Buy Valdis Story: Abyssal City

This game is absolutely brilliant.

I'm not too into the art direction of the whole game, but the quality of animations, the INSANE depth of combat and platforming are just so incredibly tight and responsive that I cannot resist.

Apart from having 4 completely different characters with varying playstyles (and each having 4 kinds of weapons that vary it up even more) you got a sizeable game with a lot of replayability and an extra boss rush-ish mode, complete with beautiful soundtrack. if you like leitmotif stuff, you are going to love fighting the bosses and repeatedly dying while listening to some awesome tunes.

This is by far my top 1 favorite indie game of all time. I can't even think of a proper way to praise this game. There is but a single caveat that I struggled with, and that is the in game map, it really is kinda ♥♥♥ and not all that helpful (icons for NPCs and a worldmap would have been nice).

I love this game.

10/10- Great Replay Value. Endless fun in Heaven or Hell Arena Mode.


Hard Game so prepare yourself. It's a challenge, so no ♥♥♥♥♥ing.

Each playable character have different dialogue with NPC (very interesting). Lots of ways to build character based on playstyle. 4 craftable weapons for each character (1 hidden craftable golden weapon) on top of the 3 skill trees.


P.S.
90% negative reviews are on how hard it is. After doing 3 playthroughs with different characters I can get SSS rating on all bosses in God Slayer Mode. Just need to practice if you keep dying not the game's fault. Hard game so don't expect less.

Worth the play awesome metroidvania

This game is awesome. Ignore all comments from people that whines about bad control (they are not, they respond perfectly, they are just a bit demanding - but way less demanding than a game like dark souls for example), difficulty (yes the game IS DIFFICULT, if you wanna play casual game, just don't buy this one) or stun lock (you can't be stun locked, learn to guard or dodge...). All these complaints are either invalid or coming from people that get frustrated at the first difficulty they encounter and don't want to train to overcome it.
If you have the right mindset, this game will blow your mind. The content is huge for a metroidvania (even more if you're a completionist like I am, I think I'm in for at least 60 hours). If you crave challenges, go for an SS rank run in the highest difficulty available and you'll be rewarded. I'm having a great time playing this game and I'm so happy I bought it.

To summarize, be wary that by buying this game, you enter a difficult yet really well built software. Don't put bad comments and destroy a game's reputation just because it's too difficult for you.

Best metroid-vania I've played (except for the actual SOTN). I've been searching for another game that would give the feeling, chalenge, and sense of exploration that SOTN had, and this is IT. Awesome lore, artstyle, OST, and combat. The game is hard, but it's not cheap. It's like DMC3 on 2d, and it is tight. 4 characters to choose from, optional bosses, events that will trigger depending on your actions, 3 skill trees that REALLY matter, and give you ♥♥♥♥ ton of replayability. The secrets are awesome too, very well thought out. I've beaten the game twice, once on normal and another on hard with 100% completion and S rank, all with the main character. And still, there is a lot of content, and I do feel compeled to play it, beacuse the characters really differ from one another, and the gameplay is just to rewarding. Awesome game, I truly recommend it.

I was excited by the premise of the game, and by the visuals shown off in the media on the storefront. I figured what the hell, I like Metroidvanias, this looks promising, lets go.

And there is a lot here to like. Even though the art is low res, its charming in its own way. The combat and skill tree is fun and looks to have promise.

But here is the deal: the game controls like sticky ♥♥♥. The character feels glued to the floor, like you are directly fighting with gravity with every jump, or some demon snuck a hunk of iron into your boots. Everytime I pressed the jump button it felt like peeling a sticker off a box. Its doable, but this starts to really grate on you. The "Cancel" in the game, done simply hitting down on the stick, does NOT mesh well with the right-trigger+direction magic casting system. Attacks feel occasionally unresponsive. Its just a mess in every way when it comes to controls. The game itself is on the easier side, but a lot of incoming damage feels like it is more caused by wrestling with the funky controls than anything else.

The other main complaint is the lack of instruction on how some stuff works like equipment, the spell system or other functions (particularly if you have "info" off in the menus, which is off by default). I picked up a lot of items in this game but had little idea what any of them were for. It all just felt a bit aimless.

To me, this all meets in a hailstorm of frustration when fighting the game's 2nd or third boss, the Ice Dragon. You will wiggle. You will miscast. You will stick to everything like Toby Maguire's Peter Parker.

If you can stomach the Ice Dragon and still had fun, I think you'll enjoy this game. If not, just know it doesn't get better.

Want to get maximum stats?

Bonus stats come from how well you do at boss killing. Take two hits, play leisurely, and you get less stats from bosses.

Be prepared to force-close and retry bosses a dozen of times each, in a slow and tedious process (because the in-game boss retry also counts as FAIL)... until you learn to do the dance to get maximum rank if you are into min-maxing.

But yeah. The game has nice 2D graphics and soundtrack, and had everything to be a cool metroidvania.

Also, my first negative review similar to this one was deleted for no reason.

