Review - Astalon: Tears of the Earth

“Astalon: Tears of the Earth” is a retro-styled Metroidvania released in 2021. Pixel art is big now, especially with so many indie studios and developers wanting to create games without spending tons of time and money on generating art assets. Plus, the Metroidvania genre is experiencing something of a resurgence lately. With that perfect storm, there are a lot of games LIKE Astalon. What makes Astalon special? Is it worth your attention?

I didn’t necessarily come across Astalon by accident, but I certainly wasn’t seeking it out in particular. I had just come off a 100+ hour Skyrim run and needed a palette cleanser game. Metroidvania games in general are some of my favorites, and they’re frequently very short. That makes them perfect between longer and more invested games. With tons of new Metroidvania games out in the past few years, I started looking around for good options in the genre.

Lately, I’ve tried to start shifting more of my gaming to PC, but my Surface Pro 7 isn’t very powerful, so I don’t have a ton of options that it can actually play very well. That means that retro-styled games tend to be much safer bets right now. When I stumbled across Astalon as PC Gamer’s best Metroidvania game of 2021 AND it used pixel art, I figured it might be worth looking into.

I checked my Steam library, and lo and behold, I already owned Astalon. Turns out I bought it with the AGDQ 2024 humble bundle. Well rated AND already available? Shoot, it doesn’t get much better than that. Figured if I already owned it, I may as well give it a shot. Nothing else to lose but time.

My main concern was the mention of rogue-lite elements. I don’t really like rogue-lites or rogue-likes. Aside, people argue about these terms a lot. What I’m finding is that rogue-likes lose everything on death and start over completely fresh every single time. Rogue-lites allow some amount of progress or upgrades to persist after death. In general, I would prefer to keep the progress that I make. Fortunately, all progress in Astalon remains after death, as well as MOST of the upgrades. There are a few that you lose on death, but nearly everything else stays. You just go back to the entrance of the castle when you die.

Very quickly, I figured out that Astalon was my kind of game. The different playable characters felt very similar to Castlevania 3, but with much more extensive exploration. The familiar gameplay loop of finding new items and abilities to unlock new areas is executed very well. I was hooked.

I played through mostly unassisted for the first pass. A lot of the fun with Metroidvania games is the discovery; you lose that if you look something up. I did check into what specific shop items do, as I didn’t want to spend a lot of soul orbs on something that I would lose on my next death. Otherwise, I allowed the game to tell its own story.

After about 15 hours of gameplay, I beat the final boss with 79% of the map discovered and 68% of the items. The game allows you to start over with New Game +, but I decided to go ahead and grind out the rest of the map and items. At just over 18 hours, I had fully explored the map, retrieved all items, and beat the last boss again for the good ending. Technically, there are other modes I could’ve played, but I was content with exhausting the main mode at this point.

Under 20 hours to play through a game that didn’t take a lot of thought was exactly the kind of zen I needed. It’s fun, but you don’t have to follow some complex plot or spend dozens of hours to get the full experience. I consumed what the game had to offer, and I can put it down without leaving things unfinished. Maybe I come back later and play through NG+ or some of the additional game modes, but for now I’m good.

Story - 7/10

I went into Astalon expecting NO story, so any story at all is a little surprising. Most Metroidvania plots are simply a vague reason for why you’re exploring in the first place. Astalon provides that as Algus, Arias, and Kyuli are attempting to secure fresh water for their village by removing the source of the poison in the Gorgon tower. Standard fare, I know why I’m in the tower and generally what I’m looking for.

HOWEVER, Algus and his deal with Epimetheus add that sort of “at what cost” element to success. The story has grown from a very simple and straightforward good guys on a noble mission to something much more nuanced and complex. Plus, the identity of the Dark Knight, the primary antagonist, is revealed through flashbacks. Defeating the opponent is far from a clearly noble action, and that depth was completely unexpected for me.

