Feudal Alloy puts you in the role of a Fish controlled Robot who works in a robot care home. Yep. We are really going there. I for one bow down to our fishy overlords…

Developer: Attu Games

Publisher: Attu Games

13 Hours Played // Review Copy Provided // $16.99

Feudal Alloy has a bloody weird story, we don’t need to really debate that. The journey itself though is not bad and ends up being a decent slice of the ever popular Metroidvania pie. In fact, it would’ve been the first game I completed in 2019. It wasn’t because a horrible bug prevented me from finishing the last boss fight. Just to clarify, I mean within the game, although if I saw a spider, I guarantee the same result! On further contact with the developers, this seemed to have been patched. As of version 1.0.1 it was not. I look forward to hopefully being able to get back into this one soon.

Unfortunately, this was what my final boss fight looked like…

My initial impressions of Feudal Alloy were really negative, I am not going to lie. After a couple of hours, I was struggling to carry on, mainly because of the biggest issue I have with the game as a whole. A lack of direction is NOT an issue in Metroidvania style games. The mystery of the world is one of my favourite things about the genre. However, Feudal Alloy fails to strike this balance. For too long, and too often, I felt abandoned and completely clueless within its world. To the point, I played in spite of the game, rather than enjoying it.

Unfortunately, I think Feudal Alloy is a flawed experience because it fails to polish its systems. Key cards and unlockable abilities are how you will find your way through the world. There are so many cards to collect and find though, that by the time you find one, you completely lose track of where the hell the corresponding door is. This isn’t aided by the terrible map, why show me a map of where I am, but remove 90% of the details and keep my icon static? It doesn’t work at all. Ok, maybe make the map like this at first, but at least let me unlock a more advanced version… Especially when you consider the volumes of backtracking you will have to do!

The map is too vague… And these doors are too plenty.

In regard to the unlockable abilities, you have the standard affairs mainly. Double jump, dash, a somewhat nerfed version of the wall jump, as well as some ‘new’ examples. These new variants are for some reason split into five separate upgrades when realistically they might as well have been two? Three separate modules act as electricity-based attacks which are mainly used to break down barriers, either above you, to the side or below. Am I weird for not understanding why they couldn’t be just one?

To me, it felt like they were cut up in order to fulfil the Metroidvania aspect of the game, rather than doing the logical thing. At the end of the day I am playing as a Fish controlling a robot, so logic isn’t important, but the first thing I tried to do with the initial electrical module was what the other two provided, making me feel like it was rather botched.

The THREE [!] electric modules should have been one. It doesn’t make sense to split them…

God. I have been a right miserable bugger so far haven’t I, it isn’t all as bad as it seems! The combat was fairly enjoyable, and I love the volumes of aesthetic choices provided to you through the shop and also secret chests. You do feel a genuine progression as you play which I loved, from feeling incredibly weak to feeling, and looking hard as hell! Going back to the combat though, it also does a decent job at progressing, somewhat due to the controversial stamina meter, or in the case of Feudal Alloy, a coolant system (LOVE IT!). Essentially, after a certain number of swings or dashes, your coolant system overheats, and you need to run away and cool it down. Yes, it can be a little annoying, but it makes combat more slamming the [REDACTED] out of the Y button like you are back in 2014 playing Cookie Clicker.

Fortunately, as the enemies scale up, you can upgrade your ‘stamina’ in both the upgrade section as well as through your gear. As much as you can look cool, if your helmet barely bolsters your stats?! Your gear can boost things such as armour and damage, but also your health and stamina, thus a perfect balance is key to success. From what I can tell, having a set of the same gear seems to be the most ‘balanced’ set up to use.

There is a lot of gear. I wish you could organise it though!

The upgrade trees are also fairly good. Three different options to work through allows you to focus on improving your weak points, or for me, just banging it all into attacking power! Each one is built around a specific function and has seven ‘branches’, there is a lot to max out. These trees were where the significant upgrades were placed, the gear helped, but I only really felt I was becoming stronger when I unlocked one of these shields.

Coolant system, attack and defense are the options.

So far, you must think I hated this game. That just isn’t the case though, Feudal Alloy certainly isn’t a bad game, in fact, it is ‘alright’. I just think it could’ve been a much better game, hence why I decided to focus on the mechanics I found issue with rather than just blurting out how its average and moving on. If Feudal Alloy had four or five simple changes, it could’ve been one of my favourite Metroidvanias on Switch, it just isn’t able to deliver though. Too many elements are missing.

The story for example, literally one cutscene and that’s it, I completely forgot I was supposed to be collecting lockers until I would randomly find one and think, ‘Oh neat, a locker!’, as of recording I have found about five, and I don’t think I can motivate myself to get the rest. I just don’t see the point; the story is so lacklustre I have no desire to actually spend more time trudging around to find them. Maybe after I can finally beat this boss, I will find a nugget of story which motivates me. I doubt it.

This boss was cool. Would be good to know why we are trading blows. I ain’t blowing up for nothing!

I enjoyed the random challenge rooms which appeared. A lot of them pushed me to my limits, requiring multiple retries until I finally nailed them. The enemies are decent as well, lots of variety exists and it requires a well thought out strategy unless you just dash through them and soak up the hits. Which is dumb, so don’t do it, don’t be me. I loved that the enemies, just like your character have different animals controlling them, a neat touch for sure. The combat was my favourite part of the game. I think in part due to the variety of enemy styles thrown at you.

I really liked the combat. The enemy design helped, it is really good.

Feudal Alloy tries to do too much, and it falls because of it. The map is expansive for the sake of it. The volume of upgrades is not necessary for the world they are in. A more condensed experience would’ve produced a better game I have no doubt. There is a good game here! Unfortunately, it is wrapped up in a lot of sticky tape. Stopping me from getting to the core gift it had to offer. If it was able to clear up the experience and reduce the volume of aimless wandering? I would recommend it, not right now though.

DISCLAIMER: Just a quick note, as I was writing this review, a patch seemingly made a lot of changes. For example, it marks the door locations on your map. I did not have access to this patch when reviewing the game, and I still do not when I last checked my Switch, so my opinions are based on this not existing!

Hope you found this review both informative and fun to read! A really good Metroidvania on Switch is The Messenger, check out our review! To keep the conversation going go follow us on Twitter and join our Discord.