes. The issue is, it's not souls like, it's far harder, and far more unfair.
I had every upgrade I could find / purchase in the game prior to entry. The boss deals collision damage, takes 40+ hits and the player can't outrun it. It also 2 shots the player with all of these upgrades and hits via mainly via collision, making a beeline for your sprite.
If you take a hit, a second later the boss sprite could still be sat straight on top of the players (as you can't outrun it), killing you in about a second. I spent hundreds of tries working out if I could coax the AI into placing the boss in specific locations via movement manipulation but got nothing reliable.
I have no idea why the developer decided to throw something this hard into the game that is utterly disrespectful to the player's time. This isn't "git gud" so much as "if you play this 1000 times you may eventually git lucky". Really sad and a bewildering choice that will cause people to simply drop the game and go find something that is actually fun.
Esse foi um dos jogos que passei maior perrengue pra zerar e pegar os itens, acho que nunca demorei tanto em um metroidvania, e valeu a pena esse tempo
I really want to like this game, I really do. However, never in my life have I played something where roughly every 30 to 60 seconds I'm saying "I hate this game." Coles notes:
Death is insanely punishing. You lose 10% of your gold. Doesn't sound so bad, til you realise most enemies can slaughter you in one hit, respawning doesn't give you full health and your healing flask doesn't recharge til you die. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome. Don't even get me started on environmental traps where you just watch yourself die because you can't get out.
The game feels unimaginably slow. It takes forever to get anywhere in the game and if you miss a platform? ♥♥♥♥ you in your face, circle the block. Missed a jump by a pixel? ♥♥♥♥ off, time to fall into a pit of lava. Confused on where to go? Tough ♥♥♥♥, we've made the background indistinguishable from the foreground so you slowly scrub the map trying to figure out where to go next.
There are moments of greatness. The art is great, sound design is fun and the writing is funny so far. But ♥♥♥♥... Does this game punish you for playing it.
Gonna try to give it another go later, but for now I can't recommend this game at all.
This game is brutally hard and unfair, but I loved the music.
I don't have the patients
Não é a toa que esse jogo tem a tag DIFICIL. O segundo boss apresenta uma dificuldade absurda por causa de sua velocidade. Muitos dos desafios exigem EXTREMA precisão nos movimentos quase não dando margem para erros.
O penúltimo e o último boss apresentam uma dificuldade ABSURDA!
Mesmo conseguindo terminá-lo, graças á treino e perseverança, não recomendo ele - nas partes finais, ele se torna mais estressante do que divertido.
First of all I want to say that I haven't beaten the game as of yet, but I am very near completion and feel I have experienced enough of the game to give my opinion.
Now Cathedral is what you call old school hard gaming at it's peak.
Though they are completely different genres of games, I am reminded of the brutal arcade game by Capcom called Black Tiger or Black Dragon in Japan.
One is a 16 bit arcade dungeon crawler with slight RPG elements and the other an 8bit style Metroidvania.
They are both going to test your patience to the limit and then some.
While Black Tiger makes Cathedral look like a Sunday picnic in the park in terms of difficulty and game play, Cathedral is a much much much bigger game with mazes and puzzles and enemies that will have your head spinning at times and bosses that will make you want to push your eyes into your skull.
Having said that, the feeling of reward when you do accomplish a task or defeat a boss is EPIC!
The game is very well designed, the game play is crisp, cool 8 bit style graphics and catchy tunes, though some tunes can get annoying at times.
Is Cathedral always fair, hell no, you are going to see your arse more often than you want to, but this forces you
to be cunning and come up with new and creative ways to complete tasks and defeat foes.
There was one occasion where I had absolutely no idea what to do, and was stuck for a very long time.
Eventually I found the solution but this was my fault for not thinking out of the box, and trying new things, though I will say maybe a slight clue could have helped in this one case.
In the 80s and 90s when we got a game, no matter how hard or frustrating we had to get good or go play outside in the streets until the next Christmas or Birthday, LOL
I just don't know if kids today or young adults are going to enjoy this because they are spoilt for choice, but if you hang in there you might learn a valuable lesson.
The greater the challenge, the greater the reward.
Fun metroidvania. The graphics remind me of Shovel Knight. The music and sound is average at best. Basic but serviceable map with layers can get confusing sometimes. My biggest gripe is you can't pan the camera up and down so you sometimes have to take leaps of faith. So far it's challenging, but fair. I'm having a good time.
