Buy Xeodrifter

Simply put: I adore this game; It hits all the right notes of Metroid nostalgia from beginning to end.

You can check out my impressions and a playthrough in video format here, or read more below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WwN--i1PrQ

Xeodrifter is a small game, but one that excels at what it sets out to do. Xeodrifter hearkens back to the feelings you get playing Metroid, Metroid II, and Super Metroid, borrowing elements from all 3 of those games with many new twists and mechanics of its own. The art, sound, and music are great, the controls are fluid and responsive.

The game takes place across 4 planets for you to explore and fight your way through, gathering power-ups along the way.

Power-ups come in two formats: Health/Gun points that increase your total health or allow for customizing your weapon, and progression-based upgrades from bosses that allow you to explore new areas and bypass obstacles.

Bosses follow a very Metroid II-esque format, in that each boss builds on the previous one in a mechanical evolution style.

While yes, the game is short at around 2.5-3 hours for an experienced gamer, it's an incredibly enjoyable experience. I personally felt it was well worth it at the full $10 price-point, but for those that are wary I would absolutely pick it up if it's ever on sale, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to pass it by!

I really, really enjoyed this game for the time I played it. Like others I finished it in a little over 2 hours - if this game was longer it would be one of the best this year. Don't let that hamper your desire to play though, this game has a lot of fun packed into it and the skills and level design are top notch!

If Nintendo asked Renegade Kid to make a Metroid game, Xeodrifter would be it. Everything that makes Metroid great is featured in Xeodrifter.

My Let's Play can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygvew8U9Fyo

Shooting, platforming, areas unlock based upon items/power-ups, and an emphasis on exploration. What Renegade Kid has done is put their spin on it. Please excuse this quick aside but it should be noted that if you were given a bunch of pixel art styles along a police lineup, It would be very easy to I.D. Renegade Kid's animation. So, well done for having a unique and recognizable look with so few pixels. To segue Renegade Kid's previous work in here, if you've played Mutant Mudds or are aware of it's notable feature, the multi-depth parallax platforming works so amazingly well in Xeodrifter that using the buzzword synergy is appropriate here. There were a few times that the background just drifted off in the periphery of my attention, but thanks to brilliant game design, there are enemies or objects moving that punctuates the setting to capture your attention and give you that eureka "Ah-ha!" moment to make you feel like a genius. There are also times when you just need to be paying attention because there are power-ups idly sitting.

Speaking of power-ups, Xeodrifter handles weapon upgrades as points to your gun that you can repurpose at will and even create up to three quick-slot configurations to deftly switch in between. There are a few methods to upgrade your gun. You can make your bullets larger, shoot faster, do more damage, spread shot or do a sine-wave pattern. There are certain enemies, like Giant-Eye-Lazer-Death-Cube-Thing that can be dispatched quicker with the sinewave upgrade. So figuring out what works best in a certain aspect and one that is entirely decided by you, works hand-in-hand with the non-linear exploration of the game.

Also I didn't mention it yet, but traversing to the four different areas of the game is done via a small little spaceship. It barely plays any role outside of being a hub, but it's a very nice touch.

One thing that I find a bit lacking is the boss fights. So far there is just one boss that is varied each event. I am conflicted with this because there is enough variety, especially when you consider the parallax battling, and new "tells" that need to be learned to not feel stale. However, I really wish there were more completely original bosses. I can understand the amount of time to conceive and implement original bosses is non-trivial, so it is appreciated that the one boss continually finds new ways to make use of all of the power-ups. That is essentially the only negative thing I can say about Xeodrifter.

Lastly, the secrets. Yes there is a grid-based map. And yes, after you've revealed a secret it is indicated on the grid-based map via a special indicator. There are also a few easter eggs and funnily enough even though I would call Xeodrifter a Metroidlike as opposed to a Metroidvania game, there are early Castlevania Chicken-in-the-wall secrets to be found.

Also, I didn't know where to fit this so I apologize for that, but even the little details like the bullet particle effects and splashing in the water being dynamic is a great touch. Love the little details.

