Constance

With an emotional story, a strong message and sublime gameplay, Constance is one of the best Metroidvanias out there. Only small details diminish the overall experience.

Constance is a game about confronting your inner darkness. Its hand-drawn cartoony art style won me over initially. Its challenging platforming puzzles and boss fights that required me to fully utilize the plethora of techniques I’d learned throughout the journey kept me engaged and always felt satisfying to complete. This fluid and extremely rewarding gameplay loop alone solidifies Constance as a must-play platformer. The heartfelt story at the core of it all is a welcome added bonus.

When I started playing Constance, I had no idea what to expect. Releasing a metroidvania so close to Silksong was a gamble, but I think it paid off. Constance might not be the 30+ hour juggernaut that game is, but it has a heartwarming story and its platforming is excellent. The narrative is amazing, and the unique painting mechanic adds risk, but also rewards strategic thinking, too. You’re also rewarded if you explore, which is important for this type of game. Constance has its caveats, like limited fast travel or the main character not speaking at all during the game. However, those things are by design, and they tie into the game’s approach towards stress and mental health. This is a type of game that can help you rethink some of your choices in life, while also giving you 4-5 hours of intense platforming goodness, and it’s a breath of fresh air for the genre.

A great indie adventure with a few minor flaws.

Constance is a beautifully designed metroidvania, featuring an engaging story and strong audiovisuals, offering a refreshing, non-soulslike experience. While generally well-crafted, it occasionally relies on trial-and-error for certain challenges and offers limited hidden secrets for backtracking, which we feel are just minor drawbacks.

Constance wields an emotional story, layered action, and incredible style to become more than just another derivative Metroidvania in a sea of heavy-hitters. Genre stalwarts aren’t going to find anything drastically different in its quest for explorative abilities but Constance has heart and a deft gameplay, making it a title that shouldn’t be brushed aside.

Constance is a sleek, elegant, and emotional metroidvania that combines fluid movement, striking visuals, and a well-crafted introspective theme. Despite some hesitation in fully exploring its own ideas and occasional issues with challenges and bosses, the game offers an engaging and personal adventure. It's a great choice for those who enjoy traditional metroidvanias, artistic experiences, and narratives that reflect internal conflicts — a work that, like its protagonist, stands out precisely for trying to balance creation and chaos.

Constance delivers a heartfelt and visually expressive adventure that blends Hollow Knight inspired movement with a unique brush based mechanic tied to emotion and creativity. Its narrative stands out through playable vignettes that explore burnout, fear and self doubt with sincerity. The art direction is vibrant, the soundtrack is surprisingly powerful and performance is excellent across all modes. Exploration is engaging, boss fights are memorable and the reduced punishment system fits the game’s themes. A smaller but meaningful experience that leaves a strong impression.

Constance is a fantastic game that I would recommend to anyone who’s a fan of the genre. It draws heavy inspiration from Hollow Knight, which is clear as day, but brings fresh ideas to the table that make it feel like a unique experience. The story, where players bounce between the real world and a world inside the protagonist's declining mental state, is a sad tale that sends a powerful message about depression and anxiety. Constance tackles subject matter that we don’t typically see enough of in the gaming industry, at least with this much depth, and it’s refreshing to see them explored here. The mix of a heartfelt story, addictive gameplay, and incredible platforming makes Constance easy to recommend.

Constance successfully combines the virtues of Hollow Knight and Celeste, resulting in a metroidvania that, even in a post-Silksong world, manages to thrill us.

Quotation forthcoming.

Constance is a beautiful game with a much-needed message. Its movement mechanics place it among this year's best platformers, and its metroidvania essence is the best invitation to thoroughly explore all these great hand-painted locations.

Although it never really does anything we haven’t seen before, Constance is well-made enough to be worthy of your time, and does enough to earn its place in a crowded genre.

Constance is a solid metroidvania and painterly palette cleanser. While its narrative framing left me wanting, it also imbues Constance with a detailed canvas of smart mechanical touches and stunning stylistic flourishes. It may not paint outside the lines very much, and its difficulty comes with odd peaks and troughs, but this is still an easy recommendation to genre fans.

Constance is a beautiful and enjoyable Metroidvania that doesn't outstay its welcome. Filler free, the game instead throws plenty of well-designed and enjoyable boss fights at you, interspersed with tight, challenging platforming action. It follows the formula too closely to make it remarkable, but what it does it does with charm and flair. And the ending is a 'chef's kiss' moment.

Constance shines with its vibrant 2D art, crisp platforming, and some clever progression ideas, but ultimately plays second fiddle to one of the genre’s greats. It’s far from a bad game—quite the opposite—but its strengths don’t make it easier to choose over a top-tier rival at the same price. Still, it’s enjoyable in its own right and serves as a refreshing break when Silksong has you worn down.

I had a lovely time with Constance. It’s not a lore-intensive metroidvania, it’s not particularly difficult unless the player wishes to test themselves, and it never outstayed its welcome. Among the titanic release of Silksong and other metroidvanias, Constance still managed to make an impression on me. Don’t let this one pass you by.

More than anything, Constance is a beautiful game. Its hand-drawn art style makes for one of the prettiest games I've seen all year, and the platforming gauntlets it puts you through make those sights more rewarding. While its narrative elements fall short and a chase sequence proves more annoying than challenging, the overall experience is a rewarding platformer with entertaining boss battles. Not a bad choice if you're looking for a way to take out your frustrations on several manifestations of burnout.

Constance remains a modest game, yet manages to deliver a lovely experience with the means it has — and you can feel the heart behind it. Still, we would have liked its core progression to be less linear, and for it to fully embrace its original gameplay mechanics to give its combat a bit more flavour. But thanks to its superb art direction, the themes it tackles, and its precision in platforming, it remains an adventure well worth experiencing.