Infelizmente achei esse jogo burocrático demais. Fiquei presa naquela fase infernal chamada Necromancer's Den, e o jogo me mandou pra um lugar aleatório, mesmo depois de ter coletado as partes do esqueleto. Muito chato ter que ficar andando pelo mapa com os pontos de viagem rápida muito longe um do outro.
Paciência 0 pra esse jogo!
Esse jogo é fantástico, me lembra WonderBoy. Joguem!
Cheap...dull...full of backtracking. Way too easy to get lost, due in part to the map sucking. The art style reminds me of Shovel Knight, but Shovel Knight is a much better game. This is kind of amateurish in comparison. You can do better for $15.
A Metroidvania of which very little is said about how good it is. Many secret rooms, fair difficulty in combat and platforming. Highly recommended
ボリュームも歯ごたえもある良作メトロイドヴァニアです。日本語はありませんがクエスト形式でやるべきことが表示されたり、占い師が次にどこに行けばいいかを教えてくれたりするので詰まることはなかったです
Very nice retro-style metroidvania. It starts slow, the first part of the game is underwhelming, then, when you can actually explore the world, it becomes great. Nice art style, love the 8-bit feeling, the music is nice, the plot is merely an excuse to let you play, so no big expectations.
The controls are solid, combat is smooth, exploration feels great and I feel the difficulty is very well calibrated... till the last part. The difficulty curve spikes up in the last part. Violently. One of the last bosses, which by the way is a gimmick boss, was unreasonable, and I honestly think it is the only real problem of this game. The last boss was difficult but not as frustrating.
Final verdict: great, solid metroidvania, must play if you love retro style and don't get scared by a real challenge. Totally recommended.
Its really good!
Big map, interesting movement abilities
Items never start feeling "useless" or "outdated" like they might in some metroidvanias
Also that music... *chef's kiss*
the first word that comes to mind with this game is "overcooked." it has a nasty habit of taking things one step too far. things that two-shot when they should three-shot. bgm with one-too-much variation which pushes it from intriguing to annoying. obscured paths and pickups that should be completionist things but are either required for basic progression or are required to not have boss fights be a level beyond the expected unfair. personally, I prefer my retro-styled games to have a little more quality of life to it. a little more opt-in to the slightly-more-annoying-than-desired challenges, puzzle bosses, and wtf is with the chance-to-ignore-damage armor upgrades? that ain't retro. that's just... confusing
but I appreciate what it did. it tried things, some things worked, others didn't (for me). I'm sure everything that rubbed me the wrong way would be someone else's jam. and even though there were a good half-dozen times I almost uninstalled, it was a retro metroidvania that, if not in my top 10, would still be an approve
It's worth the money 👍
Just be prepared for some pain, because this game is a difficult.
In most metroidvanias if you run into a boss or area that is too tough you back track and find power ups. In this one you back track and find a power up that gives a +1% chance to negate damage from a hit and gold you can't spend on anything because you already bought all the power ups in the store that are shockingly unhelpful.
One of the best metroidvanias I've ever played (and I've played pretty much all of them lol). Unlike what all of the other reviews will tell you, it's not actually that hard if you're experienced with the genre. It is definitely not beginner friendly though. I thought it was a great difficulty level pretty much the whole time. I would highly recommend exploring and getting all of the upgrades for a smooth and fun experience.
still need chinese
I think it is my first metroidvania I do not recommend.
Pros.:
- Collectibles.
- Intuitive design.
- Final boss.
Cons.:
- Imbalanced.
- Banner mechanic. You have to waste a lot of time switching them.
- Some locations are OP.
- Music and sounds.
- Level design. Absolutely not my thing.
It is not game for me, but if you like this style you may actually love it. Also, the game seemed very similar to Alwa's Awakening (even those hooded ghosts). It is not cons, it is rather a suggestion for those who love this type of games. Me - I don't.
Expected Dark Souls, got I Wanna Be the Guy. If you want a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game, this is for you. If you want a game with good design, you'll hate it.
