Take on the role of the temple’s guardian, awakened to cleanse the temple from an evil force corrupting it. Fight and dodge your way through a series of corrupted denizens, wildlife, and guardians to confront Nafaset, the Defiler, and restore the blessed oases.
The game features charming art and amazing sound design, creating an engaging atmosphere.
The simplified Souls-like combat, particularly the teleport dodge mechanic, offers a unique twist and is enjoyable for both beginners and veterans.
As a free student project, it showcases impressive potential and creativity, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of the genre.
The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including unresponsive controls and issues with enemy AI, which can detract from the overall experience.
Combat mechanics feel clunky and unbalanced, with a lack of depth in enemy design and no incentive to engage with common foes.
The game is very short, lacking in content and progression systems, which may leave players wanting more.
gameplay
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
55%
5%
The gameplay of this souls-like title is characterized by its simplicity and linear progression, making it accessible for beginners, though it suffers from technical issues and a lack of polish. Players appreciate the engaging dodge mechanics and visual design, but many find the combat clunky and basic, with limited attack options. Overall, while the game offers a fun, albeit short experience, it leaves room for improvement in mechanics and depth.
“I had so much fun from this little 40 minutes of gameplay (I zoomed past the enemies and fought the bosses), so fun.”
“A short but sweet souls-like with solid mechanics, a great visual style, and quality level design.”
“The controls are really smooth, the combat is fast-paced and feels nice, and the dodge move mechanic is really satisfying to use.”
“Just keep in mind there's no stagger mechanic on some enemies and you can get locked down and stunned to death, along with enemies having homing melee attacks.”
“The gameplay, geez alright, the combat.. the combat is really boring and really basic, you have only 3 light attacks and 1 heavy, the animations are alright but the way the whole process of attacking is executed just feels really clunky and not good to enjoy the combat.”
“It's clear in the hitboxes and mechanics that this is a student project.”
graphics
88 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
47%
3%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty, unique art style, and impressive design, with many reviewers noting that they are a standout feature. However, there are significant concerns regarding optimization, as players report performance issues even on high-end systems, leading to low frame rates and choppy gameplay. Overall, while the visuals are striking and well-executed, the game's heavy graphical demands detract from the overall experience for many users.
“The aesthetic is amazing, I love what you guys did.”
“With beautiful textures, interesting creature design, and cool lighting, needless to say the graphics are top notch.”
“This was a lot better than I expected it to be and had some gorgeous aesthetics to boot as well as a thematic that brings a whole new dynamic to the genre.”
“The graphics are not well optimized; I have a 2080 Super and on ultra, I get 20fps.”
“I have an RTX 3060 and I had to turn the graphics down to medium just to get 60fps when I first started the game.”
“Optimization is lacking; I'm running an i7-6700k, 2060, and 28GB of RAM with a 2K monitor. Setting the graphics from high to ultra instantly drops the fps to at least 15-30, but getting back to high stabilizes instantly. There is no noticeable difference between 'high' and 'ultra' other than the fps drop.”
stability
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with frame rates, unresponsive controls, and gameplay interruptions that can render it unplayable at times. While some players appreciate the graphics and overall enjoyment, the technical problems significantly detract from the experience, making it a challenging play, especially for those unfamiliar with the genre. Overall, the stability is a major concern, particularly for a student project.
“It's waaaaay too buggy and clunky.”
“Really liked it at first but then it just became extremely buggy to the point it was unplayable.”
“The game is really interesting, quite fun and quite good visually, but if you are going to play it you must take into account the fact that the game has a lot of big bugs and glitches, some of them being able to break the game at certain points.”
music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
The music in the game is generally described as fitting and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience, particularly with its Middle Eastern influences. However, many reviewers noted that it can be repetitive and lacks distinctiveness, often fading into the background during gameplay. While some appreciated the care put into the sound design, others felt it was merely adequate and not particularly memorable.
“There is also good music and audio really helping for the immersion.”
“The instrument choices for the background music, water symbolism, glass statues versus corrupt-looking enemies, etc. all play to sell you on this desert theme.”
“The enemy design is neat, and the music really sets the atmosphere!”
“The art is mid and the music is repetitive.”
“I really dig the Middle Eastern atmosphere and the style, though the enemies and soundtrack were kind of ehhh.”
“The combat was simple and unvaried throughout, and the music was fitting to the theme of the game.”
story
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
78%
9%
The story in Metamorphos is minimal and lacks depth, primarily revolving around a single event where the player defeats Nafaset, who corrupted the purifying waters. While some players appreciate the effort put into the narrative, many feel it is underdeveloped and could benefit from expansion and polish. Overall, the game offers a basic storyline that can be completed quickly, leaving players wanting more in terms of narrative richness.
