4/5 ★ – nate_mckeever's review of Sundered: Eldritch Edition.

Well. Color me impressed. Sundered is easily one of the better Metroidvania-likes that I’ve played in a while. The hand drawn visuals are stunning and really punch up the sci-fi meets Lovecraft design. The sound design/music is solid, pretty good, but I didn’t find it particularly striking. The controls are pretty responsive, if not the most technical. Like a lot of games in this genre, until you unlock a few of the power ups, it can be a little tedious. But I found the abilities and upgrades really added a fair amount of finesse to the combat. After I got into the groove, I really enjoyed ripping through the hordes the game would occasionally throw at me. The only drawback is that dying loses some of the tension because the only real penalty is sitting through the loading screen to get back to the Sanctuary. I liked the semi-randomized map system as well. It added a fair amount of variety in the different runs through the cavern. It might not be as wildly varied as something like Dead Cells, but I enjoyed it more. This is a strong should-play in my book. It’s not gonna blow your mind, but it’s got a really unique look and solid and enjoyable gameplay. If you like the Metroidvania type games, this is a really good entry.