Each of the primary protagonists has a very vivid personality. Algus is old and wise, but clearly troubled by decisions he has made. Kyuli is sassy but positive. Arias is eager and aggressive. Although the game begins as the trio enter the tower for the first time, there is clear evidence of background between the three. The banter feels appropriate and makes the characters and the story feel more real.

The option to play as the Dark Knight after you finish the standard mode is compelling to me, and gives me something to look forward to the next time I decide to play. A lot of Metroidvania games are replayable only in the sense that you follow in your same footsteps from the last run, either faster or with more restrictions placed on yourself. Giving the opportunity to play AS the antagonist and understand their perspective really provides more variety and gives the perspective that there are no true good guys or bad guys: a parallel to the human condition.

General Gameplay - 9/10

This is a Metroidvania done right. It has good movement tech that gets better with upgrades. The tower is huge, with a pretty direct route through if you’re trying to hurry. If you’ve played some of the classics of the genre, this will feel like a modern take on the same. It LOOKS like a game on the NES, but the controls are tighter and the mechanics are better. It’s what NES Castlevania and Metroid would have been with better technology at the time.

The tower feels very Castlevania, which is a huge compliment. There are tons of secret passages, and a ring obtained later in the game will signal when you’re in a room with a secret exit. You can get an early reward for searching diligently, or you can wait until you’re fully kitted out to clean up anything you missed. It is ultimately up to the player.

If you’re the type of gamer that gets a dopamine hit from incremental spec bumps, secret areas, or new abilities, this one will appeal to you. Items are all extremely valuable without feeling absolutely busted. You aren’t practically a god by the time you finish the game, but you are faster, more efficient, and more powerful. Plus, you can navigate a lot of the rooms nearly from muscle memory for areas you pass through a lot.

My biggest complaint about Astalon is technical. The main menu will sometimes eat inputs. If you try to move the cursor or select an item, sometimes the game just doesn’t accept it. Annoying, but not a huge deal. I never had any lost inputs during actual gameplay, just when trying to navigate the menu. Additionally, I changed the controller settings for my Switch controller to use B for attack and X for special, rather than the default X and B. Often, I would start the game and those would have reverted to the original settings when I tried to attack. I exited the game, opened the controller settings, and the buttons would be what I had set them to. Go back into the game and the buttons do what I expect. I’m not sure why they would revert, but I found that opening the controller settings before I loaded my save file made the issue stop happening. A mild irritation, but certainly not awful. It’s something I would love to see fixed, though, if the developers are still working on the game.

Combat - 8/10

Combat is as complex as it can be and still be reminiscent of a NES game. I understand why it works this way, and I do think it’s very appropriate for the game, but some may be disappointed with the lack of options. Some characters do have special abilities that you can unlock, but the bulk of variety in how you can kill enemies comes from the items you pick up and upgrades you buy on death.

Algus and Arias both have items you can pick up that effectively serve as followers, increasing the damage output they are capable of. Kyuli picks up a bow upgrade that allows her projectile to occupy a bit more space. Two unlockable characters do have markedly different combat styles than the core trio. Still, the bulk of encounters in the game come down to pointing your attack at the bad guy and avoid their attack.

I don’t mean to suggest that this simplicity is a problem or that it takes away from the game; it’s very fitting for the style of game that Astalon seeks to recreate. However, modern gamers may not appreciate the lack of finesse and technique available. Don’t expect Monster Hunter or Dark Souls options, this feels old school. If you cut your proverbial teeth on 90s Metroidvania games, though, this will bring you back to a simpler time.

Difficulty - 4/10

It would be unfair to say that Astalon doesn’t punish mistakes. Your health is very limited with very few options to restore it. Candles littered throughout the castle do restore 5 hit points when destroyed, but they remain destroyed until you pay 50 soul orbs per candle to restore them. Enemies do occasionally drop single health orbs, but this is generally uncommon and not enough to keep you alive for long. In most cases, you are gradually approaching death, at which point you start back at the tower entrance with full health.

