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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top 5 metroidvania ever - Have you played it?

Have you played Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom?

  • Yes

    Votes: 406 53.2%

  • No

    Votes: 261 34.2%

  • Thanks for reminding me I’ll do it now!

    Votes: 96 12.6%
  • Total voters
    763

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003

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I just finished my attempt at 100% this game last night, ended up with map 100%, upgrades 100%, but apparently missed some treasure chests and ended at 99.3%. Bummer. Edit: 100% Done! :)

But what hit me during this play through is that this is easily one of the best metroidvanias we got this generation and it feels like people never talk about it.

Why is that?

How can a game this good, varied, big, beautiful, retro-induced, with a kicking soundtrack barely get a mention when there is talk about metroidvanias? It's out everywhere too!

Personally I had more fun with this than Hollow Knight. Yup. Even than the new Ori so far! (still aven't finished it though).
 
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Benzychenz

Benzychenz

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 1, 2017
15,396
Australia
Actually thanks for reminding me. Played Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap like 6 months ago and forgot about this. Will play during this self isolation.
 
Akumatica

Akumatica

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,746
Yes, it's a great game! Great music, animation and gameplay. Can't wait to see what the developers do next.
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
It launched at a high price + ignored one of the most popular platforms for indie games for like half a year, it's not a wonder it doesn't have half the rep of similarly awesome games that are 10-25 dollars cheaper.

Still baffled they did an Xbox port before a Steam port, but at 40 bucks it likely wouldn't have done that well on PC at launch either I guess.
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
18,830
USA
Platinumed it and edited it into my 2018 GOTYs on this very site. I love the hell out of it. It was Digital Foundry's coverage that alerted me to its existence.
 
harz-marz

harz-marz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,946
I really love the game but it goes on way too long. I got stuck towards the latter half of the game and it seems unnecessarily difficult so I've given up for now!
 
cowbanana

cowbanana

Member
Feb 2, 2018
13,714
a Socialist Utopia
I got so much pure joy from this game, it is everything I wanted it to be. Such a beautifully crafted, inventive and fun experience. My favorite 2D game of the decade bar none.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
sredgrin said:
It launched at a high price + ignored one of the most popular platforms for indie games for like half a year, it's not a wonder it doesn't have half the rep of similarly awesome games that are 10-25 dollars cheaper.

Still baffled they did an Xbox port before a Steam port, but at 40 bucks it likely wouldn't have done that well on PC at launch either I guess.
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Didn't know about that, it's 50% off right now on Steam though, with very positive reviews, so that should be old news. The game is still fantastic! Perfect time to jump in!
 
Xeonidus

Xeonidus

“Fuck them kids.”
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,278
It is on my radar but my backlog is so big as it is. Will get to it some day for sure.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
cowbanana said:
I got so much pure joy from this game, it is everything I wanted it to be. Such a beautifully crafted, inventive and fun experience. My favorite 2D game of the decade bar none.
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Preach it! And the music! I've had my kids beside me during this whole play-through, everytime we start it they refuse me to start playing unless they get to see and hear the intro video haha
 

sheaaaa

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,556
Didn't think it was that good. Some of the puzzles and tasks you're made to do just aren't compelling.
 
No Depth

No Depth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,294
Fredrik said:
but apparently missed some treasure chests and ended at 99.3%. Bummer.
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My guess is the secret in the starter village. It's one of the most obscure and devious secrets in gaming to discover. Only thing I had to look up online to figure out.

And yea, this game became my GotY back in December 2018 when it launched. Thought I had settled on a choice then during the holidays I played this and immediately shifted my choice after getting 100%.
 
Tailzo

Tailzo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,942
I bought the physical switch version. It is the best metroidvania made for any system.
 

Holundrian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,159
It was good but a bit too unsurprising to me. It's basically a well put together metroidvania that kind of doesn't have anything too memorable about it for me. Hollow Knight and Ori 2 stood out for me a lot more. Still absolutely worth playing if you're a metroid fiend like me.
 
Nocturnowl

Nocturnowl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,114
I found this one way too spotty to be a true Great.
Like the game needed a real extra polish run through to tighten things up, from stuff like hitboxes to things like that late game boss fight against your mad uncle or whatever where it was really unclear on how to get past a certain phase.

Most of my enduring memories of this one are of finicky moments of execution, good old stealth in a non stealth game, minefields and that entire gimmick to starting the mansion boss fight where the game will no doubt have to reveal the solution itself to 99.9% of players because its was too in love with its own cryptic idea to just drop it entirely.

Still, it has all the pieces in place for a great successor, there's a lot of variety in there.
 

Deleted member 32135

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 9, 2017
1,555
Got it and played just until the volcano level and getting the lion transformation. Then I dropped.

I don't know, it's missing something for me. The moving is too stiff, almost flash animated, and the traversal is uninteresting and lacking secrets. I am playing Ori and the will of the wisps and in this game going from one place to another it just feels GOOD, you will find new things also with your new discovered abilities and you will be able to reach new places even if you dont have the intented abilitie yet if you do some cool tricks. In Monster Boy everything is too guided and at plain sight, and the movement is so limited that makes platforming a pain and looking for skips almost impossible.

