Recompile

 PlayStation 5
Recompile Image
Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: 3D sci-fi Metroidvania Recompile features intense combat, tight platforming, super-powered abilities and a unique environmental hacking system. Many obstacles, right down to foes, can be manipulated and bypassed. The story explores many themes from machine sentience to the nature of reality.3D sci-fi Metroidvania Recompile features intense combat, tight platforming, super-powered abilities and a unique environmental hacking system. Many obstacles, right down to foes, can be manipulated and bypassed. The story explores many themes from machine sentience to the nature of reality. The player, a rogue program of semi-sentient code, finds themselves trapped in The Mainframe - a sprawling digital wasteland dead-set on deleting trespassers.

    Recompile is built around a narrative system unique to the genre. Unlike a typical Metroidvania, it features dynamic outcomes based on play style, meaning player decisions alter the world and can lead to any one of multiple endings.

    Challenges include intelligent enemies and intricate environmental puzzles, all requiring the mastery of many unlockable abilities such as time dilation, explosive weaponry and even jetpack flight.
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Recompile - Exclusive Gameplay Trailer [Play For All 2021]

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 7
  3. Negative: 2 out of 7
  1. PLAY
    Sep 20, 2021
    60
    Recompile ultimately isn’t as tightly designed as a metroidvania needs to be in order to be enjoyable, something best summed up in the fact that at least one fundamental upgrade is actually missable – something we discovered the (very) hard way. There’s a good time to be had in this visually striking virtual world, but you’ll have to work hard to defrag it. [Issue#6, p.90]
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  2. Push Square
    Aug 20, 2021
    60
    Puzzles which consist of navigating logic gates by pushing buttons are fine, but not particularly taxing. The hacking mechanic has its uses, though, and a surprisingly engaging story will pull you through the game despite its flaws. It's a shame that some of the gameplay doesn't measure up, because there are some good ideas here. Sadly, there's an inconsistent level of quality that makes Recompile hard to recommend.
  3. IGN
    Aug 19, 2021
    60
    Recompile is a competent metroidvania with a strong story and great writing let down by overly bland gameplay. Its platforming and puzzles are too simplistic, and its infrequent combat can frustrate, but hunting for bits of lore between those sections still managed to stay interesting. It's a short-lived and sometimes forgettable metroidvania, but with a story that still makes it a few hours well spent.
  4. TheSixthAxis
    Sep 2, 2021
    60
    Recompile definitely isn't a perfect game – its combat and platforming have issues and it's easy to miss important things – but if you put the effort in, it's a rewarding and enjoyable experience with stunning visual and audio design and an interesting storyline.
  5. Wccftech
    Aug 26, 2021
    55
    Recompile is stylish and well-written, but its messy Metroidvania structure and clumsy platforming corrupt what fun it might have offered. Maybe this game would have been easier to recommend a decade ago, but in a world where Hollow Knight and Axiom Verge exist, and an actual Metroid game is coming out in around a month, Recompile just isn’t up to code.
  6. GamingTrend
    Sep 1, 2021
    45
    Recompile brings a lot of great ideas to the table, but none of them work well together in their implementation. While it presents an interesting story, you’d have to wade through the immensely frustrating gameplay to get there.
  7. NME
    Aug 24, 2021
    40
    As a low-key next-gen indie, Recompile looks and sounds the part, really making you feel like you’re a program exploring and hacking the innards of a long-forgotten computer mainframe. Yet while it has what you should expect from any decent Metroidvania while filtering them through its hacking theme, frustrating platforming, rubbish combat, and other questionable design decisions all add up to make for a disappointing experience.

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