Cathedral is basically Shovel Knight the MetroidVania. A fusion of 8 bit action with the more open-ended world design of something like Hollow Knight. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom or Aggelos are some similar titles and I actually liked Cathedral more than both of those. It's a fun time that brings little new to the table, while its execution is consistently good but rarely amazing.Cathedral is basically Shovel Knight the MetroidVania. A fusion of 8 bit action with the more open-ended world design of something like Hollow Knight. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom or Aggelos are some similar titles and I actually liked Cathedral more than both of those. It's a fun time that brings little new to the table, while its execution is consistently good but rarely amazing. As an action game, it's challenging but never as intense as a Shovel Knight or Mega Man and its enemies and mechanics are rarely as interesting. It's generally pretty easy but has some difficulty spikes, where you'll need to die over and over to slowly inch forward. The bosses serve their purpose but can feel a bit restrictive, like there's usually only one right approach, and a few have too much health. As a MetroidVania, Cathedral is actually very linear for the most part. You don't have to backtrack much, though individual levels will require exploration and a little backtracking, kind of like Zelda dungeons. Of course, you can also return to old areas to find power ups that you couldn't get before.
Probably the most noteworthy thing about Cathedral is how long it is and how large the map is. This is a 20+ hour game with one of the largest maps I've ever seen. This is both the game's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. There are so many power-ups and secrets to find and a seemingly endless stream of fresh content. It feels like there's always something for you to find on the horizon and there are countless secret collectibles. Good luck, completionists! On the other hand, Cathedral doesn't know how to leave you wanting more. There are too many levels, most levels are too large, too many fetch quests (a lot of "Go get me 4 coconuts"), etc. The charm system is pretty dumb, forcing some tedious backtracking to charm stations, and the final charms render the entire system pointless.
I enjoyed my time with this game and if "Shovel Knight the MetroidVania" sounds appealing to you, you'll probably have a good time too. It's just way too long and its Retro-action and MetroidVania world design don't complement each other that well. The massive map means it's never going to have action as tight as a Shovel Knight, while the need for relentless linear action means it can't have great exploration either. All that said, it's solid in both areas and polished all the way through, just rarely amazing. I played it in 3 days so it's got something going for it.… Expand
Cathedral (2019)Your Score0 out of 10User Score