Also, I didn't like at all the multi character thing... I don't like changing from one to other by a radial menu because it takes some time, be it one second only if you like, and breaks the peace of the game even more, which isn't good from a starting point.

Yeah, I didn't like it really and it's far from a good metroidvania imo.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
sheaaaa said:
Didn't think it was that good. Some of the puzzles and tasks you're made to do just aren't compelling.
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I thought the puzzles were great for the most part, above most games in the genre tbh, even the boss fights had some puzzle elements.
The hints can be too vague though, Google was my best friend in a few situations. That cellar! lol
 
Bede-x

Bede-x

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,423
I'm looking forward to playing it, but it got away from me because it initially skipped Steam and once the opportunity to play it when it's new and fresh and everybody is discussing it is gone, it becomes a deep discount/indie bundle/Game Pass game to me.

Still really looking forward to it.
 
retroman

retroman

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,056
Yup, it's a wonderful game. More people should play it. Great job at spreading awareness, OP!
 

VideogameVices

Banned
Oct 2, 2018
3,902
tbh, i finally bought it and I was excited for it... and it was a tad too kiddy and I strongly disliked the dumb feeling combat also - I got through the first octopus boss, got turned into a pig and then i gave up.

just not feeling it.

I might get back to it later but I just didnt feel like playing more
 
Redcrayon

Redcrayon

Patient hunter
On Break
Oct 27, 2017
12,713
UK
I enjoyed it up to the mansion, and then found the puzzles wonderfully inventive but also so obscure that I had to look up some answers. I tend to lose interest in games where I find myself doing that a lot as the sense of accomplishment disappears, so I dropped it at that point.
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,675
Western Australia
I've had it on my wishlist since the PC demo released but am waiting for a 60% discount so I can buy it at roughly the price I would've happily paid at launch had FDG not used funky regional pricing.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
Yes, I've played it. Yes, it's decent. No, it's not top 5 Metroidvania. Or even top 10. It goes on too long and character switching is a cumbersome mechanic. It's not bad but it could've been refined down to a shorter game with less transformations and been much tighter and better as a result.

linkwashere said:
Got it and played just until the volcano level and getting the lion transformation. Then I dropped.

lacking secrets

everything is too guided and at plain sight
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This isn't really true at all. You're right that sequence breaking isn't a thing, but there's a ton of secrets and some of them are incredibly obscure. I'd say it's more likely that you had no idea that you were missing secrets than you were finding them all (you wouldn't have been able to access half of them).
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
Neo-Saiyan said:
OP did you miss out on the OT back when it was first released where practically everyone loved it?

I triple dipped on this with the PS4, Switch and PC version, completed them all 100%. I said it before and I'll say it again, not only was this game my 2018 GOTY, it's also my game of the generation AND decade 👍
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No I was probably there too, iirc I had it on my GOTY list as well, but I just don't see people talking about it anymore when there is talk about the genre, it's just Hollow Knight and Ori all the time, mostly Hollow Knight.
I totally agree, it's up there fighting at the very top!
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
Fredrik said:
Didn't know about that, it's 50% off right now on Steam though, with very positive reviews, so that should be old news. The game is still fantastic! Perfect time to jump in!
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I already own it, I'm just explaining why it met with a muted reception comparatively to the other games you mentioned. You can see this in the number of reviews. Hollow Knight and Ori 1 each have over 50,000 reviews on Steam, and Ori 2 has managed to hit 20,000 despite Game Pass offering a convenient cheaper alternative.. Monter Boy hasn't cracked 1000.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
No Depth said:
My guess is the secret in the starter village. It's one of the most obscure and devious secrets in gaming to discover. Only thing I had to look up online to figure out.

And yea, this game became my GotY back in December 2018 when it launched. Thought I had settled on a choice then during the holidays I played this and immediately shifted my choice after getting 100%.
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There is a big hint in the OP that I found that ;) Yeah had to google that too. I'm guessing that I've missed some treasure chests unless the completion tate at the end mirrors the achievement completion?
 
balohna

balohna

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,176
I'm only an hour or two in and finding it worse than the other games in the series I've played, and worse than the Shantae games on top of that. Lots of nice work went into it, clearly. Just feels a bit formulaic and the art and audio don't appeal to me much. The whole presentation feels a little "slot machine" for my liking, weird as it sounds. Just super clean and bright to a fault. Found the Dragon's Trap remake much better in terms of presentation, and though it was dated in some regards I really had a lot of fun with that game.

Maybe I'm just not at the part where it gets really good yet or something.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
Krejlooc said:
You should play the rest of the series. Wonder Boy is one of the best series in all of gaming.
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I should! I've played some of them. First one back on C64, which was probably a crappy version but it was at least good enough that nostalgia hit me in Monster Boy with the relics and oh so lovely music. I've only finished Monster Boy, Dragon's Trap on Switch and a WB5 Monster World 3 on emulator using save states since I thought it was devilishly hard.
 
OP
OP

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
linkwashere said:
In Monster Boy everything is too guided and at plain sight, and the movement is so limited that makes platforming a pain and looking for skips almost impossible.
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I understand that it's not your thing but just know that by the end you'll woosh around the map with almost too much ease! ;)
 
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