Full Review: Exiles End

Exile's End is a 2D side-scroller that has just made the jump from Steam to both the PS4 and PSVita.

The game is described as "NOT a Metroidvania" and a homage to old Amiga era adventure games. Now that alone was enough to get me interested. I'm always happy to relive my Amiga days and I've never had a great relationship with metroidvania (Metroid/Castlevania style) games.

Unfortunately this means I don't have a great deal of experience with the genre. I've seen plenty of other reviewers saying this game definitely is Metroidvania. I think the developers are trying to say that it isn't a Metroid or Castlevania clone and that it's lineage goes back further to more European roots... I'm ok with that and I'll bear it in mind for the review.



The art style and graphics are straight out of old classics like Flashback, updated to look half decent on HD displays. If you're looking for flashy modern graphics then you've come to the wrong place! Exiles End feels very fitting for a nostalgia trip and turning on the TV effect filter in the options actually made me feel like I was playing an old game but with much smoother performance than old tech or ropy emulators can manage. The art was actually developed by staff who have worked on games such as Secret of Mana and Mother 3 and there's heritage in the sound design too, with music provided by Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden for NES). The music loops like it would have back in the day so it can get a bit droning in places but for me it all added to the nostalgia value.

Now gameplay is a tricky subject, as far as the game says it's not a metroidvania it sure has a lot of the key features with large areas to explore, new upgrades to uncover that will let you pass certain obstacles and find new places to explore. Like I said I'm no expert on these games, but there's enough similarities that the game should please fans of the genre.

The game starts as a slow deliberate platformer and until you pick up the first upgrade you'll take a lot of fall damage, luckily you can hold the down button to check below you. I actually enjoyed the slower pacing of these sections, they almost reminded me of of Abe's Odyssey, and it gets you used to checking your environment without too many enemies to worry about.

The controls are simple and effective in a delightfully old school way. You can only shoot in one direction but jumping feels precise and predictable.

Combat has some issues but they're mostly products of how close the game sticks to it's inspiration. Enemy AI is super basic resulting in a few occasions enemies have ran through me before attacking, and I'm not blown away by their design either. I've seen generic man, generic alien, generic flying alien and space slugs... so many space slugs. They are used quite nicely to up difficulty but the pacing is still rather slow and deliberate which may not be to everyone's taste.

The autosave feature is also both a blessing and a curse. Dying results in a game over (very old-school) but thankfully it takes seconds to get back into the game and you'll find yourself back at the time you entered that screen. However, if you entered that screen with your last sliver of health then you're going to have a rough time. I'd have liked to be able to keep a manual save as a backup, which oddly is possible on the PC version.

On balance this release has the advantage of all the previous bug fixes and a survival mode right from the beginning. The PlayStation release happily includes some new sounds, enemy patterns and secret rooms, but not so happily it also get's a whole new platforming section. I have a love/hate relationship with this section as it adds a tense finale and gives you a sense of achievement. It also shows off a few more retro videogame tropes and even the annoying ones make this section feel authentic. However, it is really obvious that this was developed separately as there's nothing quite this intense or cheap in the game... except for maybe the boss fights.

I actually like the designs of the bosses but I feel it's one area where the old fashioned mechanics get in the way. You'll find you take a lot more collision damage than anything their attacks do. The only effective way I found of dealing with them is throwing grenades in their face, which feels horribly cheap but completely necessary. This isn't made any easier by having to scroll through an entire inventory to find you next weapon or health pack.

Quick Pro Tip - Grenades can be thrown at any time using the triangle button.

The story is pretty simple and delivered by sparse floating text, however there are cut scenes... kinda. The game description refers to them as NES-style but I remember a few from my Amiga days too. I still find the almost static, letterbox images to be oddly atmospheric and I had to smile at the attention to detail during a "dramatic camera sweep" that had an intentionally low retro frame rate. Plot-wise the story is interesting but very familiar.


It's been  a while since I've played anything like this (Knytt Underground maybe) and so I've had the full blast of nostalgia, meaning that a lot of negative aspects have become part of the experience. The graphics and sound may put some people off. Others might not like the constant backtracking or might get confused by the lack of explanation or annotated map - I'm just glad that I didn't have to draw the map out by hand or refer to the back of the manual (there isn't one, that's just an old-school gaming joke).

The game is a very good example of what it sets out to be. However, standing alongside modern games it might only appeal to a certain niche of gamer with a good memory and plenty of patience. An almost perfect example of games from a forgotten age with absolutely no spoon-feeding. Knowing that a lot of the quirks and annoyances are part of the design does help, they don't make (many) games like this anymore... I'll leave it up to you to decide if that is a good thing.