Smelter

 Switch
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. NintendoWorldReport
    Jul 20, 2021
    70
    With its eye-catching pixel art style and strong visual and tonal identity, Smelter really could have been the complete package. Unfortunately, uneven gameplay, a strange choice in upgrade paths and difficulty spikes that only led to frustration as opposed to the joy of a challenge left a sour taste in my mouth. Fans of the genre should still find a lot to love in this title, so long as it’s approached with a heavy dose of patience.
  2. Pure Nintendo
    Jun 4, 2021
    70
    Smelter is a clever mashup of genres with a cute style and fun action. The jolt between action and strategy sections can take some getting used to, but it’s worth sticking with until you get the hang of the rhythm.
  3. Nintendo Enthusiast
    Apr 22, 2021
    70
    With enjoyable sim gameplay, an engaging element combat system, and excellent boss fights, Smelter is a game with a lot of good pieces across 12-15 hours of play. Unfortunately, it never becomes more than the whole of its parts. The platforming level design feels a bit unremarkable, and the myriad challenge levels placed intrusively within the main levels ruin the pacing. Still, if you love ActRaiser or Mega Man X, there’s enough to make Smelter worth recommending.
  5. Cubed3
    Jun 25, 2021
    60
    This game has the makings of something really great. The art and sprite work is outstanding. Wildly inconsistent difficulty jumps, frustratingly long bosses, fights, check point lengths and cheap deaths all ruin what absolutely would have been a title much higher rated. The majority of the experience is fun, with a good difficulty level, but inevitably there will be these randomly, absolutely killer, difficulty walls, which ruin how good it was going up to that point.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. NindieSpotlight
    Jan 18, 2022
    8
    Appropriately named, as it combines elements of multiple styles of gaming, Smelter is a game that defies a simple explanation. One momentAppropriately named, as it combines elements of multiple styles of gaming, Smelter is a game that defies a simple explanation. One moment having you tackle enemies as a side-scrolling adventure, the next having you take on tough precision platforming levels (that are optional, but who can turn down a challenge), and then finally challenging you to engage in some real-time strategic combat in the initial going it can be a lot to take in. While I wouldn’t say all aspects are firing on all cylinders, for me the strategic element felt more bolted on than polished enough to stand on its own when compared to the other areas, it does make for an engaging experience that keeps things interested and a bit unpredictable at times. While I’d still say the thrilling opening anime sequence overshadows the in-game excitement a bit (it’s pretty damned cool and taps into my child of the 80s brain heavily) even with as many titles as I’ve played through on the Switch this stands out as being its own thing, and pretty confidently so, making it notable and worth a look.

    https://www.nindiespotlight.com/2021/04/mini-reviews-april-27th-edition.html    … Full Review »
  2. akwan_tarot
    Jul 7, 2021
    4
    The premise of the game, as one inspired by Actraiser, is not bad, as explained by the critic reviews. For the core game play, the gameThe premise of the game, as one inspired by Actraiser, is not bad, as explained by the critic reviews. For the core game play, the game should receive a score of 70 or 80. However, one problem knocks it down by 10 points: the inability to save your progress while inside a platformer stage, coupled with the high difficulty of said stages. So once you start playing a stage, you have to either clear it, or you have to quit the stage and lose all your progress inside the stage. High-difficulty platformers are common these days, but few have no-save stages of this length, which is a gross inconvenience.

    And then a bug knocks it all the way down to 40 for me. The game sometimes crashes when trying to load the strategy map. When this happens, you do lose all your progress in the platforming stage you just played, be it a stage with hard platforming sections and a tough boss fight, or tricky trials you struggled hard to beat. This has happened too many times for me to recommend this game until they fix this bug.    … Full Review »
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