Sundered Reviews
Sundered is a beautiful-looking Metroidvania with interesting mechanics, let down slightly by performance issues and a difficulty curve that is simply too steep during its opening hours.
Sundered has not only become a role model for how to capture the metroidvania style with complete ease, but also wins the title of one of the best indies of the year.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sundered is a good metroidvania with an astonishing art design. The procedural generation of the enemies is a bit problematic and the difficulty is not well balanced. Nonetheless, it represents a significant step forward for Thunder Lotus Games.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sundered takes the 2D Metroidvania platforming formula augments it with some successful ideas that all but reward you for dying. Its procedurally generated levels are hit and miss, as the dynamic parts come off as bland in comparison to Sundered's impressive hand-drawn areas and epic boss fights. In addition, its randomly appearing enemy hordes sometimes lead it to devolve into mere button mashing and random deaths, but the knowledge that I'll come back a little stronger each time makes it hurt less.
The roguelike elements didn't quite work out for me, but I'm sure Sundered will find its audience. Though I learned not to hate them, I would have preferred if the game stuck closer to tradition. It becomes a good game, but until you really become acquainted with how it works, it can be a frustrating and monotonous slog.
Sundered constantly tiptoes between mediocrity and plain greatness, but, despite the annoyingly repetitive and, many times, "unfair" horde attacks, as well as a couple of bad design choices here and there, it's definitely a Metroidvania worth checking out, especially for those who wanted something much more fast-paced and battle-heavy, as well as horrifyingly pretty and with lots of Lovecraft in it.
You're going to die a lot in Sundered, but it's all part of the plan. It's a tormented way to let players experience the terrors of eldritch monsters, but it's just so dang pretty you won't mind much anyway.
Sundered takes the indie, Metroidvania genre to new heights while showing just how good these types of experiences can be. Great gameplay could have carried this game far enough, but Thunder Lotus once again went for hand drawn art and the result is truly remarkable.
Sundered is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys Metroidvanias. It has all the stuff you'd want, including a focus on exploration and finding new abilities. But it's interesting takes on character progression, death, and level layouts come together to make Sundered feel like something new. And gorgeous 2D art and animations back up the smart design.
The story of Eshe is confusing and mysterious. Throughout the game there are many questions to be asked about what her goal is or how she feels about her unfortunate predicament. However, these questions fade as the drive to fulfill Eshe's unspeakable goal consumed me. I didn't care why she was doing it, I just knew that it must be important enough to put up with all of this to obtain it and that was enough for me. Parts of me wish Sundered never ended, but I was satisfied with the conclusion which made me look back at the choices I made and wonder: if I did it again again, would I embrace or resist this power?
Sundered is an enjoyable journey that iterates upon the Metroidvania style in ways that are both satisfying and substantial.
The indie space is full of roguelike Metroidvania titles, but no one pulls it off in the same style as Sundered. Beautiful hand-drawn animation, some cool environments, and great sound design combine to create a haunting, lonely tone for the game. It's definitely a combat-heavy game though, so if you prefer more exploration instead, this might not be for you. If you want a challenge though, pitting yourself against murderous waves of foes and giant bosses, Sundered is for you.
Sundered has the basic foundation for a metroidvania/roguelike hybrid down pat, but its poor handling of enemy distribution and the otherwise fine combat that comes with it sadly drags it down.
Sundered is an extremely impressive Metroidvania-style platformer, mixing together extremely challenging gameplay with beautiful yet haunting graphics to great success.
Writing that such a good looking, clearly heartfelt project isn't an awesome game frankly sucks. Literally just glimpsing these screenshots fills me with wonder once again. But I have to shake off those starry-eyes and remind myself of the fatigue and apathy I felt just halfway into Eshe's journey toward salvation or damnation.
Sundered is a different and unique game but in order to reach the interesting parts of it and epic boss battles, you need to go through long and boring paths that filled with repetitive and random battles. These random battles destroy the sense of adventure. also there are multiple technical problems that affects the whole gameplay experience
Review in Persian | Read full review
An unforgettable world, an indefatigable enemy, a somewhat meaningless protagonist, a really good time.
It's not a question of if the player will die in Sundered. They will lose the struggle against the Eldritch horrors that call its world home, and it ultimately comes down to the core theme of resist or embrace. Will the player embrace the challenge, or resist it by giving up? That'll ultimately come down to how much perseverance a person has, but those that do see the adventure out will be rewarded with more glimpses into a gorgeous world and some incredibly tense combat exchanges.
Sundered is a metrodvania with roguelike elements and inspiration from Lovecraft. What can go wrong?
Review in Spanish | Read full review