Paint, paint, and paint some more!
Next up was an appointment at the ByteRockers Games booth. There were a few games with demo versions to play at the booth but there was one that caught my attention. I feel like my taste in games has changed slightly and I’m being drawn more to Metroidvania. That being said, I wanted to check out Constance, a story about an artist who is dealing with both enemies and her declining mental health. Let me say right off the bat that this action platformer is very challenging and my mental status was starting to decline during the demo.
I fought through it and like most things that are challenging, beating it made me very happy. Anyway, let's get back to Constance. Graphically, this game is gorgeous. The hand-drawn art makes you think one character is really made of paint. Her abilities also make you think she’s paint personified. During gameplay, you have a paint gauge and if that runs out, you die. It’s basically a failsafe to prevent spamming attacks. Your paint gauge is right under the health bar and thoughout the journey, you’ll be able to upgrade both. You’ll also be able to find new abilities and skills that will help you in battle. I mentioned earlier that this game is very challenging. There are check points but they aren’t as forgiving as you might think.
Case in point, there was an area that I was trying to get through for a health upgrade. You needed to perform different attacks and precise platforming to make it through. I eventually made it through but it was a real challenge. The platforming reminded me a lot of Hollow Knight in the sense that it was very challenging at times and felt very rewarding after completing a section. I almost forgot to mention the boss fight. We eventually made our way to the boss area and it was a giant cube. Some of the enemies become corrupt and you’ll need to use your paint to knock some sense into them.
That sense doesn’t last forever because if you don’t kill the little enemies, they will go right back to their corrupted form. In the case of the boss cube, it stayed non-corrupted for a few seconds. Like most boss fights, you learn the patterns and figure out how to defeat the boss. Then the boss changes during the second phase of the fight. I’m assuming this is the first boss in the game and if that’s the case, this is a a very tough early boss encounter. The paint mechanic is one of the cooler ideas I’ve seen for a Metroidvania and I really like the different moves you can use like being able to dodge in air or through something by becoming paint. I also want to drive home how gorgeous this game looks as it really looks like a picture book. I think with more time with Constance to learn everything, you could have one of the better Metroidvania games this year!
