Gestalt: Steam & Cinder review

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder from Metamorphosis and Fireshine Games is an action Metroidvania following the exploits of flame-haired bounty hunter Aletheia, a lone wolf badass who prowls the outlands around the city of Irkalla. It’s a steampunk world ravaged by centuries of war between humans and the murderous Akhaians, a race that was destroyed, but not quite, and has been a nuisance ever since.

To be honest, I struggled to fully lock-in with the story of Gestalt. It’s well-written, with amusing, punchy dialogue – but there’s just so much exposition. It doesn’t help that it uses a standard Metroidvania format for the cutscenes, whereby the action simply halts as two static portraits stare at one another and the text box throws the story all over the place. It’s filled with proper nouns and reams of backstory that became harder and harder to absorb, even if I did like the way the characters are drawn and the way the world itself is represented.

This being a 2D action game, however, the story isn’t necessarily what we’re here for. The central mystery does enough to drive the plot forward, and really that’s all it needs. As Aletheia, you’ll investigate the various nefarious goings-on in and around Irkalla, with the help of a couple of elite warriors called the Vanguard, who spend most of the 8-hour story trying to get you to sign up with them. Aletheia is no one’s fool though – she serves the world in her own way and on her own terms.

Mostly this means slicing and shooting her way through legions of enemies and a handful of monstrous bosses. Armed with a swift sword and a pistol, Aletheia is fun to control both in and out of combat. There’s a wall-jump right from the start, though you’ll need to unlock other Metroidvania staples like a double jump later. Some abilities, like being able to charge up your pistol shot to stun enemies and trigger some switches, are given to you; others you’ll need to unlock in the skill tree.

Essentially this is a series of nodes that you progress along using ability points, with the best stuff hidden until you unlock nodes either side of it. Most smaller nodes do things like increase Aletheia’s HP or crit chance, while the large nodes add extra attacks to her combos or add traversal skills.

Combat is primarily melee-based, and Aletheia has the ability to dodge right through enemy attacks – though the dodge is limited and on a cooldown. The invincibility-frames will carry through most attacks, which is handy as there’s no parry, just a backstep that can be upgraded with an added sword swing. Weirdly, the forward roll and backwards hop are on different buttons, which is irritating to the point that I simply forgot about the backstep for most of the game, even after I’d unlocked a skill to augment it.

You’re not penalised for touching enemies, which puts the onus on getting up close and personal with Aletheia’s rapier. Melee combat feels incredibly satisfying, perhaps because of its simplicity. You will unlock more visually impressive attacks later, but for the most part its a case of function over form. Which is not a bad thing. It means options like equipping accessories make a real difference to the game-feel by altering certain stats, and you don’t have to get your head around any complex systems to make the most of it.

Graphically, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is gorgeous. The pixel art brings to mind classics like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as well as more modern iterations like last year’s The Last Faith. It’s more colourful than a lot of retro-themed Metreoidvanias, with some impressive location artwork that really sets apart the various environs.

Props should also go to developer Metamorphosis Games for not simply cranking up the difficulty for the kudos. While Gestalt is fairly challenging, at least for the first few hours, the gradual power creep is enough to slowly make you feel more and more like a badass. Earlier bosses are tougher, which might upset those who prefer everything to have a Soulslike-level of challenge these days, but Gestalt: Steam & Cinder feels balanced, and remains entertaining throughout.

Despite a few questionable design choices (the map is very barebones, and the item quick-menu is annoyingly sparse to the point that I couldn’t remember what any consumable did except the health potion), Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a good-looking, enjoyable Metroidvania with an intriguing setting, exhilarating combat, and enough juice to make exploring its world more than worth your time.