Unworthy

I’m typing this review after completing the whole game, which includes getting every Steam achievement and beating the secret final boss. There will be spoilers in the criticism section (HEAVY CRITICSM BTW), but if you’re not a completionist and just want a game to play, not see through to the very end, it’s a good game and I recommend it.
It’s amazing visually, and I especially must compliment the recurring visuals matching the artstyle’s strengths: white falling snow and fire look stunning, and I wish that Qas Rune wasn’t as convoluted to get so I could appreciate the scenery more often.
Despite being a grey game, the areas are very distinct! I’m very impressed by the area design. Level design? Not so much, so many rooms exist simply to connect other rooms on the map. Although the rooms that ARE meant to be real rooms are good, no complaints there.
The majority of the bosses are really fun to fight! My favourite probably has to be Frayed Knight Dominic, it’s a perfectly balanced fight in terms of HP, the pace of the attacks is elegant and the leadup and music are amazing. I also like Gaston, Heir of Ambition, even though when I first fought him, I put down the game for months because of how much of a jack of all trades he is. It’s a skill check boss for sure, which is why I’m also a bit upset about everything else that revolves around him that I will mention later. Amazing fight you look back on fondly but absolutely hate when you’re engaging in. And it’s just plain fun to fight Kayen, Father of Thirst with Jas Rune on :)c
Altus, The First Father name twist? Genuinely stellar moment.
Finally, the Absolver’s Stone is a lifesaver for completionists.
CRITICISMS (and spoilers) SECTION:
Ok, with everything good out of the way, time to rip into this game.
First off, some technical stuff. I really hate how the game provides a variety of items, but only a few of them are actually equippable. That wouldn’t be a problem with stuff like Golem Hearts but making Soulflame Ashes, THE THING THAT ALLOWS YOU TO RESTORE A FLASK OF HEALING, an item you have to open up your inventory to use (aka stand there open to attacks) instead of making it an equippable item is BAFFLING. When would you use it if not in a bossfight?
Moreover, and this one is a personal nitpick, I dislike how grinding Sin also makes you increase in level. I really hate being overlevelled for bosses but I had to grind some Sin for all atonement achievements.
Another QOL complaint I have is Runes not carrying over in NG+. There’s NOTHING fun about doing a collectathon, and frankly, I feel like while compromising with myself on whether or not I want to go for a certain rune, I have discovered that some areas are just worthless on an NG+ playthrough, specifically The Laboratory. Its worth is artificial and hinges solely on housing the Aio Rune. I’m NOT going to that slog of a place even if it means not getting an additional Soulflame Essence from The Caverns (which, by the way, also makes them worthless for someone who’s done the bell quest!!).
Now, you could contend me on this and say that there’s nothing wrong with NG+ making you replay the game as you would normally, and the Runes should stay as they are. I would agree with you, if not for this game’s main and most egregious flaw which is its piss poor implementation of its secret ending.
To lay the scene: you WILL have to replay the game THRICE unless you’re playing with a guide on your first ever playthrough.
To get the secret ending, you have to collect 5 Bell Shards, four of which are accessible to passionate players who love the game and explore everything and read the NPC dialogue. THE FIFTH ONE??? It is locked behind a four-step interaction quest with an NPC that you have to go out of your way to talk to. Why? Because if you go the intended route, instead of jumping through hoops in the Spire Dungeon, you will inevitably fight the aforementioned Gaston, Heir of Ambition, and this will lock you out of that NPC’s quest and lose you the shard, so again, there’s no chance you will get this on your first run if you are uninformed.
Now, here I have to go on a tangent about Gaston and every circumstance surrounding this miserable man. First up, the quest I just talked about? There is no quest. You have to skip him, and the NPC you skip him for clearly alludes to being Gaston’s other half and asks you to inform him if you find him. When you get the Bell Shard from him and go to Gaston’s arena though? There’s no Gaston there. You get nothing. You ring the bell to get out of the arena with your Spirit Bow and get a useless ladder and that’s it.
And don’t even get me started on the bow. I assume that because Gaston is intended to be the boss you skip for the bell quest, his reward is the shittiest out of them on so many levels. Not only do you get a bow with frankly dogshit damage output, but you also get a way better bow in the next area for free.
Imagine. You’ve just beat the hardest boss you’d come across by that point. You don’t even know that you screwed yourself out of the secret ending. You get a shit bow as a reward. You advance to the next area and you get a bow that lets you teleport around (and does damage) simply for breathing air. No challenge, no nothing. It is unfair, and devalues the player’s efforts tremendously, and undermines such a brilliant bossfight.
Ok, tangent aside. Say you’re a normal person and completed your first run without looking everything up and are now armed with a map guide to collect everything you need to fight the secret final boss and 100% the game. Well fuck you!!!! Because SOMEHOW the developers thought it would be a good idea to have the secret final boss, Emissary of Ur, appear NOT on the run you’ve completed all the pre-requisites, but on the run AFTER. Again, I can’t stress this enough: YOU HAVE TO TRUDGE THROUGH THE GAME THRICE TO COMPLETE IT FULLY!!! WHY???!!!
Anyway. Emissary of Ur. A boss to end it all. Surely, a fight that would put all the previous bosses to shame and showcase the true talent of the developers?
It’s so dogshit.
It has a huge body, but only the middle part of it is susceptible to damage. Already insane, but on top of that it’s soooooo tanky. I would be so much more forgiving of all the stunts it pulls if every attempt didn’t take ages.
So, how’s the gameplay bad?
First, every time you hit it, it produces a Curse orb, so you can’t reliably use multi-hit weapons such as Oshikorosu. Second, the opening is abysmal. It spends the first 15% of its health cosplaying a screensaver. Third, the moment it launches the orbiting Curse orbs, the fight becomes unfair, because it’s so easy to get grazed by one of them and then get caught by another attack.
My final complaint about the fight itself is the grab attack. Not only is it possible to dodge solely when it charges at you from the other end of the arena, and not decides to do a grab right as you’re standing close to it, the window to roll out of the grab is pathetically small. What baffles me even more is that the game has another notorious grabber, Frayed Knight Dominic, but it’s implemented great in that fight!
Anyway, I had a pretty cool moment with killing it with the help of a single Frozen Heart I’ve been saving for the “right time”. Took me cumulatively about 1-2 hours. Did I get rewarded for my effort in any meaningful way? FUCK NO LMAO.
Two. Two words of dialogue is all you get. No cutscene or any different outcome. The developers truly don’t appreciate those who dedicate their time to their game, and it shows.
My way of fixing it is: reduce the replay time to two cycles, KEEP the Altus, The First Father fight, half the Emissary’s HP and have it be the second phase of that fight. Simple as. You’re not cute with this bullshit. Fuck you.
Bottomline? Don’t play Unworthy if you care about the game. Play Unworthy if you want to have a good time once and never touch it again.

Its 2025, and after playing this game after buying it on sale 7 years after its release, I can still say its a decent game.

I will rip the bandaid off for you early: this game is a 2D dark souls. While I wouldn't call it a dark souls rip-off, For all intents and purposes the story and atmosphere is almost identical to it.

This game is brutal, similar to dark souls. I died a ton on the first boss fight, and only beat a single boss without dying a single time, all other took anywhere for 3-20 attempts. The game is fair though, and battles feel more like an art the way you memorize patterns, and find room to attack.

I beat the game in 9 hours. This included me doing a lot of the secret unnecessary paths. The game will not take you too long as long as you always keep an eye out for secrets, remember and experiment with ALL game mechanics you discover.

spoiler but I feel its important to mention
By far the biggest turn off in this game was the new game plus. I beat the final boss, sat on the throne, and expected either a new area, or beating the game to send me back to my last save to try and discover the secret ending. Instead, it immediately, without warning, sent me to new game plus, keeping only my levels and heart upgrades, but none of the weapons I had. Not only do I think the entire concept of a new game plus doesn't make sense in a metroidvania, but the way it was executed was just horrible. Whats the point of making enemies stronger if I keep my upgrades anyways? Why make the player play through the entire game when they already know whats going to happen, forcing them to PAINFULLY and SLOWLY get all their weapons and gear again? It would at least make SOME sense to let us keep our items and gear, as it would let us explore the world all over again, but with access to EVERY possible secret from the get-go. I can't even go back to my previous file to try and get the secret ending anymore.

What I will say is this: the new game plus ruined getting the secrets for me, since i'm not going to waste another 9 hours getting back to where I was. BUT, I judge games on what they do, and not what they don't do. while yes, this game DID ruin the secrets for me, even without the secret ending I would happily buy it again as long as it is on sale. The base game was good enough and engaging enough to warrant a 3$ price tag while on sale.

The first game I played on my Steam Deck and what a great experience. As a big fan of Hollow Knight, this scratched a similar itch, with a much more restrained scope and scale. Bosses were challenging, but fair. They each required careful planning and I enjoyed determining their patterns. My main complaint is that there a few areas that had multiple hyper aggressive enemies on a single screen, which was a pain in the butt to proceed past. Otherwise I absolutely loved the game!

---see where this game landed on my Metroidvania tier list beneath this review!---
Unworthy is one of the very best at capturing the atmosphere and feel of Dark Souls in 2D form with perhaps the next closest being The Last Faith.
It's quite difficult and a bit frustratingly punishing.
Combat is slow and deliberate.
You cannot jump ..sort of. There is a tiny hop in the form of an attack.
While checkpoints are usually well spaced apart, others can be quite far. One segment involved about 15 screens without a save point, I just couldn't be bothered repeating this section. There was another section with about 10 screens of enemies between the checkpoint and the boss room, forcing a number of long runs back to the boss fight. I'm usually pretty patient with this sort of thing, but it did ultimately lead to me putting the game down before finishing to play something else.
You can only toggle between 2 equipped weapons. Multiple weapons are used as traversal abilities and so it gets frustrating going into your inventory screen all the time to toggle.
Unworthy is an impressive souslike metroidvania that will certainly test your patience.
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My Metroidvania Tier List (PC) (excluding Metroid & Castlevania titles)
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-Not an objective list, purely how much I enjoyed the games-
S+ Aeterna Noctis |
S Tier (Truly Special) Astalon: Tears of the Earth | Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom | Hollow Knight |
S- Blasphemous 2 | Cathedral |
A+ Afterimage | The Last Faith |
A Tier (Amazing) Elderand | Ori and the Will of the Wisps | Doomblade^ |
A- Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | Depths of Sanity | F.I.S.T. | Pampas & Selene |
B+ Blast Brigade | Haak | Turbo Kid | Nine Sols |
B Tier (Really Enjoyed) Animal Well | Alwa’s Legacy | Steamworld Dig 2 | Islets | Blasphemous | After Death | Pronty^ | Mortal Manor* | Escape From Tethys | Outbuddies DX* | Monster Sanctuary | Elliot Quest | Rebel Transmute | Moonlight Pulse | Environmental Station Alpha | Biomorph |
B- Haiku, the Robot | The Mobius Machine | Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown | Ultros |
C+ (Fun) Lone Fungus | Ghost Song | Death’s Gambit: Afterlife | Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Kunai | Kingdom Shell | Axiom Verge | Treasure Adventure Game | Infernax | Flipwitch | Momodora 4 | Momodora 5 | HunterX | HunterX: code name T | Curse of the Sea Rats |
C Tier (More or Less Enjoyed) Plague of Yamorn* | Column on the Sea | 9 Years of Shadows | Jrago* | Laika: Aged through Blood | MF-01 Aerostrike^ | Xanthiom Zero | Carrion^ | Chasm | Wuppo | The Mummy Demastered | Catmaze | Castle In The Clouds | Omega Strike | Aggelos | Midnight Castle Succubus | Overbowed | Rabi-Ribi | TEVI | Far Star | Sheepo | Elephantasy | Far Star | Unworthy |
C- (Meh) Ato | EldritchVania | Cookie Cutter | Rusted Moss^ | Grime | Moonscars | The Messenger | Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth | Iconoclasts | MindSeize | Ebenezer and the Invisible World | Luna’s Light* | Tales of Kenzera: Zau | Gato Roboto |
D Tier (Liked some things but ultimately did not enjoy) Castle In The Darkness | Alwa’s Awakening | Nitrojet* | RIN: The Last Child* | Pharaoh Rebirth | Yoku’s Island Express | Guacamelee! 2 | Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse | Beholgar* | Phoenotopia: Awakening | Insect Adventure* | Clunky Hero* | Goo Keeper* | Headlander | Strider | Minoria* | Souldiers | Bone Appetit | The Witch & the 66 Mushrooms | Transiruby | Destroy Space Aliens | La-Mulana | Rex Rocket | Guacamelee! | 8Doors | Timespinner | Super Panda Adventures | Omega Mouse Zero* | Ataraxie* | You are Peter Shorts | Unepic | The Ramsey |
E-Tier (Really disliked) Garm Ruins^ | Venture to the Vile | Sheba: A New Dawn* | Ex Vitro | Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap | The Weird Dream | Ginsha | Dandara | Vernal Edge | Blaster Master Zero | Medusa* | Lost Ruins | Sundered | Salt & Sanctuary | Valdis Story | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Touhou Luna Nights | Chronicles of Teddy | B.I.O.T.A. | Shadow Complex | Aquaria | Nyaruru Fishy Fight | Ghost 1.0 | WarriOrb | Feudal Alloy | Apotheon | Future Fragments | Gungirl 2 | Bad Pad* | Chakana* | Lootbox Lyfe | Slavania* | Angel’s Gear* | Fearmonium | Magicians & Looters* | Tres-Bashers* | Arcane Assembly^ | Aeternum Vale* | Troupe* | Silver Axe - The Honest Elf* | Dust: An Elysian Tale |
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^ = Mouse & Keyboard are STRONGLY advised.
* = Very raw indie or contains some jank or lack of polish.
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Very cool 2D Souls Game with some fresh ideas. Love figuring out the boss fight that reveals new moves gradually as you chip away at their health. By the time you learn all their moves and defeat the boss, you really feel pretty badass, at least I did.
The pixel black and white aesthetic is cool and level design interesting.
The only criticism I have so far is there is this weird window after an attack where you can't roll for some reason. If you do a sword attack and hit dodge as soon as the sword hits the ground, you can roll. However, if you wait a little bit after an attack and hit roll, your character does nothing. That feels very weird to me.
But overall, I highly recommend this.