Valdis Story: Abyssal City is one of the best games i've played so far, i've been so hooked on to it that i have yet to become bored of doing the game over and over, it feels like each playthrough is a challenge and the hardest difficulty which is unlocked after your first playthrough really puts your skills to the test.

The storyline is quite a fun turn of events as neither hell or heaven is the good guy here!
You start off on a ship with your crew then some giant monster comes and crashes your ship and you all sink and end up in Abyssal City which is deep under the sea, it turns out that you have been caught up in the middle of a war between angels and demons and your only way out is to battle your way through hordes of angels and demons as you search for your missing crew!

Currently there are 2 playable characters out of 4 which will be available in an upcoming patch. The 2 currently available characters have very different playstyles, one of them is a monk which starts by using only fists while the other starts with a sword, both have their strengths and weaknesses which makes it really fun to play through the game a second time.
I started out playing the swords man in the hardest difficulty and finished the game and it was quite rewarding as i had to put some effort in to it, later i decided i was going to try out the monk and oh my did i get a surprise, it was like playing a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME! i died a couple of times to bosses here and there which i had considered mastered, but because of the different playstyle and spells it really shook me up and made me have another blast through the game!

The game also features a leveling system and a talent tree system which is pretty rare for a sidescroller, it brings out allot of possibilities while leveling on what path you wish to take and what stats you require for your skill tree... Want to be a MONK MAGE?! no problem... Want to be a barehanded swordsman!? again no problem... the game is very well built to give you the different options of choosing what ever path suites you best!

The item system in the game is very pleasing, it's not to complex and not to simple, you will grind enemies along your travels and they will drop a variation of items for you, later in the game you will be able to use the items obtained to upgrade your weapons or armor as you see fit or even expand your mana or health pool.
This really brought out the good old RPG feeling in me and made me want to try to obtain all the items in the game in my first playthrough, i then realised that there are some items in the game that are only obtainable from chests and you will have to think wisely before you upgrade your weapons or armors as you may not be able to upgrade any other weapon or armor in your current playthrough!

While gliding through the game you will fight vicious bosses that will show you no mercy at all, you will struggle and enjoy the sensation of progressing them til you finally deliver the final blow! you will be required to try out various combinations of armors or spells in order to find out what the best possible way to kill the bosses are.
Every boss in the game has some sort of weakness and it's yours to figure out!

The game it self is well designed, the story is great, has beautiful graphics which are all hand drawn as well as amazing music that really puts you in the zone when fighting bosses or while you are exploring the world of Valdis Story!


Pros:

- Playable multiple times
- Very fun combat system
- Challenging boss fights
- Multiple characters to choose from
- Great leveling system with a unique leveling tree
- Difficulties made to please the average player to hardcore player
- Upgrading system

Cons:

- Map can be frustrating for beginners who have not played the game yet
- You will become hooked to the game and not want to leave your computer!


My Ratings:

Graphics: 94/100
Combat System: 91/100
Storyline: 89:100
Music: 95/100

Overall: 92/100


I highly recommend this game to everyone and if you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on twitch.tv/icyd3mon even if im not streaming, i'm usually in the chat channel!

Valdis Story is one of these rare Metroidvania-games that actually incorporates all the attributes of metroidvania-games which properly used and combined. Decent story? Well-developed and complex battle system? RPG elements? Exploration aspects and secrets? Beautiful 2D visuals and animations? All check.

It took almost 7 years for the game to crawl out of the concept cradle but it sure worth it. And the result? Unique combination of old-school gameplay core ideas with a modern approach.

Personal score; 8.5/10

I Kickstarted this one and it finally got Greenlit on Steam. This game is tough and I'm playing it on normal. It hearkens more to the mega man days where movement is very stop and go, and taking damage will completely destroy your momentum. The non-combat timed puzzles are brutal and require nothing less than perfection. I spent a lot of time repeating them over and over to get them right.

Combat is pretty complex, combining light and heavy attacks, along with a block, dodge (cancel), and parry system. It takes a bit to get used to, learning when to heavy attack to break a block, or block yourself. There's a lot of trial and error in discovering exactly which attacks can even be blocked or which ones you should use the "Cancel" dodge. But like the non-combat puzzles, every boss or enemy has a pattern, and this is one of those games that gives you warm fuzzies when you finally get the pattern and beat the boss after the tenth time. Until you figure it out, expect frustration and what will feel like cheap hits. Also, it keeps things fresh when you backtrack through previous areas because the enemies level with you and gain new abilities to attack you with as your progress through the game.

Along with that is a fairly deep magic system and your customization through both stat increases and a talent tree, that definitely changes the way you play your character in many places.

The graphics have a nice retro sprite feel, without reverting to the overdone 8-Bit style so prevalent, lately, falling somewhere between the quality of the PS1 and PS2. The soundtrack is superb, combining a lot of retro synth, metal guitars, and symphonic instruments and spans something like four hours.

This is one of those games that will challenge you, but reward you when you succeed and I'm really digging it. It really does feel more like the toughness of the original Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night to me than most games in the genre have presented lately. And I'm just playing it on the easiest of four modes... O_O