Mandragora combines Metroidvania and Soulslike design with a stunning 2.5D aesthetic to great effect

New indie Metroidvanias and Soulslikes seem to pop up every few days, but few have made as good a first impression as Mandragora.

Primal Game Studio hasn’t shied away from highlighting its new game’s similarities to recent winners like No Rest for the Wicked, and that may be its greater marketing strength. Knights Peak (publisher) doesn’t mince words either: if you like side-scrolling combat with gorgeously stylized 3D graphics, Mandragora is probably right up your alley.

Personally, I watched the Steam Next Fest demo without watching anything beyond the reveal trailer. Unless the controls sucked, I was banned. Not many people have managed to replicate the Moon Studios-esque aesthetic, but Primal comes pretty close, even if the human characters and scenery aren’t as distorted as those in No Rest for the Wicked. Still, it’s hard to ignore the similarities in the color palette and overall approach to the presentation. This is not a blow to Mandragora. Quite the opposite; Far more games should build on what has worked elsewhere, as long as the developers understand Why it originally worked.

While playing Mandragora for about an hour, I got the feeling that Primal knows exactly what it wants to achieve with this dark fantasy adventure: it’s not as sprawling as your average metroidvania (at least in this section), but it’s not one of those linear experience. Likewise, the combat has everything you’d expect from a recreation of FromSoftware’s basics, but the two-dimensional encounters play out very differently. It’s not a brisk Metroidvania, but it’s not unnecessarily difficult either. The Vanguard (the only class available in the demo) is strong in combat and as good as a martial adventurer can get, but running past enemies and rolling away from barrage of attacks always felt just as effective as (if not more than). ) the use of my shield.

Potions, bandages, and other consumables are in short supply, but the enemies never feel too overwhelming… as long as you don’t rush into battle mindlessly. Even during my encounter with an oversized rat in some godforsaken sewers, moving away from the immediate danger and focusing on destroying the smaller pests first helped me gain the upper hand. They’re all simple things, but it works. A lot of times I’ve played indies that shoot for stars and land with a dull thud. By keeping things simpler, Primal seems to have succeeded here.

The story comes from Brian Mitsoda, author of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, which is a pretty big flex. The basic summary is as follows: “Humanity has handed the world over to the monsters. The people of Faelduum hide behind walls of brick and palisades of ignorance built by their leaders. Joy and delight are coveted jewels, beyond the reach of the masses.” . This is not the world you were promised. Travel by night and take her back. I wasn’t given much context for my actions in the demo, but the world immediately felt structured and the mood only got better once I reached the area’s capital. Again, we’ve seen very similar things before, but Mandragora feels extremely polished and cohesive.

Perhaps it’s in the progression systems, where there’s a lot more variety and a sort of unique flavor to be found: in addition to spending “souls” from defeated enemies to level up, Talent Points can be spent on a web of skills and perks that are more action-like -RPGs like Path of Exile. This level could be Primal Game Studio’s ace in the hole alongside the design of each class, but the demo only showcases such elements and potential.

Of course, it’s hard to predict whether the full release, still scheduled for Q4 2024, can deliver the same moment-to-moment thrills and strong world-building on a larger scale and for many more hours, but after this one robust demo I’m dying to know a launch date.

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Mandragora was previewed via the publicly available Next Fest demo on PC and Steam Deck. The launch is currently planned for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. No release date has been given yet.