Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist

Set in-between the chapters of the original game, Astlibra Gaiden is a 20 hour standalone adventure featuring a new female protagonist (the reclusive baker's daughter) and with a focus on the rather excellent combat and levelling of the original release. 

We covered the first game last year in December, noting that the Metroidvania combat took on familiar tropes but used them well despite some abrupt difficulty spikes. It was also notable for being developed by a lone coder who clearly loved the project and had poured a lot of time and effort into its creation.

The same is largely true here; things are refined, with less emphasis on the story which revolves around a "shut-in girl" who longed for action with the local heroic Guild finally succumbing to the lure of adventure when the members disappear, including her younger sister. The story is muted in favour of the action this time, and that's no bad thing as it wasn't the strongest aspect of the game on the first outing. Some may feel that this new character rather overshadows the original hero, and that's understandable to a degree, but I didn't find it off-putting.

In other aspects however, it does feel a bit rushed. The use of magic basically makes weapons moot, essentially a breather mechanic between more casting. Upgrading your character is much more straightforward (just a grid) that makes it easy to climb for stat increases. Styles are used to enhance certain abilities, giving you a spread of boosted stats and you gain skills from mastering weapons so that you can favour different play styles. In practice this didn't make a lot of difference to how I progressed, but it's nice to see some effort put into a more rounded character customisation process. You can even customise your clothing to make the game feel a little more personal, though more variety here would be nice.

Styles can be unlocked that can change the way you play the  game - experiment to find your favourite

The difficulty curve is far more refined here, lacking the insane spikes that could bring on rage-quitting from Revision, but the final boss is an oddity - you're required to find an item that protects you from attacks and allows an almost insta-kill which feels almost anti-climactic. It doesn't break the game, it's just a really odd design choice.

Though this is an expansion on the Steam store, here on Switch it's a completely standalone game that can be enjoyed on its own merits - those that do may not notice the identical opening or recycled assets from the first game, but it's all understandable given the nature of the project and the fact that the game has its own strengths to draw upon. The dungeons being randomly generated prevents the game from being the same experience twice, but I think one playthrough is enough generally (and for less than a tenner that seems fair).

All this taken into account, it's a solid expansion on the original game, not flawless but still a lot of fun, the combat emphasis over story probably a relief for those that found the narrative too intrusive the first time around. It's an easy recommendation for fans of the first game (and there are many) but even for first-timers, this is a nice story-lite introduction to the world and mechanics of an expanding universe.