MetroidvaniaReview

Bookbound Brigade

·Misc Metroidvania
1.5
Poor

"Bookbound Brigade's unmatched premise and beautiful presentation values are lost on its poor writing and level design, resulting in a mostly frustrating use of your time."

Metroidvania fit: Medium Fit. Bookbound Brigade has four distinct areas that don't really connect with the others, and progression is some

Developer
Digital Tales USA LLC
Time to Beat
~18 hours
Release Date
2020/01/30
OpenCritic
Read critic reviews
1.5
Poor

Final Verdict

Bookbound Brigade

"Bookbound Brigade's unmatched premise and beautiful presentation values are lost on its poor writing and level design, resulting in a mostly frustrating use of your time."

Metroidvania Breakdown

Combat
1/5

It's difficult to summarize all of the issues, but one of the major points is that your primary means of dealing damage puts you right inside your enemies, making it very difficulty to get out of the way in time if they attack.

Platforming
1.5/5

Even the smallest mistake forces you to repeat already frustrating patience-based platforming - although there is the occasional clever use of the Brigade mechanics

Exploration
1.5/5

The map is confusing and unhelpful, and backtracking through the game's frustrating combat and platforming is not appealing

Puzzle
2/5

There are actually one or two pretty decent puzzles in the game, surrounded by some very repetitive guessing games disguised as puzzles

Story
1.5/5

The premise of combining characters from different source materials is stifled by some baffling decisions on how to apply them.

Graphics
4/5

Backgrounds are gaudy and detailed -so much talent went into it. Sometimes foreground decorations obscure the gameplay.

Music
4/5

The music is also full of talent; beautifully orchestrated, although sometimes it's far too epic for the action that is happening

Replayability
1/5

There doesn't seem to be any incentives given to play a second time, if you even finish it in the first place.