Lone Fungus

A solid metroidvania in my opinion, especially if you can overlook its biggest flaw which is the uneven difficulty, in the beginning it is very easy overall. The bosses is a nice challenge but everything else is a piece of cake. That changes drastically as you get deeper into the game, 10-15 hours in this easygoing metroidvania turns into Celeste level hardcore platforming. I liked the platforming challenges mixed with metroidvania but it did start to get just a little bit too hard for me to enjoy it towards the end. Especially getting all the endings made me sweat. The contrast between the difficulty of the beginning and the end really makes me wonder who this game is for, hardcore gamers are going to be snoring for 7+ hours while beginners are going to cry and ragequit towards the end.
This game actually innovates the genre in several ways which I feel are big improvements, this is hands down the best metroidvania from a quality of life perspective. Consider this, the game lets you respawn in the same room you died literally one step away from the boss/room that killed you three times. After three you will go back to your last save, this makes it so much more fun to struggle and die. Because death is for the most part not punished, just play the game, have fun and try and beat the challenges. The game also informs you about a lot of small useful things, for example if you lack an upgrade to get across a puzzle room the game tells you. If you don't need to complete certain rooms/challenges to 100% the game it tells you.

If you prefer metroidvanias that lean into platforming and movement tech more than combat, then this is a little gem of a game. It still has a lot of bosses and combat, but that isn't where the challenge comes from. Lone Fungus has very technical platforming components; some of the challenge rooms are very challenging.

Lone Fungus is a great Metroidvania. You can tell the dev team had tons of love for the game and the genre and poured it all in. I just wish it didn't start to run out of steam as you approach the end of the game.

The Good:
-The world is incredible. There's a bunch of lore, each biome is distinct / interesting and the music is top notch.
-The game runs like a dream on the Deck. I can personally vouch that I played this game for about 7 hours on a flight with no tweaks to the game or the Deck settings.
-I adore the dedicated pogo button. I haven't seen that done anywhere else and I think it's a great idea for more platform / twitch focused games.
-The map is HUGE. There's a ton to do and explore.

The Bad:
-For a game that loves difficult / twitch platforming, your character really doesn't react the same way twice. It gets really frustrating trying to do a challenge run and it feels like what you know should happen isn't.
-This can also be applied to controls feeling a bit loose at times. When I *know* I've hit slash or jump or turn and my character doesn't do it, especially in a challenge run or a boss fight, it's infuriating.
-On that point, they're way too unforgiving about platforming. Missed a platform by a pixel? Too bad, nerd. Start over.
-Boss fights can be hit or miss. Some are so brain-dead easy that I beat them in a single encounter. Others have no gaps in their pattern to let you heal at all and it's just frustrating. The last boss made me put down the Deck in annoyance.
-The devs say that the ladybugs are optional... But upgrades are barred behind collecting them. So, they're not optional.
-You're gonna unlock a ton of badges and stuff but only have enough slots to use a few at a time, assuming you don't just stay with the same ones. It doesn't make a ton of sense.
-Pausing the game doesn't pause the game. Why? This isn't Elden Ring.

The Ugly:
-Controlling the character feels like holding an F1 wheel. So many actions are mapped to singular buttons and can only be pulled off in specific orders. Oh, you rolled before you double-jumped? Too bad, dumbass. Start over. Too many times I've flunked a challenge only to say "There are too many buttons!"
-The game *fetishizes* one-hit KOs. Pretty quickly the world starts introducing barbs that knock you out in a single touch. It's nice that it doesn't do damage, but it wears out its welcome really fast. Especially when you get to the areas that want you to pogo off of obstacles wrapped in it.
-To go off of the earlier issue with game-world reaction, on more than a few occasions I've tried to solve puzzle rooms in the way they look like they should be solved only for my guy to straight up die. It isn't invigorating, it makes me walk away from the game.
-Mini upgrades suck, period. I don't want to hold down to do a high-jump, I want to just high-jump. Separating my slashes into forward, down and rolling variants doesn't feel good, it feels like padding. I really, really, REALLY want the upgrades and moveset to get streamlined. There's way to much going on and doling it out piecemeal isn't the answer.
-When you get close to the end of the game, you'll find yourself with a map that looks complete but you're maybe 80% complete in each biome and you're missing TONS of inventory / abilities. The game really likes to lock key abilities behind hidden walls or cryptically telling us how to get past a thing that really doesn't answer the question. You shouldn't have to scrub through the map for basic QOL upgrades.
-In line with the last point, moving around the map quickly becomes a chore. Again, doling out bits and pieces of QOL means that you teleport between gold save points, then you can teleport FROM silver and only if you solve a late game puzzle are you able to teleport TO silvers. Why?!

