El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster

If you missed it back in 2011, El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON HD Remaster is a second chance to experience a MUST PLAY in gaming.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is one of those increasingly rare artistic achievements in the world of games that shows what can be achieved when its creators are left to make the game they want, as opposed to one dictated by a publisher and a panel of market researchers. Rife with surreal religious symbolism, memorable set pieces, and surprisingly solid combat mechanics, El Shaddai is one cult classic that deserves a second shot at success.

El Shaddai is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. If you never had a chance to check it out, it is now available on Switch and PC, or you can dig up a copy on 360 or PS3, but the main point is, you should play it. It just oozes creativity and some of the best art design in a game. I was excited for each new area, the combat, while repetitive, is fun, and it has a story that remains interesting throughout. Find a way to play this game, it is more than worth the price of admission.

El Shaddai has always been a game that divided opinions, and that’s just as true of this HD remaster as it was for the original version. The beautiful presentation carries a lot of the load here, and the story certainly has its charms. The repetitive gameplay is the biggest issue here, as it fails to offer both the diversity of moves and expanding arsenal of many of its peers in the character action genre. For me, the good outweighed the inadequate here, and nothing was really outright bad about it. But if you think a game needs to get by on its mechanics, you might want to pump the brakes on this Ascension.

Calling El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron “weird” doesn’t give it nearly enough credit. I think it was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, because the rise of indie games and uniquely told video game experiences has made titles like this a lot more common. We have an expectation for linear experiences, but El Shaddai’s take on action games still makes it stand out. While I wish combat could have more bells and whistles to it, I appreciate how easy it is for most people to jump into. I struggled to decide if I was sad to see its combat not evolve meaningfully after the three weapons are established, but I equally appreciate it locking in its core mechanics so early. This is something you experience, and while the performance issues take away from that I don’t think they hamper it too much. And who knows, they could even get addressed in a patch. This feels like a definitive title in the seventh console generation and is definitely worth a play if you want to experience a bit of gaming history.

El Shaddai feels genuinely more creative and interesting than a lot of the titles it would consider bedfellows today. It shares a place with the likes of ICO, Nier, and Panzer Dragoon in its arcane design and historically inspired symbolism. Elsewhere, it borrows from the likes of Okami and Mizuguchi’s Rez for its abstract, acid-trip beauty. It’s true that the combat can become routine, the platforming occasionally frustrate, and some of the boss encounters appear slightly samey, but it runs smoothly and assuredly across 11 visually astounding stages. El Shaddai, more than anything else, is a game of moments, and a lot of them. It’s certainly one of the most intriguing titles in the action-adventure, hack-and-slash genre, and deserves the attention this time around that it never achieved on its original release.

It is not a game for everyone, but it is one that we will never tire of recommending. If El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster manages to make you click, you will never be able to forget this "biblical hack and slash".

If you come in looking for an exciting third-person action title, you’ll find a passable game here. If you’re just into vaguely Biblical video game fan fictions and want something with slightly less “dude bro” energy than Dante’s Inferno or Darksiders, this is probably up your alley. But if you just want a bizarre fever dream to show off the incredibly beautiful yet abstractly unsettling worlds a video game can create, El Shaddai is absolutely your game.

Beautiful visuals and an inventive story can only take you so far; at some point the gameplay needs to be there too, and as you’ll see time and again, that’s not the case here.

There are so many different metaphors that I could use to describe El Shaddai‘s leap onto the Switch. It’s a bit of Heaven and a bit of Hell. It’s a rose with plenty of thorns. It’s a… well, you get the picture. Regardless of how many metaphors I throw out, the best way to sum this game up is to say that El Shaddai Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster is a visual masterpiece that is, very unfortunately, bogged down by shallow combat and mediocre platforming. It’s too bad that they never made a proper sequel to this game. I’m sure that they would have perfected things eventually, given enough time. Ah, well. Maybe someday. Maybe someday…

I want to love El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, but the HD Remaster on Switch is not the place to do so. It runs so poorly you can’t even navigate menus properly. Even besides those problems, the action and platforming are incredibly bland and the story is nigh incomprehensible, even as someone who loves artsy titles.The visuals are drop dead gorgeous and the voice acting is good, but that’s not enough to carry a game.