Over a year ago I had a vivid dream where I played an ethereal Nintendo 64 inspired game as a grey anthropomorphic creature. She was exploring different parts of a castle and had to do platforming to progress. When I woke up I was disappointed I couldn't play more. During the start of the Steam Summer sale I went on the interactive recommender and saw Pseudoregalia. It looked interesting and had good reviews, so I bought it. Once I went into a major area I realized I found a game just like the dream. It was a strange coincidence, but one I'm glad happened. The game is half 3D platformer, half metroidvania. At the start of the game the controls are very simple and as you unlock abilities, becomes much more advanced. By the end of the game, the kind of tricks needed to pull off are very demanding. It's very much a 3D platformer for those who find the typical 3D Mario game way too easy. Controlling the main character feels great and I never felt like it was the game's fault for any of my deaths. The metroidvania part of the game comes out in the game's open map with several different sections of a castle. While exploring the castle you will often be stuck and either need to do insanely difficult maneuvers or find the right ability to progress. The game is pretty flexible, especially with which order you get the major keys in, and I appreciated the raw satisfaction of going out of order to do different things if I felt like I could take the challenge. Combat is where this game falters. You only have one attack and it feels like a lot of time when you get hit you lose your weapon and have to retrieve it. The mechanic was cool at first, but by the time I was fighting the umpteenth annoying maid enemy I had enough. The only fight of the game I really enjoyed was the last one and that was mainly for it beating old video game cliches and the awesome music. The map isn't great either. It's nice the developer added it after hearing fan feedback, but since so many rooms look similar to each other and the map doesn't give a pinpoint of your exact location it's very easy to get lost. There's also no fast travel, so there's lots of trekking across the whole map just to go back to an old area with a new move. If you want to go for 100% completion, you'll have a much harder time since there's no in game tracker for total remaining normal keys or costumes. There aren't many guides for this game either so there's a lot you'll have to figure out on your own. The music is fantastic. The tracks are full of atmosphere and sound like something straight out of a real Nintendo 64 game. Some of them loop a little quicker than I'd prefer, but overall it's a strong soundtrack and is just as good as the platforming. Despite my issues with the game Psuedoregalia is now one of my favorite 3D platformers ever. I wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer to the genre since the platforming can get really difficult, but if you find 3D Mario games too easy now or want a nostalgia trip for the unique atmosphere that only retro 3D video games had, especially the 3D Zelda games, I think you'd really enjoy this game. I definitely want to go back to it eventually.