At least it stays true to the classic feel of games, back when developers put in as much ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ as they possibly could so the game would last longer. Too bad it's considered piss poor design now to overwhelm the player with bosses and enemies that they are not equipped to deal with given the mechanics of the game, but hey, I guess "tHiS gAmE iS bRoOtAlLy HaRd!!!!!!1!!!!" is at least free marketing.
This game lost me by ice area, unnecessary clusters of enemies that completely take you out of it. It's progression system has unique ideas, but the sluggish progression in some rooms just because of annoying enemies is too much.
Bad level design, repetitive musics, bad hitbox, not so good controls. Definitely one of the games.
For those who are wondering.
I have played most games on nes sega sms snes and genesis
and i must say that this really is the throwback of the century
Cathedral is a mix of all my favorite games in one,
Megaman
Wonderboy
Wizard and warriors
Metroid
hell even sprinkled with a little ghost and goblins
and much more.
many secrets to find, fun classic abilities, stupid bosses that wont die unless you learn patterns and pray to god
yes, it has everything i love, so thanks developer for making this fun nostalgic feeling.
the only thin that gets a lower grade is the music, some places has none at all, and some has too much of it, its OK though, this is how old games worked, but i never thought i would miss ambiance in the silent parts, like footsteps and basic wind.
i digress. its an awesome game for old-school gamers, and i recommend it with all of my being.
More frustration than fun
I gave this game a thumbs up, because it has all the elements of a great metroidvania: interesting level design, fun exploration, good puzzles, cool combat. I truly believe, that it is the strongest metroidvania that I played since Hollow Knight.
!!HOWEVER!!
Late bosses are sadistic in my opinion! I consider myself a decent player (I beat many of the harder metroidvanias and all the Dark Souls games), but I quit this game because I couldn't bother with one of the bosses (having all the upgrades that were available at the time).
So, only purchase if you're a crazy good player, or if you don't mind practicing boss battles for hours on end.
This is an action platformer that is verrrrrrry similar to Shovel Knight, and it makes no bones about that with one of the NPC's joking "hey! didn't you use to have a shovel?". But unlike Shovel Knight, which was fun, this becomes really tedious and one for the masochists quite quickly.
You're a knight, so,...er....the two games have that in common, but to avoid copyright infringement instead of jumping on enemies with an instrument designed for shovelling (aka....a shovel) you can hit them with a sword or jump on them and bounce off. And also the K is maybe not capitalised? I don't know if that means this is less of a poor rip-off.
It's the same but different, or different but exactly the same, depending on which way you want to look at it.
Playing through the first area I found it to be pretty good fun. The level design was enjoyable, the challenge was reasonably balanced and the boss encounter had decent mechanics. I mean, sure, the music made me want to stab myself in the ears, but hey! No game is ever perfect, right?
This lasted for about an hour (the fun gameplay that is, the crappy music never stopped being crappy the entire time), right up until I got to a stage I wasn't supposed to be in and an enemy killed me in one hit. That was irritating so I went somewhere else.
Bare in mind that the first boss was really easy. The second boss was really easy, The first level was fairly easy. This easiness gets immediately thrown out of the window.
In this new area there was much fun to be had, such as:
1) Collapsing platforms where the view wouldn't show where I had to jump to next
2) Enemies appearing mid-jump that knocked me down several screens, with no way back up again other than going the long way around. Whilst also having to face the same enemies because they respawn each time you exit a screen. In the end its just easier to die and go back to a checkpoint, which takes X amount of money that would otherwise be used to pay for upgrades or other helpful items
3) A tedious trial and error sequence where you outrun some lava, that wouldn't be so bad by itself but the developers already did it once before with some spikes in the previous stage and it was no fun there either
4) An instant leap in level design that went from "reasonably straight-forward" to "A to B by way of C to Z just so you can get back to A and then faff around doing whatever crap gets you to B, only to be hit by a monster and have to do it all again" Yayyyy! Much big fun!!!!!!
Sure, this can be enjoyable...if you're the kind of person who likes wearing a shirt made out of barbed wire, that's been covered in itching powder and has been soaked in vinegar and acid. And then you stick some highly poisonous spiders inside of it, plus some scorpions for good measure.
Perhaps it's the music that makes this so horrible to me, or the irritating level design, or maybe its the music and the level design, because I have played games that are much harder and still stuck with them. Whereas this got on my nerves and I can't be bothered with it anymore.
