Lone Fungus

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.

One of the best metroid game I played for the last months:
pros:
- big map, interesting exploration, secrets and rewards;
- huge amount of abilities and trinkets;
- you can navigate using different abilities and playthrough will not be the same.
cons:
- boring bosses;
- challenge rooms - very high difficulty with bs reward, seems like they exist just because author wanted to add Celeste stuff to the game.
I think the author understand what is good in metroid games and most of that was implemented.

Doesn't bring a ton of fresh ideas to the table but still a well executed metroidvania. The most notable part is the path of pain style platform challenges, but these are all optional and the rest of the game isn't that hard.

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.

Very fun cozy metroidvania. While it doesn't do anything revolutionary, combat, platforming, and movement is all very tight and fun. Bosses offer a challenge, but not overly so.