Gestalt: Steam & Cinder Review

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder, developed by Metamorphosis Games, has one of the most epic introductions to a game I have experienced in a long time. "Without warning, the heavens split, and our world was sundered.” This event was known as the Calamity, and it tore a rift, making a gate into a dark and twisted realm known as the Abyss. From this Gate, daemons burst out, ravaging what was left of civilisation and putting the human race on the edge of extinction. Running out of options, the humans reached into the Abyss, stealing its power for themselves. The problem was that humans weren’t able to use this much power on their own; they needed to become Daemons to slay the Daemons they faced. The Power of the Abyss was put into mighty Armours to harness its power. This came at a cost; the warriors succumbed to the corrupted power that flowed through the armour; save for one knight. Clad in chrome, he clung to his humanity and defeated the Betrayer, the leader of the corrupted warriors. Generations have passed since the Akhaian Exile, the Canaan’s warriors, known as the Vanguard, stood against the never-ending war against the Akhaian threat, that is, until today.

We meet our protagonist, Aletheia, the crimson-haired heroine donning a cowboy hat. She is watching a hologram message from a man named Vincent; he is assigning you a task: locate and retrieve Simon, who is one of Ada’s assistants. He knows of an old artefact that is hidden in the lower levels of the Vaults. Besides being very old, this item is also very valuable. Your first task is to explore the Vaults to find Simon, and you will also need to find and retrieve this special relic. 

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a 2D metroidvania-type game. You won’t be able to get to every area on the map that you come across; some will require a special ability to access. Speaking of the map, it can be quite annoying to use, as each room you enter appears as an empty, large rectangle, marked with exits or the save point. Usually, you get an idea of the shape of the terrain at least. It would be nice if there was some kind of landmark or way to identify which room this was, so if you need to backtrack, you will have an idea of where you need to go. I did like how you were able to set your own markers; this helped me keep track of where important characters that I would need to speak to again were located or areas I needed to revisit. 

Aletheia is equipped with a gun and a blade that she can use to attack enemies; swapping between the two was very fluid and easy to do, depending on what you needed at the time. Aletheia's blade has the ability to slash not only side to side but also upwards, making it an effective weapon against enemies positioned directly above you. Additionally, the gun can shoot both straight and diagonally. Though the firearm doesn’t have a never-ending supply of ammo, to fire Aletheia’s gun, you will need to collect energy; to fire one bullet, you need one energy slot filled. Replenishing your energy is very easy to do, as it can be refilled by attacking enemies, destroying crates, and from Energy Orb Generators. 

The controls in Gestalt: Steam & Cinder felt very responsive and smooth. Aletheia can swing her sword and roll to dodge enemy attacks, along with a jump that can be used to bounce off walls. The enemies that you are fighting have health bars shown over their heads, which makes it easy to see which of your attacks is the most effective, and if they have a shield or barrier, how much damage is left until it is broken. Like many games in this genre, there are boss fights that have you facing off against a huge enemy. Here, you will have to use a combination of attacking and dodging to stand a chance. Once you learn their attack pattern, it is pretty simple to see when the foe is going to hit you. As you defeat stronger enemies, you will acquire nodes that you can spend on the skill tree to upgrade your character and her abilities. However, I found that learning new light combo moves from the skill tree felt useless, as it was nearly impossible to establish a strong combo due to the need to dodge the enemy's attacks after only two hits. So in the end, spending your skill points on this felt pretty useless, but to get to the other useful abilities, you would have to learn them, as they were blocking the path to unlocking the other stuff.

The game's steampunk aesthetic is great; the characters are incredibly detailed, and the background art is gorgeous. I love how Aletheia’s hair was animated and would move as she navigated the level, making it come to life. It was impressive to see that they could make a pixel character look so attractive without realistic visuals! The accompanying soundtrack, like the visuals, is very well done and fits the action of the story perfectly. The music that played when you were exploring the Vault, in town, or even during battle was great. With a huge variety of songs, it never felt repetitive. 

There is tonnes of story and dialogue in Gestalt: Steam & Cinder. It is a bit annoying when you are in the middle of exploring or fighting off enemies when you are interrupted by a long cutscene. There is no voice acting, only text boxes and portraits of the characters in the conversation. They weren’t totally stationary; they would blink, but there was no other movement, though the designs for the characters were quite nice! The story is quite deep, reminding me of Squaresoft RPGs on the Super Nintendo. Mix that with Castlevania, and you have Gestalt: Steam & Cinder.

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a surprisingly short game; it only takes around nine hours to complete from start to finish, which could be quite annoying if you had to pay full price (£15.99 and $20.48 US) for the title. If you like games that don’t require a huge time commitment, this might actually be a good thing. I’ve had an enjoyable time with this title; sure, I was a little annoyed when long cutscenes would interrupt the action, but it’s still a good game. If you enjoy playing metroidvania-type games, especially ones that look and sound great, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a title that you should check out. It might be a little short, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome!