Developer: Metamorphosis Games
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder – Review
The world of Gestalt: Steam and Cinder has been ravaged by daemons and an epidemic that petrified people. Now, after many years, the steam city Canaan has finally recovered. However, there are still many secrets about the past and a new drug that turns people into monsters is on the rise. Hunted by friend and foe alike, only you can delve deep to discover what really happened to the Betrayer and the origin of your power.
Story
We follow Aletheia, or ‘Red’, as some call her for her obvious vibrant crimson hair. She is a mercenary for hire who has found herself in the Vaults looking for Simon who went missing. When she finally finds him, we see him examining a Tether: A device made by the Akhaians that could repair and recharge their Armors. While messing around with the machine, Simon accidentally activates it sending a shockwave through Aletheia’s body. This makes her experience events that happened in the past as she sees the war against the daemons. The shock also warped her body. For unknown reasons, she has received a necklace with a magical gem that grants her otherworldly powers. Aside from that, Aletheia is now able to use the tethers to heal herself and for the player to save their progress. Deciding that she wants to learn more about the past and these powers, she sets out to seek answers.
The story of Gestalt: Steam and Cinder can be somewhat confusing as the player learns of the story through snip bits of events that happened in the past, dialogues between the player and NPCs, and dialogues between NPCs. There are also many names of different factions and NPCs which can make it unclear who is who. However, if you can get past the initial confusion, the story is quite interesting and entices the player to seek further answers.
Graphics
The graphics of Gestalt: Steam & Cinder resemble 16 and 32-bit classics such as the old Castlevania or Metroid series. The different areas you visit are animated nicely in a steampunk world style. Some can be dark and grim or full of colors. Now and then, there are some animations going in the background but most often it will be static.
The portraits of the characters have been animated well and they show some interaction by blinking now and then. Unfortunately, every character has only one sprite so there is not much variety. Moving around Aletheia feels smooth and she has some cool attack animations. Some of these you have to unlock. Throughout your playthrough, there are some animated cutscenes or small interactions such as petting the many corgis you can find throughout your playthrough or when you order a drink at Vincent’s bar. The graphics are simple but they fulfil their role by immersing you in this world of steam and cinder.
Sound
The sound design is nothing exceptional. The music fits the areas that you visit but they mostly follow the same type of melody without much difference. An area can be quite long, so you will mostly hear the same music over and over again until you reach the boss. Then the soundtrack switches to the boss music.
Aletheia’s animations, such as her swinging her sword or shooting with her gun, and most enemies’ attacks have a basic sound effect. Even though there is quite a lot of dialogue in the game none of it has any voiced lines which is a bit of a letdown. Therefore, the sound design is really quite simple.
Gameplay
Concerning gameplay, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a 2d Metroidvania platformer. With sword and gun, you can make quick work of your enemies While you level up, you can expand your repertoire by using ability points to unlock new skills or by increasing your max HP, increasing your damage output, etc.
The majority of the time you will explore one particular area until you find the area boss and defeat it. This portion of the game is quite linear and there is not much incentive to explore earlier visited areas unless you learn a new way to open closed-off passages that were unavailable before. Most enemies have a simple attack which makes it easy to make quick work of them. The bosses are a bit more challenging but as soon as you learn the pattern and timing of their attacks, they are often not problematic.
There are also some side quests given by NPCs or the bounty board assignments which almost always concern killing a particular number of enemies. Since there is no maximum of side quests that you can accept, there is no reason to not accept any side quest that you encounter. After completing a couple of these, they tend to become a bit tedious.
Conclusion
The story of Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is its strong suit. It might be unclear in the beginning but afterwards, it does become interesting and it pushes you to find out the truth about the world and the events of the past. Since the gameplay and the music are quite often the same, it might become a bit of a routine. However, if you like 2d Metrovania platformers and you are a fan of the steampunk style, then this game is worth picking up.
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