Being more of an RPG guy I tend to dabble in other genres from time to time to refresh the old palate. Feudal Alloy provided a perfect opportunity to dive into a metroidvania, and smooth experience provided an enjoyable ride with some minor kinks.

If you were hoping there's a story involved in this corridor delving escapade prepare to be let down. We're told who we are - simple robot called Attu who works as a farmer on the outskirts where he watches over elderly robots - until one day some bandits raid the place and steal the life-saving oil. It doesn't take long for Attu to suit up in ancient gear and go after the evildoers. There's no journal entries or anything to come across that would contextualize what you're doing and in a way that's refreshing as nothing (ir)regularly bogs your adventure down. You know, that now worn out "stop what you're doing and listen to audio logs" modern games have embraced as some sort of environmental storytelling solution. Opening and ending cutscenes are only bits of story you get in Feudal Alloy.

Did I forget to mention said robots are actually fishes in small aquariums mounted onto various frame configurations? Well, consider it mentioned.

Gameplay is what you'd expect from a metroidvania with the addition of an overheat gauge. Seeing how Attu is a robot with less than ideal cooling solutions your every attack, regular or handful of special ones you unlock as milestones, temporarily increases this heat gauge. It dissipates naturally over time, but in combat terms this means you cannot go button mashing or you'll just be left incapable of dishing out blows. Speaking of special abilities they're tied to combat as much as to exploration itself which is, arguably, the real meat and potatoes of a metroidvania. It's the usual formula - explore a location, see there are obstacles you cannot go past until you have the ability to do so, re-visit the location after you have the required skill, progress further, rinse and repeat. Even if you have physically FIND maps themselves in order to unlock parts of the usable map I'd say perfectly sensible level layouts do Feudal Alloy justice and act invitingly even for genre novices like myself. Add to that myriad of shortcuts and straight up teleporters as means of faster travel and you'll basically never be left treading over the same ground. Late game levels notwithstanding platforming in Feudal Alloy leans more on simply being aware of your surroundings and exploring every possible route you can over making pixel accurate jumps, even with instant death lasers and spikes you come across towards the end. If anything, it made a couple of brief timed platforming sections a thrill.

Whereas exploration leads-in naturally with the abilities you unlock aka double jump to reach new areas, yellow energy to overcome yellow barriers, etc I've found combat to be the weak point of the game. Game introduces more enemy types and same abilities you use to overcome electrified obstacles, for example, are used as combat solutions as well. Having invested in damaging dealing feats first I found myself spamming special abilities in combination with a coolant item to keep my heat gauge frozen in messy situations, which let me overcome anything. What I'm trying to say is there's a tiny sweet spot where game felt just right in terms of balancing for me. Everything afterwards turned into a breeze with nothing to spend money on because A) I didn't really need curatives and B) you come across plenty of gear organically which really only meant I would buy more to complete sets. Taking into account game has stats on equipment, but never divulges totals to the player puts a layer of separation between you and game systems. Inability to organize your inventory, compare equipped slots and guessing how much juice you'll actually get out of items, be they potions or bombs, leads me to believe this entire progression is here as mandatory feature inclusion rather than something thought out. Not horrible or anything, but basic with absent functionality. Combat as a whole relies more on throwing mixed enemy groups at you rather than singular challenges. With only two bosses in the entire game you'll be left out in the cold if you were looking to test your mettle.

Now, presentation I actually dig a lot. Tilesets are to be expected with what's on hand, but overall style is right up my alley with a cleanly drawn look. You could say backgrounds are mundane. You could also say areas look like they're geographically in plausible proximity so you won't see dozen biomes for its own sake. Soundtrack could've used some more variety and you better believe you'll hear some tracks on repeat. No such complaints about sound effects which felt punchy enough. Slowly chugging potions mid-combat makes you appreciate every goddamn glug Attu makes, though.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

A straightforward metroidvania with splashes of RPG in the form of equipment to go around along with leveling based on how much junk you've collected from felled enemies, Feudal Alloy manages to deliver what I believe it set out to when Attu embarked on his quest to recover that stolen oil supply. Game could have made better use of combat for more challenging scenarios or more bosses, which is a weird thing to say in a game that HAS challenge rooms specifically for that purpose. Inventory also suffers from snags like lack of any sorting or even ability to off-load your unwanted gear at the shop, but Feudal Alloy doesn't require more than remembering to choose your feat at level up and equip whatever you find along the way. Charming visual and limited soundtrack seal the deal.