this game jam metroidvania blew my mind

This is Pseudoregalia. It's sick. It has no business being this sick, but it is. It's like 6 bucks. Go buy it.
Also check out rittzler's other games: rittzler.itch.io/
Join the community on Discord! ► / discord
Support me on Patreon! ► / ingeniousclown
---
SUBSCRIBE! ► bit.ly/29Kriag
Check out my second channel! ► bit.ly/clown-commentary
Follow me on Twitter! ► / ingeniousclown
Follow me on Twitch! ► / ingeniousclown

[@DPadGamer]

A bit ago, Mr. Clown was like "Yo you like platformers right?", so I picked this game up and surprised myself by finishing it in a single sitting. The movement is so good, and the speedruns are a sight to behold. Literally my only complaint is that there isn't more areas because I'd love a reason to play it more.

[@Lackofstyle]

Actually just finished this yesterday. Loved it. Took like 7 hours, only got stuck twice. So much movement stuff they don't tell you but once you figure them out it's hard to tell what the intended way to do anything is. The only thing i would have liked was a little more context to the world. It's such an interesting place, would have been cool to find lore as well as power ups

[@paultapping9510]

I finished Pseudoregalia a few days ago, and for a game jam game I'm really quite blown away. It has weaknesses, another commentator mentioned thinking the combat should just have been excised all together, and I agree. But but but, my word what satisfying movement tech and exploration. It's funny, I got the slide, slide jump, ground pound, rhen wall kick, so another totally different route. By the by, there is a map now, added in the last, and final, update. I am extremely interested in seeing what the devs drop next.

[@DampeS8N]

There need to be more Metroidvanias without combat. There are a handful: Nifflas' games, Yoku's Island Express, and _of course_ the Toki Tori series. Most of the games that go down this path do so by adding some other kind of gameplay into the mix. I think Pseudoregalia would have been even better if they'd dropped the combat and spent that time on more traversal challenges.

[@agenerichuman]

I'd love that but honestly I'd just love for metroidvanias to ease up on the Hollow Knight/Dark Souls influences. It seems like every metroidvania wants to be a pixel perfect platformer that is more like a glorified boss rush than a game about exploration. Don't get me wrong. I love Hollow Knight. I love Dark Souls. I play and excel at difficult games. But I don't want the metroidvania genre to be homogenized. I get exhausted every time I boot up a new metroidvania but get greeted with a tutorial that introduces me to all the Hollow Knight and/or Dark Souls inspired mechanics the game uses. I feel metroidvanias have lost the sense of exploration and are now about combat and perfect play. It's making me grow to dislike the genre.

[@donlasagnotelamangia]

And Sheepo!

[@emikochan13]

@@agenerichuman it seems like their next game is going more in that direction you're looking for :)

[@gtsteel]

I was definitely disappointed when Ori and the Will of the Wisps decided to add bosses lose one of the main things that made the first game so unique.

[@Abby-ug4xc]

@@emikochan13 Who's game, Team Cherry? All I've heard about it is it features a fox character :o

[@agenerichuman]

Oh, hey! I just picked this one. I had no idea the story behind it. I just saw and thought it looked cool. It was a reasonable price and I like supporting smaller devs. Hope I enjoy it as much as you.

[@Ratstail91]

3:38 "Super Metroid comes to mind..." Shows Luigi. WTF?

[@mikedx42]

My cartridge looked like that

[@fluffy_tail4365]

yooo love this game is getting attention, I hope this gives ritzler the freedom to make more games

[@nikkan3810]

Rittz is truly a movement wizard 👀

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

FYI, the protagonist is supposed to be a goat lady. Thought it was quite fitting with all the jumping & climbing.

[@Zerphses]

She’s called a “goat-bunny lady” at the end of the game, so you’re both right.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

@@Zerphses Fair enough.

[@dolphin6756]

I think knowing how to do the sword kick from the start made me enjoy the combat more than most people. It really compliments the moveset and feels a lot better than the normal 3-hit combo.

