2D Dark Fantasy Metroidvania Platformer- RIN: The Last Child
2D Dark Fantasy Metroidvania Platformer- RIN: The Last Child
Publisher: Space Fox Games
Developer: Space Fox Games
Genre:
PEGI:
Comments:
It’s the beginning of the year 2024, and we are already starting with some amazing Metroidvanias. It’s been a while since I’ve played a game that took inspiration from games like Ori and The Blind Forest and I am not complaining.
Developed and published by Space Fox Games, the developers have created a mythological fantasy exploration platformer, RIN: The Last Child. This game takes on an adventure to restore order in a mystical world and save the fate of her brothers and sisters, all who have turned into enemies by the hands of the Creator (their father). This is a gem of a game you’ll want to try if you’re a lover of the genre.
Story:
As with any Metroidvania, the story of the game is very difficult to understand, unless you pick up all the journal entries scattered around the world and piece them together. The story starts off with introducing us to five brothers and sisters who were created to destroy the world, and Rin, the smallest but most powerful of the siblings, who will save humanity from destruction.
The story is taken directly from the mythology of Cronus, who fathered Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon but devoured them because his parents’ warned him he would be overthrown by his own children. When his son Zues was born, with his mother’s protection, he survived and eventually Cronus was overthrown by Zues. The concept of this game is very similar to the Cronus story, as that one of the choices you will be making is, should you devour your sibling after defeating them.
Another important theme in this story is obedience to your parents, in this case the Creator. Should Rin destroy her brothers and sisters and save the world? Or should she defy her Creator (father) and save her siblings? I feel like this game is interpreted differently, because no two folktales are the same and we each interpret the story in our own unique way.
Gameplay:
This game is a 2D sidescrolling action platformer. You are able to play on three different levels, easy, normal, or hard. One of its unique takes on a Metroidvania is the ability to customize different elemental spells. I think when I first played the demo of this game during SteamFest, I was enthralled by the ability of crafting spells because not many Metroidvanias have this option. Choices matter in this game, and no playthrough is the same. That is because there are over 18 variations of defense and offense attacks you can craft throughout the game and if you start the game over you can use another weapon to make each of your adventures distinctive.
However, this game isn’t like most Metroidvanias we are used to. While it does draw inspiration from games like Ori and The Blind Forest, it doesn’t have the same features. For example, the game is more puzzle platformer than action platformer in my opinion. This is because there aren’t that many enemies and the ones that do appear are so linear that they feel like old school NES games, where the enemies served as obstacles as opposed to offensive combat. Don’t get me wrong, mixing them with the platforming in this game does provide a challenge, but I would have liked enemies to follow me across the map and attack me, like in other games of the same genre. The enemies in this game go from small to large, and there are only five boss fights (the siblings). If you want lots of hack and slashing and dodging enemy attacks, this game isn’t it, but if you want great platforming, exploration and dodging obstacles to find your next location, this game is amazing.
Graphics/Audio:
The graphics of this game run on 60 fps and moving from location to location has no loading time. However, there were frame drops in certain areas of the game and some of the elemental spells did drop in frame rate during their attack animation. It was slightly frustrating but I am sure this game will have future patches for framerate drops so I don’t mind this small setback.
Let me start by saying that I have seen a lot of people comment on the graphics of this game and not really understand the “art” of the environment. This game was inspired by a dark, fairy tale, based on mythological elements. While the biomes do look very different from Metroidvanias like Blasphemous and Hollow Knight, that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t beautiful. The game has gorgeous transitions from biome to biome and if you really take the time to enjoy the backgrounds, you will see the different designs and how much thought was put into this magical universe.
I was enthralled by the sounds of this game. The soothing sounds of the wind, the animal sounds and wind instruments made me feel like I was meditating and the elements of white sound created the perfect blend of audio for this type of environment. It created a calming game, one that I would even label as a “cozy” Metroidvania.
Steam Deck Compatibility:
While not Steam Deck Verified, this game does play on the Steam Deck, with frame rates ranging from 55-60 FPS. I want to stress that this game for some odd reason does not have cloud save, so if you begin your game on the PC, you will have to start a new save file on the Steam Deck. I am sure this will be touched in a future update. Otherwise, if you are a handheld gamer like me, this still allows you to experience this game on both platforms.
Suggestion for Future Patches:
I do have a few suggestions for improvements on the game that would definitely create a better experience.
The map exploration is one of the biggest features of this game, while there is fast traveling, they are a bit of a distance from location to location and sometimes, when you are trying to think where to go next, you forget why you left a part of the map unexplored. This game needs map markers. While I have seen the Steam community tab talk about implementing them, they are still not available, so hopefully we will see that update soon since it would be really helpful.
Another issue would be that there are a few audio glitches and bugs that I have encountered. One example is, when killing off an enemy you can still hear their sound effects in the area, making me think that I didn’t finish the encounter.
Conclusion:
This game has a lot of openings to become a perfect Metroidvania. This is Space Fox Games’ first time creating a game within this genre, so for their first game, this came out wonderful. With future updates and patches, this game has the potential to definitely be an inspirational, spiritual and mythological masterpiece.
With beautifully thought out biomes and calming windpipe instruments, this game is the perfect relaxing Metroidvania for gamers of any experience. Definitely check out the developer’s Twitter (X) page to learn more about the game and its progress and check out their demo on Steam to get a feel for the game yourself.
A big thank you to Space Fox Games for the review code to be able to experience this wonderful game.