“Alot of work went into it and I'd like to see this game's story fully fleshed out one day!”
“The story is, long ago at the temple, you defeated Nafaset who had corrupted the purifying waters.”
“Metamorphos is a souls-like that was created by a team that was passionate about the 'souls-like' genre, and it's not difficult to tell where some of the inspiration lies, (mid-combat stamina management, restrained healing system, difficulty, environmental storytelling) but it's not too abstract to prevent you from picking it up having never played those before.”
“That's the entire story; nothing added on through the game, and on defeating the boss, the credits roll.”
“It's very short in both story and game time, so you can easily finish the entire thing in one sitting and you won't feel like you missed anything.”
“Could use some more polish with regard to mechanics, more depth with regard to story and setting, but for what it is, it's qualitatively neat.”
optimization
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
70%
20%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many users reporting severe performance issues, including lag and frame rate drops, even on high-end systems. Players noted that graphics settings do not yield noticeable improvements, and there are frequent bugs such as character freezing and control loss. Overall, while the game is entertaining, its lack of optimization detracts from the experience, leading to a recommendation for potential updates to address these issues.
“Graphics are great, but somehow not too optimized even if I set the quality at its lowest.”
“I also think there might be some optimization issues.”
“I will definitely come back to this game when I have a controller and maybe they will update the game to fix the optimization, the movement, graphics, and maybe add more attack combinations for enemies, expand the story, etc.”
“My only major complaint is the lack of optimization.”
“Unoptimized, major game bugs (losing control, character 'freezing', and such).”
“Had performance issues throughout the entire game.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
18%
19%
The atmosphere of Metamorphos is widely praised for its unique art style and engaging audio, creating an immersive experience reminiscent of dark fantasy themes. Reviewers highlight the game's desolate environments, creative execution, and effective use of sound to enhance the overall mood, despite some minor technical issues and mixed feelings about enemy design and soundtrack. Overall, the game's atmosphere stands out as a key strength, contributing significantly to its appeal.
“The environments and atmosphere are unique, even while the concepts are similar to those found in the Dark Souls games.”
“First thing’s first, the game’s atmosphere in both its art and audio is fantastic.”
“Your character controls great, the art, atmosphere, and feel of the game are engaging, and there are very few kinks that might break the immersion.”
“The desolate atmosphere, brainless undead, as well as pots and boxes everywhere.”
“I really dig the Middle Eastern atmosphere and the style, though the enemies and soundtrack were kind of lacking.”
“The enemy design is neat, but the music fails to enhance the atmosphere.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The reviews indicate a lack of character development in the game, with players noting that while the animations and character designs are satisfactory, they do not contribute to meaningful growth or depth. The only standout feature mentioned is the "dash" animation, which provided a moment of enjoyment amidst the otherwise underwhelming character experience. Overall, the feedback suggests that the game could benefit from more focus on character progression and development.
“The animations and character designs are alright too; I definitely liked the 'dash' animation when you press space. That was the only cool and satisfying aspect of the game.”
“I have a passion to make a game someday because it's really fascinating how things work with the engines and programming. However, it's quite challenging when you know nothing about programming, game making, or character design. I believe they tried to create the game they envisioned, but reviews are important for both players and developers to consider the pros and cons to improve the game or enhance the current one.”
“No character development.”
“The animations and character designs are alright too; I definitely liked the 'dash' animation when you press space. That was the only cool and satisfying thing about the game.”
“I have a passion to make a game someday because it's really cool how things work with the engines, programming, etc. However, it's really difficult when you know nothing about programming, game making, or character design. I believe they tried to make the game the way they wanted, but a review is a review, and everyone knows that reviews are meant for others and the devs to take all the pros and cons into account to either improve the game or just make the current one better.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find humor in the game's occasional bugs, which are infrequent and often amusing. Despite the game's visual appeal, performance issues detract from the experience, with loading screens providing an ironically high frame rate that adds to the comedic effect.
“Some small bugs (but they end up being funny when they happen, for being very few times).”
“A cool looking game but sadly unplayable (1 fps in menus, 5 fps in game, hilarious 120 fps on loading screens except for credits which took a painfully long time to load and then exit out of.)”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Users consistently highlight the game's "infinitely replayable" nature, indicating that it offers a compelling experience that encourages multiple playthroughs without losing its appeal.
“Infinitely replayable.”
“Infinitely replayable.”
“Infinitely replayable.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is viewed positively, especially in comparison to the prevalent low-quality titles on platforms like Steam, suggesting that it offers a more genuine experience despite being a student project.