7 YEARS LATER and Unworthy has taken in a spot in my tops games.
YES this game is easily close to Dark Souls, but IT IS SO MUCH MORE. If you're stuck on whether to buy the game or not because it seems like a 2D souls rip off, trust me don't let that stop you.
Originally I found the game to be too difficult for me. However, I decided to endure through the pain and, oh my god, I have never felt so satisfied to have beaten a game. THE GAME IS CHALLENGING but it still leaves room for almost any player to improve.
The boss fights in particular are more about learning their attacks and when to dodge. While some weapons are better for bosses, you can kill them with anything once you've learned the timing. I was only able to defeat two bosses in one attempt, the rest took multiple.
The art style is PHENOMENAL! I fell in love with the world almost immediately. The designs of everything and the soundtrack makes it so easy to just be sucked right in. I found this game pretty difficult to put down.
SPOILERS:
As been said multiple times, the most annoying thing about the game is the NG+. While your levels and atonements transfer over, being forced to regain your weapons and relics is for sure a put off. ESPECIALLY since the game requires two playthroughs in order to do the true/secret ending. Now, if you're like me and messed up in your first playthrough (which you can do without even realizing it), having to do play through the entire game three times is not fun.
However, if you have no attentions to do the true ending then this won't effect you. If you do plan to go for it, though, I recommend looking up a guide to save yourself a ton of time.

For fans of the genre only. I want to be kind to it since it's a labor of love and there's amazing quality and challenging fun to be had. Still, there are several encounters and situations that frustrate me to no end for how deeply spiteful and unnecessarily punishing they are, and there's some decisions that aren't "hard", "challenging", or "uncompromising", just tedious (like how painfully slow the elevators are). Still a good game and I give huge props, but I can't in good faith give it a recommend to everyone