Dandara

That’s a minor flaw, however, in a game that is a sparkling and unique addition to the Metroidvania stable. While Dandara’s world has ostensibly little to do with Dandara the historical warrior apart from inspiration, I hope that players finish the game and feel as interested to explore her story as I was to explore Long Hat House’s gorgeous and intricate world.

Dandara is a well=executed game. It's a game that's designed for the most dedicated players, with high levels of challenge in an undeniably tortuous learning curve. With totally innovative mechanics, a character with strong identity in visual terms, the Long Hat House game is an ode to Brazilian culture and Belo Horizonte. It's really exciting to see a Brazilian team with a game as consistent as Dandara.

There’s not much to dislike about Dandara. It certainly could be more accessible for newbies but any gamer that’s played a Metroidvania before should have an idea of what to expect. What’s unexpected is the totally cool and trippy traversal system. It might take some time to get used to, but it’s very intuitive. Dandara’s sharp level design and enemy encounters are memorable in a genre that is starting to get overcrowded. The story isn’t anything to write home about, but Dandara makes up for it with fun and challenging gameplay. Regardless of your platform of choice, Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition needs to be your next game.

Dandara is a game all fans of Metroidvanias will want to try. It’s on the PS4, Switch, PC, and even iOS for a mere $12. Its adventure isn’t a super lengthy one, but for a game this unique, the handful of hours you’ll spend with the Brazilian-made game will be more than worth the price of admission. Recommended.

Dandara’s unconventional movement system makes strategic thinking equally important as nimble fingers. Long Hat House’s take on the metroidvania genre might get frustrating sometimes due to lack of precision necessary to navigate some of the environments, but beautiful, creative visuals do a great job at soothing nerves. [04/2018, p.49]

The world in this game must be experienced. [Issue #33 – May/June 2018, p. 20]

Dandara is a small pearl that gives new life to the metroidvanias. It offers interesting mechanics, a fascinating game world and the right level of difficulty.

Dandara takes the metroidvania formula and gives it its unique elements. It has some aspects that would have been improved, but overall it's a wonderful adventure.

While a few consistent problems weigh it down, Dandara is still an engrossing adventure. As many times as the in-game map bugged me or the difficulty got me down, I kept at it, working my way through the peculiar world, seeking out new items and upgrades and figuring out how to move around delicately to attack or avoid foes. It might not be for the faint of heart, but Dandara is a wonderfully idiosyncratic game.

Dandara is an inspired metroidvania with no gravity gameplay that maybe can confuse someone, but it's definitively a brilliant one.

Dandara is an artistic pixel art metroidvania with ideas of his own, like an original control scheme and a little Dark Souls touch. The problem is that, as a game designed to be played on smartphones without physic controls, the gameplay mechanics and power ups tend to be a little simple. But if you love the metroidvania genre, you'll enjoy it.