Aeterna Noctis is one of the most beautifully created 2D games to date. Its Metroidvania nature doesn’t provide anything new to the genre, but it poses the player with enormous amounts of content, challenge and fun, even with its sometimes clunky gameplay and irritating gameplay design choices. A must-play, and the best metroidvania of 2021.
Aeterna Noctis is the closer metroidvania to Hollow Knight you could get, delivering an experience that is clearly inspired by the best game of the genre. Its enormous world map and myriad of secrets will keep you entertained for tens of hours, but you should beware that its high difficulty means that it aims at players who really want to test their reflexes and lightning-fast combination of special powers.
Aeterna Noctis is an amazing example of how a developer can mix together gameplay elements from many popular platformers of the past few years to construct something greater than the sum of its parts. While it owes a gameplay debt to games like Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, and Castlevania, Aeterna Noctis’ fascinating setting and enjoyable gameplay make it easy to appreciate on its own. Its beautiful world and gorgeous soundtrack make exploring Aeterna is a joy, even when its high difficulty is knocking you down over and over. If you’ve been seeking your next Metroidvania fix, Aeterna Noctis is definitely worth diving into.
Huge and challenging, Aeterna Noctis it's a metroidvania experience just for the most skilled players. Being so hard can be a problem for those with less experience with platforming games, but if you love great challenges you won't be able to put down the controller.
It does a lot of things that I genuinely like: It has excellent boss fights, some creative levels, an absurdly huge amount of content, and the platforming mostly works well. That level of heartfelt dedication makes it all the more frustrating when you get caught up on the areas where it still needs polish. I enjoyed a lot of the game, but I remember the annoyances more than the enjoyment. If you're willing to work past that, there's a lot to play in Aeterna Noctis, but it's easy to imagine someone reaching a particularly annoying bit of platforming and moving on to something else, especially because the game's long length can make it feel more exhausting than exhilarating. Metroidvania fans should absolutely give it a shot, but don't expect something as easy to pick-up-and-play as some of the genre greats.
Aeterna Noctis is a product that is all in all enjoyable, but one that wastes the potential in the useless attempt to chase Hollow Knight too closely. The good artistic direction, the excellent combat system and the well-conceived boss fights end up being suffocated by a linear and tedious progression, a victim in turn of the desire to fill the game with content even when there is no need for it. A great pity, because if the team had managed to effectively streamline the proposal and better balance its components, we would have had a much more satisfying title on our hands.
Aeterna Noctis retains enough of the best parts of its inspiration that it should satisfy undemanding players with time on their hands. [Issue#368, p.122]
A must have/play metroidvania for the genre lovers! One of the most underrated games i've ever seen. There's a LOT of love and effort by de devs, you can easely see that. The game's hand draw art is beautiful, the story is amazing and very well wroted. The controls, different from many reviews, are very responsive. The thing is: It's a challenging game. It's not about pretty graphics and nice story (only). It was made for those who want something to work on, and spend a lot of time to improve your skills. I just finished Hollow Knight with all his content, including optional ones like Path of Pain. I was lookin' for some good MV to fullfill the emptness that HK gave me ... and after some real good research, some gameplays (ender lillies, death's gambit etc) i found Aeterna Noctis, and i was captured by. I'm not a hardcore gamer, i'm kind of new in MV's ... The game is difficult, yes, but totally acessible. If you want something light, story driven, it's not for you ... but if you want a game to go deep inside, that's the deal. Lot's of collectibles, hidden places ... lots of upgrades, with an awesome interface. A trully masterpiece. Thanks to all devs and all staff fro Aeternu Game Studios!
I have recently bought the game and the negative reviews are not true. I have read that the controls are bad, this is a lie. I have read that combat is bad, this is also a lie. I have also read that it is very difficult and I have to say that the game is very difficult in Noctis mode (hard mode) but it is not more difficult than other games in Aeterna mode (normal mode)
I can only give you advice, ignore those criticisms and play Aeterna Noctis. If you like metroidvania... buy it now.
Hacía mucho tiempo no jugaba a un metroidvania que fuera tan diferente, tan adictivo y tan difícil pero satisfactorio en algunas partes del juego. Confieso que he tenido que cambiar del modo Noctis al modo Aeterna en alguna ocasión, pero me parece una gran idea poder modificar la dificultad si te atascas en el juego. Al fin y al cabo, soy yo quien ha decidido jugar un juego difícil en su modalidad difícil. Por poner alguna pequeña pega la música en alguna fase se me hace repetitiva (quizás porque son áreas muy grandes) pero en general la banda sonora es tan increible como el resto del juego. Una compra más que recomendada.
Aeterna Noctis es un metroidvania extremadamente genérico en sus mejores momentos. Los enemigos los has visto mil veces en juegos similares, las habilidades también, las mecánicas en su mayoría también. Y en nada de eso está a la altura de copiar bien aquello en lo que obviamente se ha "inspirado". Pero es peor cuando intenta innovar porque claramente los diseñadores no entienden las mecánicas, solo han oído que están de moda y listo. Especialmente visible esto es en el caso de la muerte, que como en los Souls, implica que dejas tus px en el lugar donde moriste; eso en un Souls funciona porque genera tensión ante la idea de perder todo lo conseguido, creando un pico de intensidad en la experiencia del jugador, pero aquí en vez de eso, tus px quedan tirados y tienes que ir a cogerlos y no se pierden, simplemente dejas de ganar px en el camino hasta que los recuperes. Así que pierdes la tensión y a cambio solo recibes el tedio de ir a recoger las cosas y perder px que no has ganado por el camino. Y luego hay otras cosas que funcionan mal. Los enemigos son extremadamente fáciles (el juego en general es fácil incluso en alta dificultad, con la excepción de algunas zonas de plataformas) y poco variados, el árbol de habilidades no funciona del todo bien y las habilidades desbloqueables carecen de interés más allá de alguna mejora pasiva genérica, las armas que puedes desbloquear tampoco aportan gran cosa en su mayoría, el mapa es un desastre como funciona... Suma a eso una trama sin chispa ni gracia, con un protagonista que va de Rey de la Oscuridad y parece un niño emo sin gracia, y hasta ahí llega lo que ofrece Aeterna en jugabilidad.
Gráficamente el juego es discreto, con un diseño de personajes y entornos visto un millón de veces, sin ápice de originalidad y con poco detalle. El sonido cumple, sin grandes maravillas, pero cumple. Y no me he encontrado con demasiados bugs jugando. Eso si, no está adaptado bien a teclado y ratón, haciendo que multitud de cosas que se hacen mejor con el ratón no se puedan hacer (como moverse por los menús) y que las teclas del teclado no se puedan reconfigurar porque, aunque técnicamente se puede, se resetean al momento a sus bindings originales.
El resultado es que, en sus mejores momentos, Aeterna Noctis es mediocre. Y en los peores es malo. Un 3,5.
SummaryAeterna Noctis is a challenging 2D Metroidvania drawn by hand, with intense combats and skill-based platform sections. Taking the role of the 'King of Darkness' you must help him regain his power across 16 different and connected areas in an epic journey with environmental storytelling.