Based on the first stage I would have said it's not without merit, but based on the second stage (and presumably everything after) I would say avoid this like the plague unless you're the kind of person who, um, likes having the plague, I guess.
I just finished Castlevania Circle Of The Moon before playing Cathedral and I know which one I'd rather play as a "metroidvania" fan. It isn't this.
Exccelentes controles y pixel art, la musica puede llegar a ser un poco desesperante en algunos niveles y los efectos de sonido quitando el del portal estan justos. Bastante retador con puzzles que no son tan directos, pero sobre todo enemigos sin piedad y jefes al estilo de Sigma de megaman x, no lleva al jugador de la mano (sin embargo tiene ayudas como el adivino y las piastas que son suficientes), si buscas un buen reto es una gran opcion, si quieres algo mas casual este juego puede ser de hecho mas o menos sencillo si sigues una guia, un juego para todos los amantes del plataformeo en 2D.
Si buscas un metroidvania de cepa, tal vez no sea para ti, pero si solo quieres un aderezo de metroidvania encima de la accion y plataformas es una gran opcion ya que segun obtienes nuevos items y power ups es facil hacer backtracking de zonas que no pudiste explorar antes.
This game is punishing for all the wrong reasons. Some platforming feels super cheap too, like unavoidable damage...
this zelda 2 game is weird.
【7.5★】体量很大的《铲子骑士》版类银河城，操作手感顺滑，画面复古，跳跳乐非常多，死亡会扣钱，玩法做得一般，不出彩但胜在内容多，每个区域有数十个隐藏房间，地图双拼一非常大，如果你不反感跳跳乐的话这款游戏还是值得一玩的。
Gran metroidvania
This one takes a while to get going (a few hours/areas in), but once it does it's a good time. It's quite long, too. I'd say most of the friction in the game is navigation/exploration, with some puzzles and boss fights. I never really felt like I didn't know where to go, but the in-game hint system is there if you want to make sure you're on the critical path. The boss fights get challenging, with some nice variety between cheese-able, puzzle bosses, and plain dodge-and-attack (fortunately less of the latter, as it's extremely common these days).
I wouldn't say it's a must-play, but if you watch the trailer and think this is your sort of thing, you'll enjoy it. Just give it like 3-5 hours to warm up.
I've spent just under 20hrs with this game now so I feel confident enough in giving my opinion, despite not finishing it (yet)
As someone who has played an *awful* lot of metroidvanias, I can comfortably (and highly) recommend this game, especially if you're like me and are looking for something different. The genre has broadly stagnated for a while now and have settled on a proven formula that, while I think is fun also lacks any daring originality or anything. Which is fine.
Cathedral in my opinion has just enough of a unique personality to confidently side step these allegations and it does several things extremely well, and one thing... Sort of well. With a big asterix.
Firstly, secret hunting and exploration here are absolutely top shelf. Not only does this game reward patience and curiosity with great items and power ups but you can occasionally trip down a proverbial rabbit hole, giving the designers great opportunity to up-end the formula in interesting ways that constantly felt thrilling to uncover, and this lasted all throughout my time with the game. It drip feeds the map to you in such an enticing way that I haven't seen in a long time.
I think the graphics are fun, bright and colourful but mostly the environment's are totally clean, which they need to be because you've got to have a keen eye for secrets to spot discrepancies in the environment
The tone is relatively light hearted and fun - the story isn't super important, the game world and exploration are really the main draw, so I'm not too bothered about the story being unimportant - the game really just wants you to have fun.
I think the games approach to difficulty causes it to stumble at the finishing line though. The game is often "tough-but-fair" in a way that feels extremely rewarding, especially when beating tough bosses or navigating a particularly rough platforming challenge, but it feels like this approach isn't applied to *everything* which had me wondering if what I was doing sometimes is less "tough-but-fair" and more just... Pointlessly frustrating?
Stuff like checkpoints being miles away from a deliberately tough section where you're bound to die a lot, meaning a trek back to your previous location where you have to mercilessly grind your way through mountains of enemies again, just to get back to a particularly rough segment that'll probably still kill you, either because it's extremely tough or because you exhausted so much resources getting back there. Or losing a percentage of cash over and over again until you totally exhaust your funds, and you're miles away from a teleporter to go and bank your money at the nearest town, ultimately forcing you to continually push through the meat grinder regardless of the consequences, after which you've probably lost more money than you gained... Sometimes, a difficulty spike felt *particularly* cruel, so cruel that it felt like blind, random luck that I got past, not my own ingenuity or skill. And I think that's the point, really, if it's difficult and the game lets you display your skill to beat it, that's well balanced. If you felt like you got through it by sheer random luck, it feels frustrating, not empowering.
