The Tarnishing of Juxtia

About

In "The Tarnishing of Juxtia," a Souls-inspired 2D action RPG, players engage in challenging combat with an Energy Rush system, battling corrupt saints, ancient war machines, and more across 15 unique environments. The game features a hauntingly beautiful score, a variety of equipment and abilities, and daunting bosses in a dark fantasy world.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 190 reviews

gameplay25 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The pixel art and overall visual design are stunning, creating a beautiful and immersive world.
The combat system encourages aggressive play, rewarding players for chaining attacks and maintaining momentum.
Boss fights are challenging and well-designed, providing a satisfying experience for players who enjoy difficult encounters.

The character movement feels slow and clunky, making navigation and combat less fluid than desired.
The game lacks depth in its weapon variety, with many weapons feeling underwhelming or impractical in combat.
The story and lore are generic and fail to engage players, lacking the depth and intrigue found in other titles in the genre.

gameplay
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
67%
7%
The gameplay of *The Tarnishing of Juxtia* is a blend of challenging souls-like mechanics and metroidvania elements, offering a mix of rewarding combat and frustrating design choices. Players appreciate the fluidity and variety in combat, though some criticize the clunky dodging mechanics and interruptions from story segments that disrupt gameplay flow. Overall, while the game presents engaging mechanics and beautiful visuals, it requires adaptation to its unique style, which may not appeal to everyone.
- “The gameplay leans on the hard side; mistiming your actions in combat is disastrous!”
- “The Tarnishing of Juxtia is a metroidvania game that perfects the mechanics of a souls game.”
- “The player has a lot of agency and variety in what and how to use; it's meaningful as it changes the way you play the game, both visually and mechanically.”
- “The gameplay is clunky.”
- “The dodging mechanic in this game is one of the worst I've dealt with in a 2D sidescroller; it covers a short distance and has such a small iframe that you end up taking damage before or after the dodge nine times out of ten.”
- “Sadly, I expect more from video games, especially when they claim to focus on gameplay.”
story
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
63%
4%
The story in this game is generally viewed as standard for the genre, featuring familiar tropes such as a hero tasked with saving a corrupted world. While some players appreciate the lore and character interactions, many find the narrative predictable, dialogue-heavy, and lacking in depth, which disrupts gameplay flow. Overall, the storytelling is considered a mixed bag, with some engaging elements overshadowed by a lack of compelling exposition and character development.
- “The game itself stuns with an amazing pixel-art style, great visuals, and a really nice story to follow.”
- “Each zone has its place in this story and contributed to the world-building, which I enjoyed a lot.”
- “Great art, dramatic music, a decent story, and nice souls-like combat.”
- “The story is mediocre, nothing more really to say about it.”
- “The story follows a pretty standard one for this genre.”
- “Plain white text with a bunch of exposition word salad while listening to the same repeated fake voiceover did not particularly make me excited for the game or care about its story.”
graphics
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
42%
6%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning pixel art style, with many reviewers highlighting the beautiful visuals, atmospheric environments, and smooth animations. The art direction is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's overall atmosphere and experience. While some players noted a desire for more charm or variety, the consensus is that the graphics are top-notch for the genre, making it visually appealing and memorable.
- “The game has a lot of atmosphere, and the art style plays into it very well.”
- “The artwork is astounding for being pixel art; the animation feels like absolute butter, the music is mind-blowingly fantastic, and the environments feel like you're traversing different parts of the world that intertwine based on the plot.”
- “The aesthetics, music, backgrounds, enemy design, and animation are all absolutely fantastic, and definitely worthy of praise.”
- “It is very basic and could have more charm from the general aesthetics and art style of the game.”
- “The visuals are good, the audio is mediocre.”
- “This game is sooo amazing, but please can you add the ability to change the graphics settings.”
music
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
41%
9%
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and ability to enhance the atmosphere, particularly during boss fights, where it creates an epic feel. However, many players noted a significant lack of background music in most areas, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite this inconsistency, the soundtrack is often described as beautiful and well-produced, complementing the game's stunning pixel art and design.
- “Every zone has its own feel and musical theme, etc.”
- “The music is mind-blowingly fantastic (especially during the first boss, might I add), the environments feel like you're traversing different parts of the world that intertwine based on the plot, and the combat feels great.”
- “The aesthetics, music, backgrounds, enemy design, and animation are all absolutely fantastic, and definitely worthy of praise.”
