Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

The game periodically crashed or turned off video.
The game controls are terrible in some places.
And it's kind of boring.

not metroidvania, adventure, or exploration. This game starts strong with these elements, but after the first zone it gives up on all of those elements and becomes a walking-simulator with nice environments but zero challenge except for a periodic boss fight. The powerups aren't useful: you improve your blaster by collecting 1, 3, and then 5 powerups, yet your blaster isn't your main weapon in many situations. Other collectibles have zero gameplay: art and videos. The game ends on a whimper, I finished and thought I must have done something wrong. This game looks great, and the controls are pretty tight, however.

My theory: this game started with the right idea and a lot of ambition but the devs got squeezed by the publisher and just had to get something out. The powerups, lack of interesting collectibles, and linearity all point to this. Even the final boss takes place in the starting zone. Lots of good ideas here, and if you want to support the devs or give it a try for the style, go for it. overall I can't recommend it.

really underrated metroidvania