2.5/5 ★ – benhmedia's review of 1000 Amps.

1000 Amps is so frustratingly close to being a great metroidvania, but it’s held back by a variety of issues that could easily be tweaked for an HD remake. The game has you playing as this little electric guy within a giant electric tree that’s lost all its power. There are no enemies and no combat. The game is all about figuring out how to illuminate every room you encounter via tricky platforming and teleportation. This is such a refreshingly unique spin on the genre, as you get to see your progress change the world around you - with minimalistic synth-based sound design that’s SO satisfying. I was about 2.5 hours into my playthrough, at 30% completion, when the soft lock happened. Leading up to this unfortunate moment, I had already encountered a couple other soft locks. Thankfully, in those cases, I was able to get out by exiting the game and coming back in. There seems to be an issue in some rooms with how conveyor belts spawn, which can end up trapping you in a way the developer did not intend. However, once I reached this third instance, I found that leaving the game and coming back couldn’t help me there. 2.5 hours of progress were lost in an instant. Flaws in the game design aside, there’s also some issues I have with the visuals. While I think the simplistic art style works, it is in desperate need of an HD overhaul. Apparently this was originally made as a flash game in 2010, before being re-coded so that it could be put on Steam. An impressive feat for the time. Unfortunately, it’s now 2024, and the game’s graphics aren’t nearly as sharp as they could be, especially when playing in fullscreen. It also has one of the worst-looking, most bare-bones map screens I’ve ever seen in a metroidvania. Other than that, the animations of your character could be given a little more personality, particularly when being idle. I could maybe stand to be a bit more forgiving of these flaws, since this game was made by a solo dev back in the early 2010s. It’s just so frustrating that this game is one HD remake away from fixing most of its flaws - yet we will probably never see this, as it seems the developer hasn’t been active for years. So I will say this: I appreciate his hard work and creativity. Even by today’s standards, this is a very unique metrodivania, and he should be proud for having put this out there. I just happened to play the game in a way that soured me on what would otherwise be a very fun experience. I’m marking this as “Abandoned”, but if a remake is ever made, I’ll be one of the first people to pick it up.