Paradox Soul Is A Retro-Inspired Metroidvania Heading To Switch This Week

Not gonna lie, was very disappointed seeing the "retro" pixel art after seeing that gorgeous promo art on the video thumbnail.

Edit: Also don't get me wrong. I don't ever think that pixel art graphics should die in video games. It's a medium more than it is an art style. It's games like this that call themselves "retro" looking without trying to emulate anything that the early games of the time tried.
If you want a game that actually tries (and succeeds) to look retro, give Shovel Knight a whirl.
If you want pixel art but you still want it to look absolutely gorgeous, fly around in Owlboy for some stunning art direction in that one.
Getting more than a little fed-up with devs that place a few dots on the screen and decide that they have the right to call themselves retro.

@Kyranosaurus I second that. Definitely a disappointment after seeing the thumbnail photo.

Nothing retro about that pixel art. Seemed basic and devoid of atmosphere. When a game has terrifying bosses I expect to see some darkness or atmosphere. If you can't do what was done 25 years ago I don't know how you expect people to buy your product. I guess I missed the part where they show off terrifying and or epic boss fights.

I hate this style of art. It’s so bland. Not just this game, there’s plenty of others that try to pass this off. Even Hyper Light Drifter was borderline what I’m able to say looks good. I got so excited when I read Metroidvania. Of course it probably plays well and all but I can’t get on board with this.

Oh look, "A Retro-Inspired Metroidvania" on Switch 😴

Not even pretending they trying anymore.

Looks a bit bland alright. I'll look out for reviews, though. Might play better than it appears.

Geez, tough crowd! Looks neat, I'll wait to read reviews

I echo all the comments so far. A few games like Hyper Light Drifter pioneered the art style before it got trendy and executed it well. But now there's just too many with far lower quality and sadly, I immediately dismiss them all as soon as I see the first screenshot.

Another week, another Metrovania cheap pixel art game! Waiting for this 'genre' to die, quick. Why not some old skool platform games, left-to-right? Or make some retro virtua racing-stlye racing games, anything but more Metrovania'sszzZZZZZZ

@Kyranosaurus Same. Also, that is supposed to be the main character, right? Then why does the sprite in the game look like a middle-aged man?

@countzero I think it's supposed to be the character in a suit but the body shapes are all so vague and samey that it'd be easy to mix them up.

Just what I need... more retro-inspired nonsense. Enough, please.

@Kyranosaurus exactly what I was thinking. There are so many good retro inspired games out there and there are some games that just want to use the hype to sell.

Although I'll be keen to try it out - the art style comes second to gameplay - my first reaction was "oh look, programmer art". Looked like something I would put together...

"Retro-inspired Metroidvania" .....
There's a phrase 99% of gamers are tired of hearing.

I love a good Metroidvania, however really dislike the art style of this game.

C'mon guys, pixel art is fun but there's such a thing as overkill

@Kyranosaurus Ah, now I see it. I was watching the trailer on my phone and the collar of her jacket looked like it was part of her head. That made it look like she had very short hair.

Now on a bigger screen I can see what's going on.

Looks pretty good to me!

@Kyranosaurus the kingdom series is one of my personal favorites.
And I agree that even if this is as awesome as shovel knight, I’d never know just because I could never get past the art style.

Even I am getting burned out on the pixel art and Metroid style genre. There used to only be a few and they were excellent. Now they’re everywhere. I’m sure its still hard work to make these games, but games like Monster Boy and Hollow Knight have spoiled me; and I can’t wait for my own copy of Bloodstained. I grew up in the 8-bit and 16-bit era, its nice to see a game or two like this sometimes, but its getting ridiculous. People don’t even try to make them look as good as Super Metroid or Secret of Mana.

Looks very bad.

The pixel art doesn't bother me like it does some others but what does grind my gears is the typo in the trailer. If you can design a game and cut a trailer you can also use a grammar checker.

I love retro style pixel art games, if they're done well. I think the developers of this game need to put in more effort if they want to stand out from the crowd.

For 5 bucks it might be worth a shot but with so many other games to play I'll most likely pass on this.

Insert title Is A Retro-Inspired Metroidvania Heading To Switch This Week

I am actually curious how many "Retro inspired Metroidvania" titles we have on Switch now.

A "Metroidvania" with "retro" pixel graphics.
More like a bland corridor shooter with samey gameplay and uninspired art direction...

@Kyranosaurus How is pixel art more a medium than an art style?

It looks terrible, Ratalaika games do put out some good stuff and i've been playing them since the 360 arcade, but it's getting to the point where they are publishing anything.

@YANDMAN I already gave two examples. Pixel art isn't just one style. If you say pixel art is one style then you're ignoring all the games that try hard at giving their art a different atmosphere, look and consistency.
Two of my friends are pixel artists (very talented ones if I do say so myself) and they both have their own distinct style that makes them stand out from each other.
Unless you want to also argue that digital painting is an "art style" then I can see why you'd think that but not every digital artist draws the same things. They all have their own approach, ethnics and goals when drawing characters objects and environments.

As I said earlier, both Shovel Knight and Owlboy are games that use pixel art, but they both accomplish different styles. I hope that's a bit clearer on what I was talking about.

Looks bland and not very evocative of metroidvania to me.

@Kyranosaurus I understand fully what you are getting at but Pixel 'ART' is simply that. Art created with pixels and like any form of art their is an entire spectrum of what is good and what is not so good but then that is also subjective of course. You're not preaching to me i am a devout follower of the church of pixel and i will defend it until the end, but all pixel art is .....pixel art.

@Heavyarms55 Didn't they do a video on here recently of the top 20?

I love metroidvanias, but yeah, was disappointed about the art style ... It's bland

@YANDMAN I don't think you quite got what I was saying.
Water-colour art is also art. Chalk art is also art. Both of those things are mediums in art. The style is dictated by the artist's choice. Since the key word here was style, that's what I was talking about. I never said pixel art wasn't pixel art. Only that people shouldn't expect to see the same stuff just because it's pixel art.