When El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron was initially launched in 2011, I couldn’t consider somebody had created a recreation primarily based on an Amy Grant tune. Finally ends up that wasn’t the case; the sport is definitely primarily based on an historical Hebrew textual content referred to as the Ebook of Enoch.
Now, should you’re a agency believer within the separation of church and recreation, you may put away your protest indicators; the Ebook of Enoch shouldn’t be really within the Bible. Most Jewish and Christian church our bodies view it as non-inspired…or possibly simply too freaky-deaky, as a result of this recreation is visually and thematically nuts.
The story facilities round Enoch, a scribe tasked with discovering seven fallen angels, referred to as the Grigori, who’ve stolen artifacts from God to dwell amongst the people. Their cohabitation resulted in Grigori-human hybrids, or Nephilim, who may destroy the world. This upsets the Council of Heaven, which decides one of the simplest ways to care for the Nephilim is to flood the world. That checks.
Fortunately, not everybody feels torching the village is one of the simplest ways to unravel a stray cat downside. God decides to see if Enoch, together with the assistance of the uber-cool guardian angel Lucifel, can seize and return the fallen Grigori earlier than the Council of Heaven can kick off the nuclear possibility.
So, thematically, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron shouldn’t be that completely different from each JRPG you’ve ever performed, besides that you just don’t end it by combating God. He’s obtained your again this time, which is a nice change of tempo, actually.
And anyway, all of this takes a backseat to the wonderful stage design, slick fight, and continuously altering gameplay parts. Nearly all of that motion is hack-and-slash fight. The participant progresses alongside a extremely linear path, taking out numerous low-level enemies alongside the way in which.
For bigger fights, together with bosses, Enoch turns into trapped within the space till all threats get eradicated.
Fight facilities round attacking, leaping, and blocking. There’s just one assault button, however you may alter assaults with completely different talents supplied by the weapons you steal from the enemies. Sure, stealing; God’s prepared to miss His seventh commandment on this specific mission. So, after damaging enemies sufficient together with your present weapon, you may steal theirs by hitting the L button when in shut proximity. Acquiring and utilizing the suitable weapon for the job is usually the important thing to victory. Enoch loses his heavenly armor as he sustains injury, and that’s actually your solely indicator that you just’re about to die. When he’s right down to blue denims and sandals like an ensemble solid member from Godspell, you already know he’s about to fail. Fortunately, the sport is beneficiant with its save factors and well being packs.
And whereas we’re giving thanks, El Shaddai doesn’t require a mastery of fight combos in an effort to progress. Most fights are manageable as soon as you determine the enemies’ weaknesses, and there are completely different issue ranges to ease the burden. Sadly, I can’t say the identical for the platforming parts.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron often adjustments up the way in which you play it, and also you’ll typically end up leaping and climbing in 2D environments to achieve the subsequent space. Along with the enemies to struggle, you’ll be fixing puzzles, navigating advanced environments, and attempting to land troublesome jumps with out falling to your demise. These areas are much less forgiving and are sometimes very irritating.
However man, they appear so cool. The entire recreation does, actually. The majority of the motion takes place in a tower the place the Grigori are hiding, the one fixed being that the pathways are simply floating in area. Though you’re confined to a good, linear pathway, the environments are a seemingly unending chasm of sunshine and coloration. Most tower ranges and 2D platforming sections have their very own visible aptitude, a few of which utterly deviate from the sport’s total visible theme. By the point I used to be leaping big seaside balls to get again to the tower, I’d given up on setting expectations.
It could assist to know the sport was directed by Sawaki Takeyasu, character designer on video games reminiscent of Satan Might Cry, Ōkami, and Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse. The characters have that sort of angle, and Lucifiel’s one-sided telephone conversations with God are fulfilling all through. Enoch’s doing his finest, right here, man. Don’t overlook my bro’s only a hippy scribe by commerce.
It’s additionally spectacular that the sport performs so nicely on the Swap in each docked and handheld mode. That sounds dumb to say, contemplating the sport was initially launched 13 years in the past, however you wouldn’t know that from this HD remaster. The visible design is gorgeous.
Truthfully, there have been moments when the graphics—extra so than the story—incentivized me to maintain pushing onward once I couldn’t cease falling into holes.
So, I’d encourage followers of motion video games—each 2D and 3D—to present El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron a go. Its numerous gameplay, great designs, and daring story received me over early and held my consideration all through. I wouldn’t be in any respect upset if that is what the afterlife appears like…solely with out the dudes in denims and sandals.