If you like Metroid or Metroidvania games, Xeodrifer is a no-brainer. You need to buy this. It will make you happy. I don't usually hand out guarantees* but in this instance, I guarantee* it.

*guarantee offered is for humor purposes only. I have no means of offering any sort of guarantee :)

Xeodrifter is a solid metroid-esque game than is fun from start to finish, the only problem being that it's very short.
Finishing the game in one sitting in little over 2 hours with 89% collectables makes it obvious that while the game itself is great, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Gameplay wise the controls feel solid enough (if slightly floaty), the difficulty is fairly challenging and the unlockable abilities and weapon upgrade trees are fun and imaginative.

All in all a great experience and definitely worth picking up, but even if you're a fan of metroid-like games, I would wait for the price to drop.

A fun game from the creators of Mutant Mudds.

A Metroid style like game that has some very awesome music and great controls. Jools Watsham is a GOD of Video Games. (Not as big as Shigeru Miyamoto but still big enough.) Support Renegade Kid they are great devs and deserve MAD props.

Also to everyone having problems with the game just customize the controls with your 360 controller's until the patch for others is added in.

Otherwise this game deserves more sales and TONS of respect! This game is tough as nails but is VERY rewarding with great powerups and some kick ♥♥♥ boss battles.

Xeodrifter is a neat little gem with heavy inspiration from Metroid and Super Metroid. It's a simple little game that won't take you much longer than 5 hours, but it's full of enough secrets, tough bosses, and fun abilities to excuse the short length of the game. However, it doesn't feel complete as a result.

Xeodrifter, in a nutshell, is a tasty little retro romp that will satisfy your appetite if you miss Metroid or Super Metroid!

Still waiting on you, Nintendo, or whoever is forcing Metroid to float in limbo...

A fun little game that doesn't get old fast, but it is over fast.

Pros:
Controls are responsive
Graphics are simple and not distracting, while not being too bland
Old retro feeling
Not too difficult
Bosses use an iterative approach, each one adds new abilities over the old one.
Powerups are meaningful (mostly), instead of just a key you get into place X.

Cons:
Short
Too linear - it is mostly find the right path and follow it to the next boss.
Difficulty curve - Starts hard and get easier, until the end, where it is a small jump up in difficulty.
Non-intuitive weapon customization - most customization are not helpful, and there is only one good combination to go after for everything in the game.
No difficulties - Just a basic, not too hard difficulty. Somewhat tempered by lack of save points.

Rad game that's made radder by the fact that it's basically Metroid, when we haven't had a 2D Metroid in over a decade. Falls slightly short in some areas, namely, that it's rather short, a bit lacking in enemy variety (mostly the bosses), and the gun upgrade system, while definitely nice in concept, has almost no reason to use anything other than shot damage and firing speed.

That said, it does a good job of overcoming its shortcomings by having really solid difficulty from the get-go, nice controls, and filling the void of Metroid.

A pretty cool little Metroidvania from the Mutant Mudds devs. I joked on Twitter that this is a Muddtroidvania, and it really is, with the background/foreground switching coming into play. The game is quasi-linear in that you can theoretically go to any of the four planets at any time, but you'll run into natural barriers demanding you go elsewhere to get the ability you need. The gun upgrade system is clever in that it lets you put points into any stat that you please so that you can get your preferred mode of fire.

It's rather challenging in part because the only checkpoints are before boss fights, so you need to be careful while exploring the worlds, as if you die, you can lose a lot of found items. It's hardly impossible, but it feels like it wouldn't be less enjoyable if the checkpoints were more generous.

The game was clearly built for the 3DS first, as it's got VERY chunky pixels. Not that it's a bad thing or that it looks ugly, it just looks like a handheld game blown up – which it is! You'll need to alt-enter to use fullscreen, and the options for gamepads and the like are only in windowed mode. 360 controllers work, DirectInput controllers should as well through the configuration, but as always, YMMV. I do wish that it was possible to use the triggers to switch weapon layouts, as particularly when fighting bosses I found myself switching weapons tactically.