For all the shit I'm giving the game, I really have enjoyed my time with it. It's really fun, the bulk of my time has been enjoyable and you really feel the love. I just wish it was a bit more streamlined. I don't know if I'm gonna go back to that last boss - it's a bit annoying for my tastes - but I'm super excited for Lone Fungus 2. Buy the game at any price. It's cheap as it is and on sale it's a steal.

This is a really fun metroidvania with an emphasis on precision platforming. There's a lot of smaller abilities and buffs that you can combine to get to areas you aren't "supposed" to reach yet and usually multiple directions to get to a given area.

Sights & Sounds
- Lone Fungus features some pretty competent 16-bit-like pixel art. Nothing that'll blow your mind, but it does look fairly faithful to retro games. In fact, the stone composing the walls and platforms in much of the game reminded me somewhat of the cave levels from Yoshi's Story for the SNES, which were some of my favorites in that title
- Unfortunately, Lone Fungus is comprised entirely of cave environments. Very few locales manage to visually distinguish themselves from any other area. While caves are naturally conducive to the interconnected, winding map layouts used in metroidvania titles, the visuals began to feel a bit stale by the end. Oh, sure, you can throw a waterfall or some lava around for theming, but I began to feel a little claustrophobic in spite of the sprawling map size
- In this way, it reminded me of Grime, another metroidvania, although that game managed to include a few non-underground environments to switch things up occasionally
- After sitting on the title screen to hear the theme (an absolute banger), I thought I was in for an auditory treat. The layered, reverbed synth is haunting and dramatic, evoking a sense of mystery and discovery. The rest of the music doesn't really live up to that track, but it's still decent. It's exciting during boss fights, imposing in late-game environments, mysterious in enemy-sparse areas, and poignant during plot exposition. All-around serviceable
- I did find myself wishing for more variety in synth instrumentation. The percussion and organ selection sounded samey throughout most of the game. Cohesiveness is an admirable quality in a soundrack, but it needs enough variation to keep things interesting
Story & Vibes
- Like most metroidvanias, Lone Fungus's story is largely background lore information that nerds like me scrounge around for. You'll have to do a fair bit of exploration to find everything, although you'll probably pick up on the broad strokes through the occasional lore dump
- Though largely par for the course, the depth of the optional exposition is one area in which this title distinguishes itself from the rest of the genre. Certain NPCs actually have a lot to say if you keep talking to them, though it's not required. I don't know that this is necessarily better than other titles that drop smaller plot breadcrumbs that you have to follow and string together, but it's certainly less confusing
- There's even an NPC that you can revisit from time to time that will explain the lore significance of each ability you pick up on your journey, which was a nice little touch
- As for the actual quality of the story, it's fine. You take the role of a little mushroom named Greencap who awakens in a dank cave. A mysterious statue tells them that they must assemble all the ancient artifacts of their people (i.e., your skills/abilities) and reach the surface to bring the rest of the mushrooms. All is not as as it seems, though, and you'll be forced to make an important choice regarding how to end your journey
- What's with modern metroidvanias and their obsession with this death/rebirth trope? Neither of the franchises that lend their names to the genre label really focus on such themes, but it feels like 75% of the metroidvanias I've played in the past 2 years feature this narrative throughline
- There's not a ton of flavor text other than brief conversations with bosses before you fight them. Nothing that's said in these exchanges is noteworthy
- The vibes are very austere and pensive. There's not really any humor in the writing and the gameplay is largely exploration-focused. I found my mind wandering when I wasn't locked-in on some surprisingly tricky platforming
Playability & Replayability
- If you've somehow avoided every Metroid and Castlevania game in addition to the thousands of imitators they've spawned, I'm impressed by the vastness of your willful ignorance. But by way of (brief) explanation, you platform your way through a gigantic, interconnected, maze-like map. You'll find that your way is often blocked by unlockable doors or unreachable platforms. In order to progress, you'll have to find the requisite platforming abilities scattered throughout the parts of the map you can reach
