The very best examples of the metroidvania form often take a ‘less is more’ approach to storytelling. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night doesn’t inundate you with lengthy exposition or drawn-out flashbacks, and even contemporary hits like Hollow Knight or Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight let their well-developed worlds do most of the talking. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder has one of the most interesting worlds I’ve ever seen in a sprawling platformer adventure like this, but a constant focus on exposition-filled, unexciting dialogue tears all the intrigue out of the experience and left me wishing this game could have burned so much brighter than just a cinder.
I have to be real with you for a second: I am so sick of games opening with a bunch of illustrations and text boxes to explain the entire history of their world to you. When I’ve yet to see my protagonist or press a single button, it’s hard for me to care about or even remember the history textbook I’m being pop quizzed on. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder does exactly this, outlining a history that began countless years ago when a Gate to the Abyss cracked open in the ground, leading hellspawn and demons to invade the world and drive humanity to near-extinction. Then humans used the power of the Abyss to create special armor, people wearing that armor fought and defeated the demons, and then the armour corrupted its wearers and the armour-wearing Akhaian warriors were led by The Betrayer to defeat humanity again. Then, one person in armor defeated the Betrayer, drove the Akhaians into exile, and the remaining human race built Canaan, the Steam City.
Anyway, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder’s actual story kicks off countless generations after all of this and is barely about any of the events I described to you. Obviously it’s all a bit important, but it feels like putting the horse before the carriage to summarise all of these historic moments to the player instead of letting the immediate narrative and character interactions deliver bits of that info to me and draw me into this world more naturally.
Even more frustrating than the exposition-forward opening of the game is that a vast majority of the story that occurs afterwards barely involves your protagonist. Aletheia, the hero of this story, is a badass, beautiful crimson-haired bounty hunter who operates on her own terms and her own moral compass. She should be front and centre, but so much of the game’s opening acts instead focus on political conflict and intrigue playing out between other characters that feel far less exciting to be spending my time with.
When you’re given the reigns to guide Aletheia through city streets and winding dungeons, it’s a blast. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is rendered in gorgeous 32-bit style graphics, and the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night inspirations are immediately obvious. From the weight of your attacks and the precision of the platforming, to minute details like the after-image trail you leave behind as you dodge roll or the little pop-up in the corner of the screen when you pick up a new item. It’s an obvious homage, but there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Plus, I appreciate the modern touches blended in that make the game a little more distinct. Levelling up earns you points that you can use to unlock nodes on a skill tree – some nodes upgrade your sword or gun damage, while others will unlock new attacks or extend your basic combo.
Enemy design and placement is varied enough to keep you on your toes as you explore, but consistent enough that you’re quickly able to learn the best ways to rout each enemy and feel satisfied with your efficiency. Every enemy you fight has a health meter and a break meter, and while you can fire tesla bullets to quickly drain their break meter, you can only hold a few of those at any time. It leads to a really satisfying loop of dishing out sword attacks to build your ammo meter, then using your ammo to weaken your enemies, rinsing and then repeating.
The flow is a little less rewarding with boss battles, if only because those encounters tend to be a little too repetitive for their own good. Most bosses have limited move sets, slow movement, and a bit more health than you’d hope for. It leads to a lot of these fights dragging on just a bit longer than I would have liked.
At the end of the day, there’s a really special world and atmosphere to Gestalt: Steam & Cinder. I love the character designs and environment art, and a lot of the lore lurking at the corners of the story is genuinely fascinating. The drawn out and exposition-stuffed storytelling drains so much of the magic, though, and what’s left behind is a fun if not slightly repetitive metroidvania that’ll still please fans of the genre, but probably not wow them.
