Metroidvania games have seen no real slowdown in their resurgence over the past few years. And with good reason; their unique blend of subtle direction and engaging exploration often makes for a good time. Dandara fits this particular type – ticking most of your favourite genre boxes whilst offering an orginal gameplay experience.
Developed by Brazilian studio Long Hat House, Dandara is unique in being available on almost every current gaming platform. This multi-system approach includes a well received mobile version so a greater number of fans of the genre have a chance to try it.
Wait, It’s All Salt?
The game’s setting and story throughout is extremely strange most of the time. This is shown through a pixel art style, as well as peculiar narrative moments with NPCs or in cutscenes.
Dandara is the saviour of a world that has had its balance shattered, leading it to fall into a time of great oppression. Oppression is seemingly the theme of the game, as is something to do with salt that I won’t attempt to explain.
Whilst bizarre and difficult to truly “get”, Dandara never feels like it doesn’t have a consistent artistic vision in its storytelling. It just didn’t resonate with me or make much sense to me.
One Jump at a Time
Where Dandara quickly grabbed my attention was in it’s interesting movement mechanics. To traverse the game’s strange and frankly nonsensical setting, you hop between certain opposing platforms to progress. This can make simple traversal almost puzzle-like and compliments the formulaic design that goes into the Metroidvania exploration that we all have grown to love.
Playing the Nintendo Switch version, this is controlled via the left analog stick and a simple press of A when you have lined up your jump. The game does well to minimise frustration by having a snappy lock-on feature when aiming your jump. This lock-on helps you traverse rooms quickly and make for some frantic-yet-free-flowing moments later in the game. The lock-on traversal is made even more satisfying by Nintendo Switch’s excellent haptic feedback.
Longshot
Mixing with the unique movement scheme is of course the game’s combat. Enemies range from fast moving goo monsters, to more generic infantry type enemies; and at times throughout the adventure you will take part in fantastical boss fights against truly bizarre but brilliant enemies.
Whilst the enemy designs are excellent, both visually and mechanically, the actual way you fight them can feel lethargic. The game’s combat system gets stale quickly.
To use your energy missiles, you must hold down a button and release to fire. It doesn’t feel responsive or satisfying having to charge up your attacks every single time. When the pace is ramped up and things become chaotic, the action is undermined by the slow and frankly obnoxious method of attack. Metroidvania games are best served with fast, intricate combat mechanics. Dandara really feels at its worst when fighting enemies.
Dandora the Explorer
The typical Metroidvania game direction is well presented in Dandara, giving you obstacles and dead ends that can’t be passed until you find or obtain a certain power. It’s a tried and tested way of guiding the player without removing them from the experience.
Whilst the world begins to open up to you as you find these powers, the earlier stages of the game can feel like a bit of a slog. This is due to the confusing map orientation and basic level design.
There were lots of times where I would need to backtrack through many forgettable rooms while constantly checking the map to make sure I was going the right way. This backtracking would be okay if you could just run through each room but Dandara’s movement scheme makes general traversal a bit of a pain.
Campfire Lit
Something that makes the exploration slightly more interesting is the Dark Souls-style camps and flags which act as respawn points and places to rest and upgrade.
The upgrades are simple and allow you to spend gems on health upgrades or upgrades on the different consumables you find throughout your journey. Each upgrade will become more expensive every time, no matter what you choose to improve. This would normally be an interesting way to shape your playthrough and make the game more replayable; but unfortunately, the upgrades just aren’t interesting enough to warrant such a feeling.
I quite liked this feature as a whole, as it meant that enemies only respawn if you die or rest at these camps, stopping enemies from respawning every time you exit and re-enter a room – which you will do A LOT.
Verdict
Whilst Dandara can boast an art-style and setting both brimming with character, its actual gameplay doesn’t offer too much for fans of the genre. It tries to stand out in a saturated market by being on every platform and offering some original mechanics and features, but Dandara never really captures that same magic or satisfying gameplay as games like Guacamelee or Celeste.