- Since the formula is so well-known, I'll focus on the ways in which Lone Fungus's gameplay stands out
- The most notable feature of the gameplay is the sheer number of movement options you'll accumulate as you make your way through the game. As an example, consider the action of bouncing, which is often used in platformers to provide an extra jump (perhaps off of damaging spikes or projectiles) that can purchase you some extra distance in a manouver while also saving one of the two halves of your double-jump. Lone Fungus has 4 findable variants of this ability (wall, ground, spin, and fire)
- In fact, there are an eye-watering 28 skills to find that will modify the way you bounce, jump, dash, attack, parry, teleport, heal or otherwise interact with the game
- While spells are fewer in number (10 in total), these add yet another layer to both movement and combat owing to how every spell you cast is interactable. Need to press 3 buttons at the same time? Try casting a spell and attacking it with your sword. Need to hit a switch that's unreachable? Cast a spell and bounce off of it to reach the platform it's on
- All told, I found these sorts of unique interactions to be Lone Fungus's defining gameplay feature. It's a surprisingly creative idea in a well-trodden genre, and it feels pretty gratifying to mix and match your abilities to overcome the various obstales the game places before you
- I also enjoyed that there's no skill tree; every skill is findable on the map, so you'll never find yourself grinding experience or materials in order to unlock a skill necessary to progress
- Because of all of these movement options, Lone Fungus can get quite tricky if you plan on tracking down all of the collectibles and abilities. Some of the challenge rooms are incredibly demanding of your timing and reflexes. I could see how speedrunners would love a title like this
- The combat in Lone Fungus is serviceable, but tedious. If you're playing with a guide, I'd suggest prioritizing damage upgrades. I didn't, and I found myself in the midst of some very grindy boss fights before maxing out my damage
- Speaking of bosses, I didn't really like any of their visual designs. I did, however, like how they really taxed your platforming and dodging abilities. You'll need to be on point if you want to beat the 30 or so big bads
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I enjoyed my time with Lone Fungus. In a very crowded scene, the ho-hum visuals, story, and concept don't really stand out, but I'm happy to see that this game still did well enough to motivate a sequel. Lone Fungus stands on the strength of its well-designed platforming and movement
- Sure, there are more "complete" metroidvanias in which the art, combat, movement, bosses, and environments are all interesting. But not everything can be Hollow Knight, alright? Can we stop using it as the measuring stick for the genre? It's like using Manute Bol as the metric for male height. Nothing's really going to stack up in that metric
- Not that I was concerned that it wouldn't run well on the Steam Deck, but Lone Fungus ran and looked quite good on that platform
Final Verdict
7.5/10. Even for people who've played this genre to death, Lone Fungus distinguishes itself with snappy controls that hand you the keys to a smorgasbord of movement options. Figuring out how to use them all to explore the map was a pleasure. Considering that platforming with the abilities you find is like, 80% of a metroidvania, Lone Fungus is easy to recommend

MV reminiscent of Hollow Knight in many ways, but with a funny yet charming cartoony world of mushrooms.
The combat is pretty straightforward. You can mix it up with some neat spells, and customize your build with relics to suit your play style. Lots of bosses to learn, though you can eventually ignore most bosses mechanics as you craft a powerful build.
The platforming is pretty straightforward. I saw some complaints about it's difficulty, but nothing really crazy here. Some of the challenges can take a bit, but nothing too crazy as far as platforming goes. The controls are tight and responsive. Rarely did I think the character did something I didn't intend. You can even get creative to bypass the intended solution of some areas using other skills, which I thought was cool. I'm sure the dev knew this and it's nice to have some freedom in opening up new areas on my terms.
The music is surprisingly good and catchy. The pixel art is pretty good too.
Overall, this MV is worth playing. Asking price is fair, but if it's on sale it's a no-brainer.

Very solid metroidvania. The map is big, expansive, and non-linear. There are lots of goodies to find. For those whose brains and fingers are more adept than mine, the optional platforming challenges sure are something.