- “The game is not without its flaws; however, the biggest one is the lack of music in most places, which is a real shame as the soundtrack is really good when it does play (during bosses and some arenas).”
- “The environments are bland, with no background music except for bosses.”
- “I want to say something about the music of this game, but I really can't beyond the fact that it's serviceable.”
atmosphere
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
82%
18%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its beautiful pixel graphics, polished visuals, and atmospheric music, creating an immersive experience. Players appreciate the varied and interesting environments, though some note a decline in story and gameplay quality in later areas. Overall, the atmosphere effectively conveys a sense of a dying world, enhancing exploration and combat.
- “The ambience and atmosphere are great, and the backgrounds and world in general are visually very polished.”
- “It has a great atmosphere, great music, gorgeous pixel art, and an alright battle system.”
- “Combat feels soulsy (albeit without any shield play) with tight dodge timings and punish windows; it has the atmosphere of a dying world corrupted by proud gods, and the world is a blast to explore, finding new enemies and loot along the way.”
- “The game controls great, the visuals and animation are top notch for this type of game, and the atmosphere is suitably depressing.”
- “Combat feels souls-like (albeit without any shield play) with tight dodge timings and punish windows. It has the atmosphere of a dying world corrupted by proud gods, and the world is a blast to explore, finding new enemies and loot along the way.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization is highly praised, with users reporting excellent performance at a solid 60fps on 1080p resolution and minimal frame drops. Players with mid-range PC specs, such as an i5 8300h and GTX 1060, experienced smooth gameplay with no significant performance issues, screen tearing, or input lag. Overall, the optimization appears to be well-executed, contributing to a seamless gaming experience.
- “Performance was great with steady frames throughout and fast loading times.”
- “I've had absolutely zero performance issues, screen tears, fps drops, unresponsive inputs, etc. The game works well and seems fairly well optimized.”
- “I played it with an i5 8300H, GTX 1060 6GB, and 16GB RAM, at high settings, at 50-60 frames per second, at 1920x1080 resolution.”
- “The frame drops were rare and I would not notice them without the Steam overlay showing them to me, so the optimization is sweet.”
- “I've had absolutely zero performance issues, screen tears, FPS drops, unresponsive inputs, etc. The game works well and seems fairly well optimized.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players note that grinding for levels can simplify boss fights, but it detracts from the challenge, as true mastery requires learning boss patterns. While some enjoy the grind as part of the experience, others criticize the excessive farming for upgrade materials, finding it frustrating compared to other games in the genre.
- “Straight up grinding for levels and then DPS-rushing them feels like the best solution, which does not make for a good boss fight challenge.”
- “No item boost and other buffs; this game has the most miserable upgrade materials farming I have ever experienced compared to others.”
- “Be prepared for some grinding.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players finding it hilariously enjoyable, especially when outcomes favor them. However, some critiques arise regarding the balance of weaponry, which can detract from the comedic experience, despite moments like instant kills on bosses being particularly amusing.
- “Which was hilariously fun when it went in my favor, which was more often than not, so overall I really enjoyed it.”
- “I mean, it is kind of hilarious, but what is the point of having varied weaponry when it is so unbalanced?”
- “It was funny to instantly kill the last boss.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
150%
The character development system is classless, allowing for diverse customization, while the overall presentation, including art, sound, and music, enhances the appeal of the character designs.
- “The character development system is classless.”
- “The art, sound, and music are all top-notch; even some of the early character designs are really cool.”
- “The character development system feels classless and lacks depth.”
- “I found the character progression to be uninspired and lacking meaningful choices.”
- “The lack of unique character arcs makes the development feel flat and unengaging.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game is perceived as having limited replayability due to its short and shallow gameplay compared to competitors, which may leave players wanting more depth and variety in their experience.
- “But compared to any competitor, it's quite a short and shallow game, offering little replay value, to be honest.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game exhibits occasional glitches and input recognition issues, impacting its overall stability, though the core mechanics function adequately.
- “Mechanically, the game is okay, although it glitches from time to time and occasionally ignores inputs.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable at times.”
- “I've experienced numerous bugs that disrupt gameplay, leading to a frustrating experience.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is largely criticized, with players feeling a lack of engagement during combat and frustration with navigation, leading to an overall sense of tedium rather than excitement or immersion.