Astalon: Tears of the Earth

An amazing game only dragged down a bit by luck or prior knowledge being required to make it through side areas earlier, plus the most unnecessary bit of artificial difficulty I've seen in recent years. It's called the Ruins of Trash and I just wanted to say that one more time. I'd write that on a brick and throw it through a window if I could.

There are a lot of retro indie games on the market, but most aim for the brightly colored sprites and expansive worlds made famous by titles like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. Astalon: Tears of the Earth is drawing on the aesthetic and mechanics of an earlier time. This action-platformer looks like it stepped out of the 80s alongside the original Megaman, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy, right down to three potential levels of anti-aliasing to capture that fuzzy retro sprite aesthetic. Despite the old-school aesthetic, its mix of excellent writing, creepy art design, slick controls, and ...

Retro 2D platformers are a dime a dozen on the Nintendo Switch. This makes sense, because a) they're fun to play, and b) they're perfectly suited for gaming on the go. If you find yourself in need of a new one at this present time, allow me to point you towards Astalon: Tears of the Earth.Read More

Astalon: Tears of the Earth is a great looking rogue-like Metroidvania game with a good story. It is incredibly challenging and can get very frustrating with the amount of backtracking, collision detection issues and lack of direction of what you need to do to progress.

Though I walk through the shadow of the tower of death, I shall fear no gorgons. For the Titan has my back, and I shall not falter. His hands, they rebuild me. He marks me as his, and my blood runneth over the stones. Again, and again, and again.