Coming off the back of its previous game, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Bombservice’s Minoria feels like a natural evolution in many ways. It’s a fast-paced Metroidvania with a sharp focus on aggressive combat, but also contains many staple tropes of the genre, including collectable items, hidden passageways, and unlockable abilities. Fans of the studio’s previous games, and indeed Metroidvanias in general, will definitely get a kick out of this one.
You play as Sister Semilla, a badass, sword-wielding nun who, alongside her companion, Sister Fran, must travel the ruins of the Kingdom of Ramezia to free the kidnapped Princesses from the heretic witches. It’s a pretty cool setup, and the game ultimately weaves flavours of religion and faith into its narrative, but never goes too far into these aspects to risk alienation. It’s a rather bleak game overall, and the dark tone is a stark contrast to the more vibrant Reverie Under the Moonlight.
The gameplay is rather typical of a Metroidvania, though it’s definitely a step up from titles like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in terms of its combat. You start off with rather basic attacks, but the fluidity of the combat is really impressive. You feel incredibly powerful right from the start, and this is bolstered by an effective parry manoeuvre that, if utilised correctly, allows you to counter-attack with fearsome speed and aggression, taking down most regular enemies in one swoop.
Boss battles are particularly impressive, and while you will come across huge, intimidating beasts, we found the simple, one-on-one showdowns with the game’s witches to be the most fun and rewarding. These are tough fights, and you’ll need to call upon all of your abilities to triumph, including the dodge roll, parry ability, and limited doses of healing incense to recover from damage. As you progress, you will gain additional combat abilities, and even some magic attacks to assist you, but the game never allows you to become complacent, and we love it for that.
Graphically, we’re a bit torn on the overall art design. Stepping away from the pixelated graphics of the Momodora series, the game takes on a more 2.5D approach, and although it runs smoothly enough for the most part, we did notice a few dips in frame rate here and there. Additionally, there’s a distinct lack of variety in the environment design and enemy design, and if you don’t refer to the game’s map system frequently enough, you’ll easily get lost within the rather samey corridors and chambers.
Minoria is a great Metroidvania that we’d hate to see slip under the radar amongst the more well-known titles like Bloodstained and Hollow Knight. It’s not quite as feature-rich as some of the other titles in the genre and will only last roughly 5 hours or so, but the combat is so impressive, that we’d urge you to check it out.
Comments 14
I disagree with combat being a step up from bloodstained. I was doing some crazy stuff towards the middle-end.
There have been so many great Metroidvanias releasing lately.
Not sure about this one but the art style looks really nice. The short length makes it a bit more appealing than a lot of other metroidvanias which can start to drag after a while so I might give it a chance at some point.
I actually had this on my watchlist after seeing the eShop screenshots and later a trailer somewhere. Shame about the samey environments but I will defo give this a DL at some point dependent on price.
Thanks for thr revw.
I enjoyed Reverie Under the Moonlight until I got to a point where I was so confused I didn't know where to go next. I don't think I've ever played a Metroidvania where I had to give up because I didn't know where to go next.
This game felt shorter than I would have liked it. Momodora was short too but that game felt like it had just the right amount of stuff going on.
Momodora had around eight different locations that all felt vibrant and unique.
Minoria has five locations that all have the same subdued aesthetic, with the exception of the one outdoors area at the end.
Momodora has a door to the endgame that requires four keys to open, and you can tackle the areas the keys are found in the order you like. Minoria on the other hand is basically a single linear path through the areas.
Momodora has lots of different items to find that can be useful in combat that you find or buy as you explore.
Minoria has this too, but it feels like each individual item has less personality than the ones in Momodora. Instead of being interesting artifacts or keepsakes like in Momodra, every single item in Minoria is a magical incense. The incenses only have an adjective and a description, and don't have any icons or pictures or anything to help differentiate between them all.
I feel like in Minoria, I'm constantly pausing during boss fights. I start the fight with Glowing Incense equipped. I spam the button 5 times, deplete the incense and then have to pause to equip Ethereal Incense. I spam the button five times, unleash five attacks, and then pause again to equip Ashen Incense. Do five attacks with this one, then pause again to equip Black Incense. Etc. Etc. It doesn't help that the incense equip menu doesn't mention which ones have already been used up - you have to equip it and unpause to be able to see if it has any uses left. And during a hectic fight, this can get messy pretty quickly.
I never felt this way in Momodora. Momodora has the same limited-use item mechanic, but the equip menu was nicer, and the items' abilities were more readily apparent, and there were much fewer of them - so in that game I felt like my equips were more like "my build", rather than "my resources". If that makes sense. In Momodora, you always have a ranged attack too, while in Minoria, your only ranged attack is just one of your equippable incenses that runs out pretty quickly.
I really do like the game, but it didn't trounce Momodora for me.
Short length is generally a turnoff for me, but I will play if the price is right. I enjoyed Momodora because I got it on sale for like $5 on PS4. I'm equally interested in this, but I'm going to wait for a sale.
I generally like metroidvanias, so put it on my wish list. May pick it up on sale due to the relatively short length and potentially frustrating (for me) difficulty. Searching around I found that it is rated Mature. @Olliemar28 based on your experience playing the game, what about it warrants a mature rating? Also, it could be helpful for NL to list ratings in the Game Profile section of reviews.
Seems like another cool metroidvania to try out... damn my wallet...
@sketchturner lol, I beat that game twice and still had those moments. Still a beautiful and fun game though.
Still haven't picked this one up on Steam yet. Will probably not double dip on Switch this time around.
I will buy it, love the art style...
Five hours ain't bad, I could beat Metroid Fusion in under 5 hours and that was a great game. The price is the only thing that kept me from getting it day one, once it goes on sale then this will be a buy for me but for now it's on my wishlist.
@sketchturner that happened to me with Hob. I still haven't gone back after a year, and I really did love that game...
This guy loves to use the word "rather", especially in incorrect ways.
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