Game Info
GAME NAME: Red Goddess: Inner World
DEVELOPER(S): Yanim Studios
PUBLISHER(S): Yanim Studios
PLATFORM(S): PlayStation 4
Red Goddess: Inner World is a solid “Metroidvania” style game with striking visuals, simple gameplay and a formula that has been tried-and-true for well over 2 decades now. I don’t know how many of these types of games I’ve played over the years but they almost always hold my attention long enough to want to finish them. The story here is somewhat standard amnesia driven and the “removal of your powers” trope is definitely in play. I enjoyed my time with the game especially the color based combat that was so much fun in Outlast (an XBLA game from 2011).
Fear and Rage are your major weapons of destruction here. Rage for your red enemies and Fear for your blue enemies. The game doesn’t tell you this so I’ll tell you, don’t mess around and try to attack a blue enemy with your Rage (red) phase, that is unless you want to get your goddess ass kicked quick, fast, and in-a-hurry. You’ll mash down the attack button and perform higher and higher combos that when you level up enough gain special attacks. Those hues also correspond with giant blocks that you’ll take down to access new areas and collect the giant red diamonds that you’ll need to access, you guessed it, new areas! I know, I know, I was shocked myself at this turn of events. You’ll also be collecting gold coins used to improve your mana and health bar.
Fair warning here, there was initially some issues with framerate drops and long level loading screens. I had to restart the game a couple times in the early going because I was stuck behind a wall that wouldn’t open even though I had destroyed the minions I was required to. Yanim Studio luckily was able to patch the game so most of these issues won’t pop up for you even though I did notice some occasional framerate drops and a longer than you would think load screen when you have to restart a checkpoint. Believe me you will be restarting from those checkpoints. Combat is fun once you get the hang of it and you’ll most assuredly need that roll dodge as you will die mighty fast without it.
As you see from the pictures here the game is pretty damn good looking. It really helps that the color palette involved are not something we see a lot in games and stands out to me especially with how far the camera is pulled back you can view it all at the same time. The music is good and sets the mood but none of the tunes stuck with me after the game was done.
The Recommendation
Red Goddess: Inner World is a solid game and you’ll enjoy the mixture of exploration and combat works with quick shifting forms using the L1 and R1. The platforming is firm but fair but there were times that long load times and framerate drops cause some unwarranted aggravation during deaths. The story may not be anything to write home about but I had fun during my time with it and thankfully the world Yanim Studios created was enough for me to keep playing.