I certainly enjoyed my time with this, it won't replace Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night in the canon of Metroidvanias, but it compelled me to beat it in short order, and that's worthy of my stamp of approval.

An okay game and a decent Metroidvania, hampered by being EXTREMELY short.

And I'm talking SHORT. I finished it in just over 2 hours, with 91% completion. If I went back to get the couple of powerups I missed it would probably be 3 hours.

There are some interesting mechanics and the gameplay is tight and fun, but just as it starts to get going it's all over.

As it stands for such a short experience I can't really recommend it at a $10 price tag, especially considering other games you can pick up for the same price.

If you can get it on sale for like $3-5, go ahead and pick it up if you like Metroidvanias and don't mind a short game.

Very fun little Metroidvania game. A few challenging spots and nice powerups which are very nicely implemented into the game play.
Extremely short, however, finished the game on my first run in 2 hours.

After a hint from the developer I was able to find the options menu and the game runs now perfectly. Even controller support is working 100%. Finally I can enjoy the game and give it a thumbs up!

Was able to kill the first boss and jump around, surely feels like Super Metroid with less pixelcount. But it feels good :)

I can use only one word to describe this whole game: BLAND
Xeodrifter offers nothing original. From uninspired enemies to boring powerups, every aspect of this game lacks ambition.
The level design is so boring it's a pain to play the same sections multiple times. The 4 planets all feel the same, they all have the same enemies, the same hazards, the same mechanics and guess what? You have to beat the same ♥♥♥♥ing Boss 6 times.
You can upgrade diffrent stats for your gun (like your tears in Binding of Isaac) but the only usefull stats are bullet power and bullet quantity.
The game also lack a story (asteroid hits your ship, breaks your fuel crystal, game starts) and unlike metriod, the world itself doesn't have a story.

Don't waste 10$ on this game. Go get kero-blaster instead.

Well, these are my initial impressions. Take them as you will. I will update this if/when I play some more.

PROS:
- Bright, colorful artwork that pops
- Lovely underwater effects (sometime it feels like a tech demo for the effect - it's used a LOT)
- Cute designs and easy to understand enemies
- Great tone, mood, atmosphere

CONS:

- SET UP
- It says "Alt + Enter" to Fullscreen. The first time I used it, the program crashed. Moving right along...
- No controller support to get through the introduction is a real bummer. Also, there are no prompts telling you what to press to continue. So, I found myself just pressing buttons until something happened. "ESC doesn't seem to do anything. How about Spacebar? No, that didn't work either. How about...Z? Yes, it's Z."
- Then is says that the A and B buttons have been calibrated, but pressing the A and B buttons do nothing. *sigh* So, I eventually went into configurations and set-up the whole controller myself manually. NOT the best of first impressions.

- GAMEPLAY
- Four planets to explore, and from what I can gather, there's only one checkpoint right before the boss (By the way, you fight the same boss multiple times in this game).
- Health does not refill upon death. So, if you make it to the boss with one health bar, if you die during the boss fight and respawn in front the boss door, you still have one health bar. I found this an interesting (not in a good way) design decision because this means that to refill your health, you need to work you way all the way back to your ship - or exit the game to the main menu and try again from a previous save. Why not just spawn back at the ship after a couple attempts at the boss ?(you're going to have to start again from the ship anyway) I guess that would have been too straightforward.
- There's no variable jump - just one big leap. This makes me feel like I'm less in control of the character.

That's all for now. Not really recommended at this time. Again, may update in the future.

Thanks.

A good buy only if you're insanely into Metroid and are good with default controls (because you can't change them).

pretty underwhelming game. you fight the same and only boss 7 times. not very good do avoid.

not any good

A very solid, if simple, metroidvania style game. Gameplay, graphics, and sound are all top notch. And the game is surprisingly challenging as well. I actually like the fact that you just have to explore to find out where you can go and what order you should visit the planets rather than being told.