Itorah

ITORAH is a fantastic Metroidvania and a must buy for those wanting an entry in the genre that tries new things.

A visual treat in search of better gameplay, Itorah is an action-platformer that wears a metroidvania skin. The eight or so hours needed to reach the end of this journey are boring, the main heroine feels clunky to control, and the frame rate will make you nauseous. The strongest moments here will come from admiring still frames, not playing through them.

Despite presenting more of the same shy gameplay, the adventure of the last human immediately draws attention to the art and delivers what it promises. Itorah approaches games like Ori and the Blind Forest and the recent Afterimage, among others, to represent the sublime of painting and show that metroidvanias do not live only with pixel art.

Based on its looks alone, it feels like Itorah should stand out more. Unfortunately, all the effort here went into those visuals, and once you get beyond those, you're left with a game that's not very fun to play.

While the exposition was forgettable, and the combat wasn’t nearly as tight as it needed to be, the art and traversal of Itorah make up for it.

The potential was certainly there, with the unique Mesoamerican inspirations, beautiful art, and top-notch animations, so it’s unfortunate that I’m left feeling like this was somewhat of a missed opportunity.

ITORAH's lush and vibrant environments are one of the only enjoyable aspects of the game, and even those won't manage to rope you through the game's boring storytelling and slow gameplay.