Odallus: The Dark Call Review – Dark Metamorphosis

If you’re like me and grew up in a low-income household during the ’90s, you probably remember this feeling quite well. You’d get home with a new game, rip off the packaging as quickly as possible, and shove it into your system of choice like the world as you know it depended on it… only to find yourself getting your ass handed to you on the first level, over and over again for all eternity. Even at the age of 35 with years of gaming experience, there’s still a few of these games I can make little to no progress in and the new throwback Odallus: The Dark Call is another name to add to that list.

It’s easy to see that this is a Metroidvania style game, with heavy influence coming from the Castlevania portion of the name. The game looks and in most cases feels like a picture-perfect tribute to Castlevania III that tells the tale of a father in a quest for revenge. I wish I could speak more on the story, but regretfully, I am stuck in a loop where I’ve struggled to beat the first boss. As of this writing, I’ve attempted to beat the first level at least twenty times, with each attempt seeing me lying in a crumpled mess at the feet of a fellow who looks like he’s had too much to eat for most of his life, resulting in his neck extending out like a snake as he throws his head at you like a tether ball o’ death and then rains fire upon you.

My issues keeping me from moving forward lie almost entirely on the difficulty of the boss battle, but when you repeat the same segment time and time again with failure being your only reward, it’s easy to start seeing the other issues as they rise to the surface. Overall, the controls follow the classic two-button control scheme, but both of the included options are inverted from the norm. While these are not necessarily deal-breakers, they feel awkward and resulted in me hitting the wrong button time and time again. What is a frustrating issue regardless of the way you set the button layout is the way that grabbing ledges is handled, and it’s even more problematic when you need to do it within a specific time frame or back to back. The vast majority of the platforming requires you to jump and grab a ledge, then pull yourself up, but the action is easier said than done. As of this writing, I have yet to be able to complete this action using the PS4 controller’s D-pad, as you have to do this weird forward then upward motion that feels akin to doing a special move in Street Fighter when holding the controller upside down.

In my time with the game, I’ve managed to memorize the first larger than your average NES clones’ map. This includes its various secrets and alternate pathways, some of which allude to backtracking thanks to some objects I can’t interact with just yet, but makes my hunger for seeing more grow even as I sit here typing this. I genuinely wish I could see more of this game and hope an easier difficulty add on is in the cards for a future update, but as it stands, this is one of the more difficult adventure games I’ve ever had within my hands. Ever.

There are checkpoints throughout the level; however, once you deplete your life bar and your three starting lives, you lose all progress for the level upon continuing, with the only exception being the currency earned on the run, which can only be used for small pickup items from the occasional vendor. Since there is no reasonable checkpoint before the boss, you have to tackle a fair amount of the level flawlessly to make it to the big baddie, which is no easy task thanks to back to back ledge grabs, only stopping to take out a ranged opponent, all while hoping you don’t fall back down to the beginning. While I have worked out these kinks and succeeded in getting to the encounter with a full health gauge, he’s pushed in breakfast every time I’ve seen his stupid deformed face.

If you’re looking for a challenge, Odallus: The Dark Call will inject a soulsborne level of pain to your life and then some – just go in with the expectation you may never see the complete game.

7 out of 10

Pros

  • Squint Your Eyes and it Looks Like Castlevania 
  • Large, Open Maps that Promote Exploration
  • Solid Retro Look and Feel

Cons

  • Really Difficult
  • Checkpoint Placement
  • Wonky Ledge Grabbing Mechanics

Odallus: The Dark Call was developed by JoyMasher and published in conjunction with Digerati Distribution. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Odallus: The Dark Call, check out the game’s official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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