[@benji-menji]

To be honest, I had a really good idea on how to beat the first boss as I was fighting it the first time (or second, don't remember if I did die there) because I read the slide tooltip and had a good handle on how to avoid the attacks. I think the combat is mainly a game expectation problem as if you played like I did, you wouldn't be so salty about the combat. The platforming expects a lot from the player already so I thought the combat was fair and didn't get in the way. A bigger issue is using focus on the final boss shouldn't make the camera freakout as she teleport spams. Wasn't a big deal for me, but it could make someone motion sick. It is solved by the player not using focus when the boss teleports but it's still a bit wack. Maybe the focus should stay at the previous location until the boss stops teleporting, or the boss shouldn't teleport a bunch at once.

[@AshnSilvercorp]

I saw it first thing on Steam when getting back, saw the N64 visuals and just said "ok..." Then I saw the price and how fluid it was... What the absolute heck? It looks beautiful.

[@Lu-db1uf]

You gotta play A Hat in Time, it's up there with Mario 64 in terms of movement mechanics.

[@SVUTIYT]

Agree

[@Bustah]

This rocks, would never have known about it if not for you, thanks.

[@GodessHel]

Beat the game a few weeks ago and yeah the movement is borderline addictive

[@AlastairGames]

Thanks great video! In regards to spoilers: in videogames, the concept of "spoiling" is not limited to plot, but the wider aspects of discovery: the environment, the moves, the bosses, and so on. It can be fun and exciting to discover new things on your own in a game, but if you know everything the game has to offer (Aside from plot) then it takes away a lot of that potential for joy.

[@ingeniousclown]

I agree. That's why I said so much about spoilers, though I didn't explicitly put it into the more succinct words that you did. I don't think most people subscribe to this notion of spoilers though. Most people I think are more worried about story spoilers, and haven't even thought about the idea of the gameplay itself being a discoverable thing.

[@LeoStaley]

This is why I bought the game after seeing him gush about it, but before watching the video, but the inability to remap the slide button and the janky-ness of the wall jump along with too few save points has made me wish I had played less than 2 hours so I could get a refund.

[@protowave]

@@LeoStaleyit was 6 dollars lol, stop crying so much

[@MAX-yd2bs]

Damn , that's really amazing design , reminds a lot of Ultrakill movements .

[@cursedvoid]

Why does the weapon remind me of those 3d printed pool noodle swords... a note for how to fix combat strafe controlls with a lock on similar to how Yakuza games do it, or Ratchet and clank.

[@supercyclone8342]

This looks amazing! It's also a good reminder for my own Metroidvania. It's on hold, but non-linearity and player expression are core pillars of my design. I'm trying to make the abilities synergize with eachother without making any one combo outshine the rest. Example: the grappling hook not only doubles as an ice beam, but it can also attach to your homing missiles. I was planning on revmping the combat, but maybe I should leave it simple in order to focus on unique traversal like in this game...

[@harshshah2549]

Been a minute but hey. If you end up coming around, plug it!

[@supercyclone8342]

@@harshshah2549 Oh cool, I did want to just plug it unless someone asked. It's called Blooming Darkness and a fairly sizeable demo can be found on GameJolt. I go by Cykie Productions

[@emikochan13]

Warframe movement is pretty up there, I think it's better than even Mario 64

[@derrkadurr473]

Recently discovered your channel while looking up reviews for ender lilies. Would be interested in hearing your take on a game called Lost Epic.

[@mikoro88]

looks cool!

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

is just a 3D metroidvania for a moment I thought it was something crazy

[@void-highlighter]

Games i like where you can change character at will. Bloodstained circle of the moon is a great 8 bit castlevania like!! And lost ruins has a unlockable mode dedicated to that idea

[@Akrioz]

I hope this gem finds it's way to consoles

[@Waffletigercat]

Four hours? It took me 7 hours to 100% complete it without a guide. Now I feel like a slow-ass slug.

