Aeterna, but unfortunately not forever.
I’m a demon when it comes to Metroidvania games. I look for them whenever I look for new games to play, and when I’m hooked, I try to search nooks and crannies. I admit that Aeterna Noctis was under my radar until the release of Nintendo Switch, but now that he’s played 10 hours from 5 hours, I see why. Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the most bland and uninspiring experiences that go against what makes the genre so enjoyable.
The game follows Chaos, the Lord of Darkness, after being defeated by the Lord of Light in the opening cinematic. The world they live in is in an endless loop of conflict between light and darkness, and this loop has been going on for some time. Chaos lost this round so he needs to regain his strength to challenge the Lord of Light again this plot his line is basic and the game doesn’t really do anything interesting . Chaos itself is a boring protagonist, the quintessential “I’m so powerful that everyone’s under me” edgelord. In some ways his demeanor is kind of hilarious because it’s easy to beat. With a harsh Gothic aesthetic, I don’t feel like the writers are taking a cynical view.
Aeterna Noctis tries to match its particular visual style with brutal and challenging combat, but I found it very bland. One is a dash that not only moves slightly faster across the environment, but is almost useless. You can only dash in the direction you’re facing, so it’s not very effective in combat. Most of the early encounters are actually just waiting for the enemy to attack, getting close and mashing the attack button until they die. etc., but many non-boss enemies don’t really require much strategy, so general combat doesn’t change much.. Also, more critical attack damage like Some skill trees only offer a few minor upgrades, so progression isn’t all that interesting either.
You can slide through the lackluster story and slow-starting progression system, but ultimately one of the reasons you don’t want to keep playing Aeterna Noctis is one of its primary mechanics. You lose experience and skill points and have to remember it like in the Souls game. However, unlike those games, once you die, you won’t be able to gain experience until you collect that XP again. This means more time spent in an already challenging game, spending minutes and hours returning to areas you were already in rather than exploring and discovering new areas, which is the best part of Metroidvania. . The real reason I come to these games is that I am completely hampered by this system so I can go back to where I died or where I started my journey and talk to the NPCs to undo and start healing. must be experience again. Such mechanics do not make the game difficult. It’s a hassle.
Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy my time with Aeterna Noctis and wouldn’t want to go back to Aeterna Noctis. It’s worth mentioning that the Switch version feels unoptimized for the system. There’s a constant loading between each screen transition that divides much of the game’s pace. I’ve played other Metroidvanias If so, consider hitting a loading screen for each screen transition. Also, the visuals have too much motion blur or some sort of video compression effect that makes them look blurry. You might find some fun in and enjoy the edgelord protagonists and weird design choices, but this just wasn’t the game for me.
