#game-review #finishedgame2024 # Pseudoregalia  [Console:: PC] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2024-01-18] [Finish Date:: 2024-02-08] [Clear Time:: 7h 28m 58s] [Total Play Time:: 8.2h] [nReplays:: 0] ## [Rating:: 83] every time I feel like psuedoregalia is losing me it pulls me RIGHT BACK IN, but every time I'm enjoying myself I get slapped in the face with something else. I might replay it when it has a map. There are moments where I was thinking to myself that there were some design choices that warranted a sub-50 score, but then I immediately realized how I was "supposed" to do it, and the intended way felt incredible and fun to do, which rubber banded it back to where it sits in the mid 80s as a game I really liked with a few things I'd change or disliked. No game is truly perfect or flawless, I know for a fact that my opinion cannot be objective (this is an oxymoron), so I can acknowledge that I have a much higher tolerance for some of the bullshit Pseudoregalia pulls than others. # Playthrough Notes - Started on stream via the VVV process I have # My Thoughts - Holy shnikes dude this movement just keeps getting better and better. I was a little unsure at first, but when you get the dash slide and then the dash-slide jump and the ability to bunny hop, and your momentum carries through general movement, that's when you start having some real fun. - i feel so cool when i execute properly\ - The wall kicks are insane in this way. I can slide jump, bunny hop and then wall kick across the gps in this world and kick ass while doing it. That owns. - This really feels like a fifth generation console game, sans the 60 FPS movement, from the blocky aesthetics, the little characters and their dialogue, the enemy designs, the midi music etc. It really feels like an N64 / PSX game which is really cool - [[Video Games with Texture]] ## Open-Ended Progression in Pseudoregalia Pseudoreglia is really interesting in that its progression is very open-ended and it lets the player collect the three solar powerups in any order before inviting them to attempt the Tower section where they can then get the Wall Cling powerup. This means that the player can explore Sansa Castle to their heart's desire and mess around mapping the space in their brains. I think it's a really interesting way to allow the player to have the freedom to play the game in a way that is in-line with their playstyles. If only it had a map. I guess I could make my own map if I really cared hard enough? ### On Being Able to Sequence Break I am a big fan of the ability to sequence break in games, especially when it makes me feel cool. The thing is though, I don't want to be able to sequence break on my first go of a game because I wouldn't otherwise know that I'm not supposed to do what I'm doing. IN the Sansa Keep, there's a room where after I got the ability to kick off of walls, I went in and managed to get incredibly deep into this kaizo-like gauntlet of movement, after about an hour of repeated attempts. After giving up on it after that duration of time, I explored the game more, and no more than thirty minutes later, I got the "Wall Cling" ability which would make that set of rooms almost trivial to traverse. As a result, I felt a set of two different emotions: relief in that I now would be able to clear the room no problem, and real frustration that I had wasted my time. One of the major differences between this game, and other action platforms that allow for significant sequence breaking (namely [[Super Metroid]] and [[Metroid Zero Mission]]) is that the way you sequence break in those games comes from an extension of mechanics you'd only know if you've finished the game, or reached a point significantly deep in the game. Even in Zero Mission, the opening section where if you jump and shoot downward you can skip the long beam, can only be done if you're aware of this possibility in the first place. The game hides the sequence breaking potential from the first time player. Pseudoregalia does not and offers it as a challenge instead, obscuring the fact that there IS, in fact, an easier way to do this task. Pseudoregalia perhaps implies that there might be an easier way to clear a room, which to some might be a positive, but given that there also is not a map in this game, I found myself less inclined to try and search out a new power up. ### On the Lack of a Map - The lack of map is a little tiring, though it seems like there's a lot of user created maps - update, this game needs a mf map dude, holy shit - [[Modern Retro Gaming Mandates Convenience Features]], even in the context of emulating an older game? Is this just a "skill issue"? Am I just being a lame little piss baby? - Oh hey, the devs are going to add a map soon apparently. Good shit - They apparently made the entire game in 4 months or so? That's pretty incredible. ## The Music is Really Charming - The Dilapidated Dungeon music having a slow ticking sound like a timer is neat and fun. I like how ambient it is while still being engaging. - I liked the Sansa Keep music, though after the "challenge room" that music will haunt my nightmares. - The theater music is really charming. I really like it as background music compared to some of the other, more obvious midi tracks. # Favorite Moments / Memories # What were you doing when not playing this? # Relevant Links