The Metroidvania genre continues to experience a bit of a renaissance following the success ofHollow Knight, with several new developers stepping in to provide their own unique takes on the formula. One such game is 2Awesome Studios’Altered Alma, which recently launched its crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter and successfully reached the first funding goal within an impressive 6 hours. Along with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign, 2Awesome released a public demo forAltered Alma, and just from that small slice of gameplay it’s already apparent that the title’s disparate mix of influences both within and without the Metroidvania genre is coming together in a potent brew.
Altered Alma’s Kickstarter page lists its primary gameplay influences as an interesting combination of bothHollow KnightandMass Effect, along with some very clear stylistic influences from cyberpunk classics like Ridley Scott’sBlade Runnerand Luc Besson’sThe Fifth Element. Taking place in the neon-soaked futuristic setting of Neo Barcelona,Altered Almaexudes plenty of visual flair and a unique style further exemplified by its impressiveBlasphemous-style pixel art. Between its top-notch presentation and understanding of the core fundamentals of the Metroidvania genre,Altered Almais a game that genre fans will want to keep an eye on.
Altered Alma’s Quantum Blade Transforms Its Combat and Platforming
The centerpiece ofAltered Alma’s combat is the Quantum Blade, a combination of weapon and traversal tool that gives the protagonist, Jack, the ability to warp from one side of the screen to another and perform stylish executions on foes. Before acquiring the Quantum Blade, players will get introduced to the basic elements ofAltered Alma’s melee combat, which includes a satisfyingparry mechanicwith a fairly forgiving window. After getting their hands on the Quantum Blade, though, it becomes apparent how muchPrince of Persia: The Lost Crownhas influencedAltered Alma, with the game’s platforming challenges immediately putting the Quantum Blade through its paces in interesting use case scenarios.
Of course, it almost wouldn’t be a modern Metroidvania without some implementation ofHollow Knight’s character customization and build craft.Altered Almaintroduces its own version ofHollow Knight’s Charmsvia its equipable Mods, which behave exactly as players would expect. There are only a small handful of Mods available for players to find in theAltered Almademo, but they add interesting wrinkles to Jack’s suite of abilities, such as executing a powerful AOE attack or adding fire damage to a slide move for evasive maneuvers.
Altered Alma’s Story and Setting Do the Heavy Lifting to Support its Mass Effect Elements
In terms of its fundamentals,Altered Almais already showing promise at capturing the smooth combat and platforming that the best Metroidvanias exhibit, but it’s the game’sMass Effect-style relationship managementand side quests that flesh out its interesting world and characters. Joining protagonist Jack is a colorful cast of characters that she needs to recruit as part of her crew, and each one has different requests that she can fulfill and dialogue trees to explore. The more Jack interacts with her crew members and completes quests for them, the stronger their bonds grow, eventually leading to romance if the player desires.
That all of this takes place in the retrofuturist setting of Neo Barcelona only further adds to the game’sMass Effect-style atmosphere, with BioWare’s legendary RPG franchise also taking plenty of influence from1982’sBlade Runnerand other 70s and 80s science fiction. There’s a strong case to be made thatAltered Alma’s Neo Barcelona is a main character unto itself, with several subtle and not-so-subtle details in the game’s painstakingly crafted environments communicating plenty about the game’s world and its inhabitants. Ultimately,Altered Alma’s setting is the connective tissue tying together everything else in the game, and it catapults the title to the top of a watchlist containing several other promising-looking Metroidvanias.
Altered Almais currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