[@lickagoat]

I found defeating the first boss quite easy and quick. Just spam your attack and circling to his back.

[@metalgearfan9802]

Yeah, I think the only real complain about the game is that first boss fight is waaaay overtuned for what this game is and can sort of send mixed messages to the player that this is gonna be a game that focuses on punishing combat, when it's just not at all.

[@TheFarecry]

sounds to me like you should be playing more immersive sims (i loved pseudoregalia btw)

[@Soul-Burn]

When I saw the character/game I thought "huh, this isn't a very well known game. Did clown watch Iron Pineapple's video?" ... unsurprisingly, Pineapple's run is referenced near the end :)

[@ingeniousclown]

tbf I played it before his video, it just takes me a longer to put out my videos lol

[@kreenbopulusmichael7205]

start looking up the people who participate in game jams, or look into the indie devlog scene, theyre making some cool things.

[@Sunny_Haven]

The amount of times I was able to "sequence break" stuff by clever movement and what sometimes felt like just exploiting certain aspects of the game was too many to count. At one point, I actively stopped myself from doing that because I accidentally got to a part of Castle Sansa that I felt like I was softlocked into till I reloaded a save. (Looking back, I probably would've been fine if I didn't stop sequence breaking but oh well.) It honestly felt frustrating at times because I'd be very stubborn and try to solve obstacles my way, but it was immensely satisfying when I did it. I don't think your dismissal of the story is entirely fair, there does seem to be like... a little bit of effort put into the story. It obviously doesn't focus on it but it's clear you're in some sort of dream and Sybil, the character you play as, is trying to wake up whoever is having the dream (i.e. the Princess). And while the plot and narrative don't get much more focus than that, I feel like a lot of the game's map, the enemies, the music and atmosphere all help enhance this dream-like quality in a way that's hard to describe. Also I dunno why the funny goat-cat-bunny lady was made with a suggestive appearance but I appreciate it, haha. Her outfits are nice.

[@XenoWars]

You can even get Ascendant Light as your first ability! If you go through to the Underbelly from the Dungeon, it spits you out right where it is.

[@Tylendal242]

TBF, you need to know some pretty unintuitive tech to pull that off.

[@XenoWars]

@@Tylendal242 You only need to get through the darkness, since the ability is right as you come in. no fancy tech involved other than just throwing the breaker once, and i suppose a backflip

[@Tylendal242]

@@XenoWars You can't jump high enough with just a backflip. The only way to get up there without jumping techniques found outside the tutorial area is using the Slide Ultra-Hop, which isn't too crazy with a bit of practice, but still incredibly unintuitive. No one has accidentally done that from the start. Then, if you can do that, why even bother picking up Ascendant Light. You've broken the game wide open already.

[@XenoWars]

@@Tylendal242 No, you can get to Ascendant Light with just Breaker. this is required to do so currently in randomizers. A backflip is enough if you do it on the little hill before the wall. you can actually do quite a lot without slide, including a full loop of the world

[@Tylendal242]

@@XenoWars Ah. I searched Pseudoregalia Randomizer, and found a video (that you commented on), of someone doing exactly that. Thanks.

[@heardofrvb]

1:16 THE DISRESPECT IS REAL!

[@ingeniousclown]

I recorded that years ago and it still makes me laugh every time.

[@qasderfful]

GTX 1660 and 8 gigs of RAM for a 600 mb game. UE5 powah!

[@MxPokirby]

Would've been cool to include the actual name in the video title, and/or any place to directly purchase the game in the description.

[@guisampaio2008]

4D metroidvania when

[@nerdzone]

Player expression in movement is one of the things I value most in games in general and naturally in metroidvanias. I am glad that you mentioned the Ori games since they are a prime example. I would definitely add Metroid Dread to their tier. Other than those 3, all the rest are a step below and even the best other ones as Touhou Luna Nights, AM2R, Super Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Fusion and KUNAI are not match. I believe it is due to how good those 3 are though, not that the rest of the games do not try expressive movement. I believe they do but just comparing them to the Oris and Marios of the world is a huge disservice. Also, I won't watch the video. I have Pseudoregalia in my wishlist already and I am about to play it this year. However, I am totally forcing this sooner rather than later due to what you feel is special with the game. Thanks!

