Abysmal City

Hollow Knight recently left me itching for "more Metroidvania," and Valdis Story: Abyssal City ... did not help.

Its awkward screen size and poorly-written story are both off-putting, though not deal-breakers. Input-handling feels a little loose, but Valdis Story's bigger problem is that the controls don't make sense, due to both poor tutorialization (I had to read the online manual to figure out what Focus is) and counter-intuitive button mapping.

In the air, pressing Down performs a stomp move. On the ground, Down is an animation cancel and also a necessary precursor to dodging -- like, to dodge left, you press Down and then Left. There are so many unused buttons, and so many other games have the sense to implement a dodge button; why, why would you do it this way?

The game's also got a style ranking system, which might be a "plus" to action/fighting folks, but to me is just a punishment for not adapting to those bizarre controls.

What little of Valdis Story I saw was somewhat promising re: other 'vania qualities, like a sprawling world map with just-out-of-reach alternate routes, and character progression through level-ups and equipment crafting. But learning how to play the game looks like more work than I'm willing to put into it.

Progress: Got to the second boss.