Exile's End

Exile's End is indie developer Magnetic Realms' homage to the CRT-monitor classics of the Amiga, and a follow-up to their first title Inescapable. While Inescapable garnered rough reviews due to it's linear nature and lackluster graphics, Exile's End boasts art design by staff from Secret of Mana and Mother 3, a soundtrack by NES legend Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden, TecmoBowl), and gorgeously pixelated cut-scenes by OPUS (Half-Minute Hero). If that's not reason enough to grab your gamepad, than nothing is!

While the developers at Magnetic Realms have tried to distance themselves and claim that Exile’s End is not a Metroid/Castlevania-inspired title, the similarities are too numerous to ignore. As players explore a small number of interconnected worlds in pure side-scrolling fashion, new abilities and weapons aid to improve the hero’s traversal skills. Straying from the obvious path or blowing holes in suspicious walls lead to secret enhancements that might boost defense or ammo capacity. Progression to specific areas is typically blocked off until a specific item or ability is acquired. If these...

Exile’s End is a good action-platformer that checks all the boxes of a good Metroidvania, but does so without much pizazz. It’s a fairly short experience that is fine and does a nice job in evoking a horror vibe, but due to some poor design choices, it doesn’t reach the greater heights of its predecessors. That being said, even with its faults, to those wanting a good Metroid experience, this will suffice for now.

Very few game genres deliver quality experiences as consistently as the 2D Metroidvania. However, Exile's End is a surprisingly average title but does it have enough redeeming qualities to make it a worthwhile download?

The price is on the lower end, but may still be too much for the entire package for most players. It can be knocked out in a few sessions in a weekend, so if you are desperate for a somewhat competent metroidvania and have plenty of patience to spare, Exile’s End might have something for you.

Also, are we not at the point in game design where when you die you don’t have to go back the game’s main menu? Every single time you meet your demise, which can be often, the game will boot you out. Every time it happens you simply hit continue and are loaded to the exact screen in the game where you died. A perfect example of archaic design mentality that is completely unnecessary and makes you wonder why it exists in the first place.