[@JMDurden]

I'm here for the algorithm.

[@WHYZEE]

another yt perosn made A vid in a similar vain: “Schmovement in video games “ by respirit I feel like mh is a good example blending the two “styles of PE” obv theres the wep/aromor customization. But I play GL and at least in the 3ds games I’ve internalized three playstyles I do for the types of shot: Normal: lance 1st , gun 2nd Wide: gun first, lance 2nd Long: mix of both But thats just what I do. You can bs your own combos. Weapons are more effective at specific parts of the mosnter but shells do equal damage on all parts. So it’s more reliant on positioning yourself in different places. A player might use the the normal strat more if they’re avoiding attacks. But Someone who’s guarding might like wide since they have less freedom for advantageous positions and are more desperate for damage Add to that how satisfying it is to have your attacks flow in the way you want them to. I remember being able to consistently charge shot into side stepping, into a reload and into a brust shot without getting hit.

[@ThatTallBrendan]

17:30 Something always reminds me of her.. ( ╥﹏╥)

[@Craft2299]

How are we so good, but at the same time that first boss was too hard?!

[@againsttheleftandright4065]

Just any% the game after about 10 hours. I assume there is a "true ending" and a lot of other stuff I didn't find. I believe there are even several movement abilities I never found, judging by some KZbin videos I looked at. However, I played this game 99% blind. Due to the very low cost, it's worth it if you are a fan of platforming and 3D exploration games. However, it does have some issues which might make it not worth your time, even if it is totally worth your money. Firstly, the game is portrayed as a metroidvania, when it is really a 3D platformer in an open world. Combat is a key aspect of Castlevania and Metroid, and in order for a game to be a Metroidvania, it really needs to have combat as at least a secondary, if not primary focus. (Yes, I'm aware that isn't the definition of metroidvania, but it is more functional to have a more exclusive definition when you are trying to explain what sort of games you enjoy.) From my playthrough, there were only 2 "boss" battles. The first I assumed was the tutorial enemy, and the last was the final boss. There are a small handful of common enemies spaced around the world, all of which are very basic and mostly just a chore to fight, if you don't just ignore them. I can remember only one time in which there was a forced arena battle, although in hindsight I probably could have just ignored them as well. I actually enjoyed fighting the first tutorial boss, which is why I was disappointed when I slowly realized that there weren't going to be more fights like that (I was expecting every area to have a boss fight, and for them to get progressively harder and demand you to use new movement abilities). Secondly, the game's core identity seems to be one of ambiguity in terms of how and where to progress. This is fine when it is easier to map out where you have and haven't been, as well as throwing enough options at the player at the start so if they miss something, they will be able to progress in another way. However, this didn't happen for my playthrough. Of the 10 hours I played the game, about 6-7 of those was me back-tracking through the world looking for something I missed or being lost due to having a bad sense of direction. This may not be an issue for you. Some people are just better at remembering directions and locations, as well as paths that they couldn't previously access. For me, the map really needed a compass / directional marker at the very least, and preferably actual icons like other games have (for example, Hollow Knight). The reward of exploration is somewhat muted when you find a key / lever, and then have no idea where to go next, or what the lever did. As far as the way you traverse the game, it's going to depend a lot on your skill in platforming. If you like very unforgiving and tight platforming which feels like you are breaking the game, then you will enjoy this. For me, it felt like I was merely resorting to trying to break the game since I didn't have an ability that I felt like I should have (like I said, I beat the ending without all the movement abilities, which I assume means that there is a true ending that you need all of them for). Ultimately, I don't think games should ever expect you to look up guides, unless you are trying to 100% them. I am satisfied with Pseudoregalia. Similarly to Hollow Knight Godmaster, I do not think 100%ing this game will be worth the time. 7.5/10, would let the goat sit on me.