Regardless, much of the game is expertly crafted. The difficulty often felt "just right" despite these occasional segments of misery and really the level design and exploration are truly special and worth the price of admission alone. It often felt worth it to weather the storms if only just to see what surprises the world threw at you next and I still had an absolute blast exploring every corner of this world.
8/10
10/10
Very good game! A lot to do and to explore.
Hard but not unfair.
If you like good challege try it!<
真的挺差的一个游戏，手感反馈，音乐都烂的让人坚持不下去。 无意义的跑酷，跑酷过一个较难关卡的时候，得到的奖励都是蚊子腿
I have played CATHEDRAL for 56 hours. I have enjoyed all the stages, each one of which contains the whole map. I have played all the scenarios.
Very enjoyable. Tight controls, a great soundtrack, nice pixel art, and mostly lovely level design.
But I know the developers must be responsible with most of the players; if not, we will not play the next upcoming games, even if you level up the difficulty even more.
The first 80% of the game is decent. When I saw many players writing negative reviews about the mermaid boss, I realized that I beat this boss because I was one step higher on my heart number items and in my health potion number items. (This was possible because I explored some places; it was supposed I must travel later), so I didn´t take the usual way of most players, and I had an advantage.
The air conduit boss was a terrible headache. I didn´t give up, and I didn´t drop out of the game because I saw that in about 3 hours and 50 attempts, I might have the opportunity to beat this boss. especially when I saw there were a very interesting 18% of the final game that was interesting and challenging.
Finally, I beat the conduit, and I played the rest of the game until the final boss (Ardur).
When I fought with Ardur, after one hour of trying to upgrade my technique, I decided to give up because the extreme difficulty was not worth my time.
Conduit boss was unbalanced and extremely hard, but Ardur... sorry, this headache is not worth my time. Please, developers, take it into account for the next games. If you program extremely difficult games, most players will not play your games, not even me. I am not a hardcore gamer, but I sacrifice a lot of my time trying to upgrade my technique in most Metrovania games, even the difficult ones. Sorry, but CATEDRAL is unbalanced. That is the reason why I will put my mind to other games—not easy games but affordable games.
Yes, but...
This game can be pretty bad at communicating what you need to do next and combat can be frustrating at times.
Otherwise it's a fun, retro feeling metroidvania that is a good waste of time.
This game played so much like the old school games I loved. I like the progression with the equipment. Great side scroller!
25小时通关，地图100%，收集还差点，不找了。总体来说游戏不错，地图也很大，就是难度挺高的，而且网上的攻略也很少。
Excellent metroidvania rétro avec grosse durée de vie et du challenge.
Doesn't reinvent the genre, but executes it very well, with a good difficulty curve and lots of upgrades that definitely makes navigating the map a breeze. It's a tad linear, but fans of the genre might enjoy a little help on that front so, it's not a downside.
Would I recommend it? Yep! Give it a go!
Great game if you consider pulling teeth a fun activity
Cathedral is a game with a most unusual trajectory. It starts out as a no-nonsense, simple but capable metroidvania, without the usual annoying frills many Hollow Knight followers adopted. The controls are good and tight (initially), the 8-bit visuals are atmospheric if not particularly beautiful, the soundtrack is great (again, initially). Then, as we progress in the game, issues start to creep in. The Shade Forest introduces the painful backtracking (not particularly long, but need to redo all the platforming challenges every time), the Graveyard brings the long and pointless levels, and the Bone Church the punishing difficulty with ambush enemies and scarce save points - further exacerbated by the occasional inaccuracy of the controls when both platforming and fighting. All this would be bearable, but then the subsequent levels start to combine two or more of these, and, heck, even the music was bad on these levels :(
In parallel with the level design going to hell, the ominous looking charm shrine system kicks in in earnest. You have a) double jump and b) dash, but only one at a time! Similarly, you can a) use a companion to parachute, or b) manipulate limited spaces - again, only one or the other. By the time I passed Magnus' Crypt and the Mines under Tinkerton, I was thoroughly hating the game and was considering to abandon it.
