A flash. Thousands of ethereal feathers freckle the screen, thunderous orchestral music blares into my headset, a mysterious man speaks candidly about an old friend, and then “El Shaddai”: materializes in an almost divine font. With such a boisterous opening, crim Co., Ltd introduces players to its rerelease of El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON. Originally developed in 2011, El Shaddai is an action adventure game that echoes back to earlier games of the same genre that dominated the early 2000s, such as Devil May Cry and God of War, but does it meet the standards that the genre entails?
The moment the player boots up the game, they assume the role of Enoch, a chosen Angel of God’s service, on a mission to defeat and imprison 7 Fallen Angels who rose against the Lord. Interestingly enough, the game eases back on religious rhetoric and introduces players to a litany of interesting characters. While at times confounding, and with the way cutscenes are presented, whiplashing, the overall narrative is interesting and altogether enjoyable, with the exception of the pace it rolls at. It is also incredible, and it should be noted, that this game was developed by a plethora of developers from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, that all seemed to come together to create such an almost epic-like tale, with a good amount of diversity.
The gameplay, however, is an aspect that could use a bit more work in the sense that it juxtaposes between fluidity and stiffness, and not in a beneficial/oxymoronic way. While in combat, the camera locks at a fixed perspective and provides the character with a third-person point of view, but when a player gets into a combat situation, it sort of stunts the battle experience. What is primarily meant by the last statement is that, while the combat is fluid and satisfying, the camera seems to almost jiggle when Enoch jumps around while fighting, and while not necessarily too detrimental to the overall benefits of the game, it is still something worth noting. A clever distinction and a brilliant artistic choice by crim, was to remove any semblance of UI, having the player being able to check Enoch’s health by seeing how his armor has; if damaged and Enoch is in only jeans, you are at very low health, but if he is fully garbed in his white plated chest armor and pauldrons, then you are at full health. There is also a purification system, and more specifically, if Enoch destroys too many enemies, his weapon will become corrupted, and he must purify it to harness its full strength; It creates an almost reverse snowball, as in usual instances of this system within other games of the same genre, you usually build up a meter to unleash devastating blows. However, in El Shaddai you must first almost bring your weapon to, presumably, low damage to release its full potential; It is a very interesting dynamic. For the most part though, the fact that this game was originally made in 2011 glares painfully at the player, as the combat scenarios seem outdated as most situations devolve into simple A+B mashing.
Before the verdict is stated, there are two certain aspects of El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON that must be addressed prior to any judgment, as they both play a pivotal role within the game. First off, the music within this game is fantastic, it is almost as if the player can feel a divine maestro stroke his baton throughout the empty air, commanding a legion of trumpets, pianos, horns, and chorus’. In contrast to that however, is the aesthetic of the game, which is unbearably dull. El Shaddai has so much going for it, but it traps the player in a sea of whitetone monotony; While at first glance it appears to be beautiful and eminent, it quickly loses that aspect with how repetitious it is.
In conclusion, El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON is a fairly good action adventure beat-em-up-esque game that enthralls the player in a myriad of captivating set pieces, but only if one can tolerate solely white settings 90% of the time. The game scores an 8/10 for its bold decisions and its neat narrative.
El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON is available for PC via Steam and requires a controller in order to play.
Steam Review
Whether it be diving deep into uncharted oceanic depths, wading through knee-deep pools of demon blood, or taking a leisurely walk through a fictional western frontier, I am always eager to explore previously unknown sectors of the creative space, impatiently overturning every stone begging to be flipped over. Dabbling in both speculative and realistic fiction, with a sprinkle of journalistic fanaticism, I enjoy any game that displays narrative magnificence, or if it's just plain fun!
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