[@noface7842]

...I like the vid and never knew that game was originally a jam game... BUT WHY WAS SAMUS LUIGI??????

[@ingeniousclown]

lol its a randomizer that allows custom sprites

[@ingeniousclown]

@@niemand7811 if you're gonna be pedantic, it's not a specific romhack. its a randomizer service that programmatically creates a rom hack based on variable settings that you give it, including random sprites. why be salty on this comment about this of all things? i don't get it

[@QuestionMarkSS]

Ingenuis’s Clown’s

[@isimioyekunlemarktaiwo3643]

It is not ps1 looking, it is N64 looking

[@NickyShadow99]

Whew lord. My first play through was great, but I nearly tore my hair out trying to get one of the latter maguffins without the wall run (if you know you know) I knew that I was missing *something* for most of the game, but it wasn't until literally the endgame where I discovered the wall run. I did complete that platforming challenge, btw. With just the wall kick, high jump, and long jump. It sucked. Would not recommend lol.

[@ingeniousclown]

Are you talking about the long gauntlet in the keep that unlocks the throne room? I had a similar experience, not having the wall run at that point. Wasn't smooth OR easy, but I thought it was really fun lol

[@mastername5373]

I mean with those videos like 'things you should know before playing this game', It's not like you're some random video and then bam spoilers for that game and what you should do, If you clicked that video you knew what you're going to get, if you didn't want that you can just not watch them.

[@Demonskunk]

The Wall Kick caused me a lot of problems in Pseudoregalia. Not because it was difficult to use, but because I sequence broke purely by accident without realizing it and then got extremely lost. I was extremely frustrated trying to figure out where to go next because I could go to a lot of places I wasn’t *intended* to go to just by wall kicking the right way. It took me a really long time to find the wall run, so I was using just the three wall kicks to cross horrifying curved hallways instead of having the wall run. largely because the msssage at the tower implied it was the last place I shoudl go, so I avoided it until I had nowhere else to go. Boom, there was the wall run.

[@ingeniousclown]

The message at the tower tells you explicitly to come back after you get 3 things. Besides, I stick with what I said in the video: this game intends for you to sequence break it. There's lots of things that you'd think you can do only with a certain power up, but with precise use of others you might be able to make it work. It's not QUITE sequence breaking, because there is no true sequence, ya dig?

[@smukgitgut]

Different opinion here. Yeah, the game is cool by itself, but I HATE when ppl say that this is the future of metroidvanias. I love metroidvanias for combat, and this tipe of game (I played it) was reaaaaaaaly boring for me. So it's a big no-no

[@MikeyForrester]

I tried it, it had horrible input lag even in 720p windowed and mouse sensetivity that sent camera flying even at the lowest possible setting

[@LeoStaley]

What the hell are you people talking about??? I just bought this game and the most frustrating thing about it is rhe janky ass movement! I can't get the hang of these finicky fucking wall jumps for the life of me. And now it's too late for a refund. Nevermind having the slide button be hard mapped to the fucking Q button, (instead of something sensible like left alt, or God forbid, just remappable entirely!). Edit: fortunately I was able to submit a refund request. I rarely pick up a game because an essayist recommends it, and this has just soured me on it.

[@CianaCorto]

I'd pick this up if it wasn't furry bait. I can't justify this kinda silly overly-sexualized furry character on my screen to the people around me while I play it.

[@Lackofstyle]

There's an accessibility option that gives her pants if you're so bothered lol

[@wilpuriarts5895]

I hate furrys, but the graphics of this game are so old school I can’t really tell what the protagonist is.

[@misanthropiclusion]

@@wilpuriarts5895 have you tried a little trick called growing the fuck up?

[@mcbill7352]

PLAY ULTRAKILL. it also has awesome movement tech