Then, as matter-of-factly as it started, Cathedral returned to being a perfectly capable metroidvania, with hardly any of the annoying traits - even the charm shrines went away with the utterly hamfisted solution of getting dual skills (ie. you can choose a) double jump or b) dash or c) double jump + dash - how silly is that?) Only the elevated difficulty remained, which is OK, by that point the health and the health replenishment is adequate to compensate. That also means some of the bosses were frankly insane - but creatively insane, at least, which I can appreciate.
By and large, Cathedral is a pretty good entry to the m-v genre, and I appreciate it doing its own thing instead of simply being a HKvania, which has been a popular trend these last years. Recommended, but be prepared for the evil middle section and the tough bosses.
this was an amazing game, I loved it beginning to end. lots of exploration and old-school combat. if you dig metroidvania style games this one is worth playing.
A competently made Metroidvania that is stretched way too long. If you absolutely need to play a 2-d action exploration game there are much worse out there but Cathedral unfortunately is one of those 4/10 that are a niche taste for a specific audience. Not a terrible game but not strong enough to earn a hardy endorsement.
This is probably the best game I've ever played that I cannot recommend.
At first glance you may think this is a cheap knockoff of Shovel Knight and you couldn't be more wrong, this is its own thing and is highly polished with its own great soundtrack, great sound effects, great smooth performance and 8 bit graphics along with excellent sharp controls.
But yet, it can't be recommended. Why? Well, because the game's difficulty is completely out of whack. You know those games, when you beat them on hard a new ultra hard option opens up? Well, that is this game's difficulty, and you cannot change it. No matter how many hearts you have, you will die in one or two hits and the game was NOT designed around this AT ALL (well except for the ability to bank your earned gold but that doesn't change the primary issue. This game is just extremely hard for the sake of being extremely hard and I've never encountered a metroidvania more difficult than this in my entire life. The second boss, a mere gargoyle, is already almost as difficult as Radiance herself was.
Speaking of Radiance, if you have successfully defeated the radiance in Hollow Knight, you'll probably enjoy this. However, if you have not defeated it or you don't know what the Radiance is, then you need to stay far away from this game because I guarantee you that you will not enjoy it.
Edit: I have played and beaten aeterna noctis on the original difficulty. Contrary to what I was told, aeterna noctis is, in fact, easier than cathedral.
I've played this for a reasonable space on console. I think my crippling ADHD / anxiety / ♥♥♥♥ human syndrome limited my attention.
I've hoinked a copy on sale here. the 69 (count 'em!), 69 minutes I've put in here have been absolutely brilliant. Great world, controls are of the chef's kiss variety, when I die, it's definitely my own ♥♥♥♥♥♥ little stubby chicken fingers ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up the flow.
I'm fully aware of some folks' disappointment at the difficulty encountered later on, but I'm already doing a terrible(ish!) job of making progress, and am MORE than willing to swear profusely at my long suffering computer in lieu of staggering further.
Incedentally, I have over 666 hours in Noita (missed that screenshot, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing) so I know what it's like to love to hate when it comes to a game.
This UTTERLY deserves your attention if you want to be immersed in a fully realised and just plain labour of love utter pain in the arse.
Also, it's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bargain,.
This game is awesome
This game is amazing for a while, but becomes punishingly difficult. Really a shame, it had such promise.
Это круче, чем Dark Souls или Lies of P. Сложная, захватывающая метроидвания. Рекомендую к покупке
A retro metroidvania with a steep difficulty curve. I personally enjoyed it but there are some points in the game where it feels like you're being intentionally ♥♥♥♥♥♥ about. Better than Aggelos, worse than Astalon
The bosses become sponges by the second one, but they still can one or 2 shot you. Pass if that doesn't seem fun to you.
Great early game, but slowly goes downhill around the halfway point. A really good metroidvania held back from greatness by unfair enemy placement, blind jumps, and some questionable boss attack patterns. If you like hard games that border on unfair at times, you will enjoy this.