However, death isn’t particularly problematic. You start back at the beginning of the tower, but it’s usually pretty easy to get back where you were. The elevator rooms are rarely far away, and you can typically get through a given segment losing less health on subsequent runs. Small mistakes certainly add up, but being unable to fully refill your health without dying isn’t really a problem. Candles are nice if you’re exploring a new area and you want a little insurance against mistakes, but 50 soul orbs per candle becomes trivial later in the game.

There is some flexibility in difficulty. If you choose not to buy upgrades to increase health and defense, the game is harder. If you choose not to use candles, the game is harder. There are plenty of things you can choose to do to make the game harder, but the opposite is also true. You’re more than welcome to grind soul orbs and buy defense and health upgrades early in the game to make it much easier. I really like having that option to play how you want, with a game that ranges from impossibly hard to fairly easy. I’d call Astalon slightly easier than average, simply because most players are probably going to pick up some upgrades and stat boosts through the course of the game. If you opt to play without any improvements, you’re in for a much more difficult ride.

Graphics - 8/10

Pixel art sometimes struggles with keeping environments fresh for the full duration of the game, but Astalon looks incredible from start to finish. Different environments are tangibly unique, and various background pieces just look fantastic. I really feel like this is the place where the creators excelled. Lots of 8-bit and 16-bit era games had lackluster backgrounds, or really no background at all. Astalon has tons going on in the background, which keeps even empty rooms interesting. Importantly, backgrounds are also easily distinguishable from interactable surfaces, which is something a lot of Metroidvania games seem to struggle with.

Beyond the environments, player and enemy sprites are really vivid within the restrictions of pixel art. Specifically, movement seems more fluid that I remember NES games being able to accomplish. Flying enemies will flap their wings, Kyuli sort of bounces back and forth when she’s standing still, Algus’s cape billows (in the wind?), and Arias shifts around in an athletic stance. It’s a subtle change that I feel like makes the game feel substantially more dynamic and active.

Music - 7/10

As with everything else about Astalon, the music is an homage to the chiptunes of yesteryear. It’s catchy, but it isn’t for everyone. I wouldn’t say that any of the tracks are as memorable as “Wicked Child,” “Bloody Tears,” or “Vampire Killer” of the Castlevania games from which it takes influence, but the style is similar. It is really impressive what Matt Kap was able to accomplish within the limits of 8-bit music, but it is still limited. If NES game soundtracks aren’t your jam, the music in Astalon won’t be either. Personally, it was good enough for me to download the soundtrack and put it on my Plex server.

What is perhaps the coolest facet of the Astalon’s soundtrack is the modified versions of tracks that play in safe zones. Where the normal version of each track is a little louder and has a lot of percussion, the “safe” variant is much more muted with much less percussion. In a word, the safe versions are the same melody, but more chill. It’s very much like the effect Yoshi has on the Super Mario World soundtrack: the same track with a little more flair on it. The tune continues at the same point as you enter and leave safe zones, swapping between the versions seamlessly. I know it’s not much, but it’s really fluid and I think Kap did a really good job with it.

My Take

The Good

I love Metroidvania games and Astalon is a good one. The graphics look really nice, the controls are tight, and the tower is really fun to explore. Additionally, the game would run on a potato, so you don’t need top of the line hardware to play it.

The Bad

The technical issues, while minor, are present and annoying enough to mar the reputation of the game.

The Ugly

Pixel art and retro-styled games are slightly polarizing and not for everyone. If you don’t like 8-bit graphics, you probably won’t like Astalon no matter how good the gameplay is. Plus, the combat isn’t going to be involved enough for some to enjoy.

Overall - 8/10

For someone who grew up playing Metroidvania games on NES and SNES, Astalon checks all the boxes. The gameplay is fun, exploration is rewarding, and it really does feel true to old school titles with some minor improvements where possible. There’s the undeniable influence of nostalgia goggles, but I absolutely do think it’s still a really good game. If you miss those games and want a modern spiritual successor, Astalon carries the mantle properly. Even if you don’t have the same background, any fan of Metroidvania will likely enjoy the game.