Un metroidvania, que al principio puede ser algo engañoso en juzgar que sea sencillo, pero cada vez que avance se tornando cada vez mas HDP, y ser masoquista sera tu moneda diaria para que logres pasar los escenarios, hasta que aprenda sus patrones para que no vayas a petarla nuevamente. La estética de 8-bit le va bien para hacernos recuerdos a esos juegos de antaño que pasamos en la Nes. Se nota su inspiración a Shovel Knight, pero siendo mas un metroidvania. La música esta bien para el genero y generación que adopta. La historia no le vas a dar importancia, porque este juego va a lo retro. Y la jugabilidad ya he dicho como es, pero en palabra resumida: Muy desafiante.
8/10
Great game
A few hours in, mostly backtracking over and over. Its obvious the game needs an royal amount of modern QoL changes.
I'm maybe 1/3 through this game, but absolutely loving it so far. The control is tight, the design is hard but mostly fair, and the dungeon mechanics are fresh and interesting while feeling classic.
This feels like a smart blend of Metroid, Mario 3, and Megaman design styles.
Only complaint is the highly repetitive music - each area could have used a longer track, or multiple themes. But it's in the style it's trying to emulate - mid/late NES design.
-- Edit --
At the end boss, and I'm just done with this. This game utterly excels at it's design, except when it comes to the bosses. Half of them are so frustratingly overtuned that it honestly has ruined my opinion of this game. It simply isn't worth it.
It's too bad too - it's clear the devs have gotten this feedback many times, and could have gone back to fix or include an "easier bosses" option, but have chosen not to do so.
cheio de probleminhas mas até que vai né
Not great. Good, but not great. Early game has a lot of obstacles to progression and upgrades and by the time you get to middle game it dips from a fun challenge to more of a chore, and traversal isnt fantastic from the early bits and is kinda clunky intentionally which doesnt add to the experience.
Made with a lot of love, clearly, and if you like punishment buy it and youll probably love it, but a bit too much enemy spawn memorization and unnecessarily punishing hazards for my tastes.
10 e lode
Loved this retro looking metroidvania. Tight movement, good platforming, and very challenging bosses. Beware any 100% achievement folk, you will need to play through the game twice, with one playthrough being extremely difficult!
it's annoying when you make an open world game where you have to swap out traversal abilities in one slot and then create multiple situations that soft lock the player for not having the right one
While not a bad game, this is going to be a game that most people are going to bounce off of for various reasons. I beat the game without too many issues, but I see a lot of people stumbling due to un-fun difficult game design.
The biggest issue with the game is its difficulty. While many games that pride themselves on difficulty rely on the player learning from their mistakes, trying new strategies and/or increasing their level and abilities through searching the world. The issue is that this game only has one method of attacking, there are no leveling, and while this is a metroidvania, until the end of the game, there are few items that you're able to find to upgrade yourself. On top of this, there are some very important upgrades you get by purchasing them, but they are often very expensive. If you don't die often, you lose 10% of your gold (which can be reduced through purchases) and this can make it incredibly difficult to earn additional money if you are struggling in the game. While there is a banking system, you have to pay to be able to increase the amount of money you can put into it. If you're having trouble in the game, you can brute force your way to buying these upgrades, but it will likely take a lot of grinding, which isn't particularly fun.
About half way through the game, you'll start encountering bosses that take a long time to defeat, usually requiring some small "puzzle" to do damage to, and then you'll have to fight them without the special "puzzle" mechanic. The main issue is that it gets to the point where tanking damage to just whale on the boss is going to work out much better than trying to avoid damage, which isn't particularly fun.
For other aspects of the game, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The pixel art is solid, but a bit boring, with some of the main character animations lacking in interest. The music and sound effects are fine, but nothing memorable. The story is more tongue in cheek than anything, but it doesn't really make any sense. I replayed the beginning of the game to check that I was remembering it correctly, and it really doesn't track with the ending. *Spoilers* In the end you learn that Soul is controlling the "knight" that you play as throughout the game. However, in the beginning of the game, the knight just appears out of nowhere and is not tied to Soul in any way (in fact, soul is the first boss you fight then release). Supposedly, the knight dies after this and Soul possesses him at this point, but how does Soul not realize that he's controlling the Knight, and where did the Knight come from to begin with. *End Spoilers* While it's not a bad idea, it's execution is lacking pretty big time.
If you want a game to fight through and feel accomplished after completing it, this might be the game for you, but most people are going to have a bad time, and there isn't much to justify the struggle
