Sydney Hunter could appear like Indiana Jones, however he’s a 180 flip. Sydney didn’t intend to be locked in a Mayan pyramid – he’s there utterly accidentally. He’s obtained no real interest in the Haab calendar that’s been damaged and tossed round ranges (there’s no whisper of ‘this artifact belongs in a museum’), and he’s solely trying to find the items as a promise to the Mayan people who reside there. If he superglues the calendar collectively, they’ll let him out. He will get to go dwelling.
That ‘acquainted, however totally different’ theme runs during Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan like a stick of rock. Simply as Sydney is a skew-whiff tackle Indiana Jones, the sport itself has a distinct tackle the 8-bit classics that you could be know. It seems like a Rick Harmful, Balderdash or Metroid, however beneath the floor it’s obtained some fashionable sensibilities, a hell of a number of depth, and a streak of humour.
We hold writing down that Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is a Metroidvania however then we scratch it out, as a result of it sort of, form of, is one. It’s damaged down into ranges, for one, which appears to declassify it. The construction goes a bit like this: you begin within the throne room of the Mayan pyramid with a load of doorways about you. In the event you’ve performed the 16-bit Addams Household, you might need the gist. Every door wants skulls to open, so that you higher have sufficient to unlock the subsequent one. If not, you’re heading again to an older door to canvas it for noggins.
Heading via the door and right into a degree, you’ve obtained a big, fairly open dungeon to discover. There are branching routes, a few of that are locked behind upgrades you haven’t gained but (there you go: the rationale we get tempted to throw ‘Metroidvania’ at it). However principally you’re heading in a route you fancy, tackling enemies and navigating platforms, all in an effort to seek out skulls (the forex of opening doorways) and keys. These keys are their very own forex, since they can be utilized within the different ranges. They unlock routes that garner you extra skulls, weapons, upgrades and, ultimately, a boss. Kill the boss and a chunk of the calendar is yours. Then it’s again to the hub to begin another time.
There are many explanation why Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is ace, however this construction is certainly a giant one. Every degree is its personal little Castlevania mansion. You may discover on a whim in any route, and every display screen is loaded with secrets and techniques. Cracked blocks are huge hints that there’s a collectible close by, however you’ll want some talent to get to them with out dying. And defeating the boss and pocketing a slice of calendar is simply a small a part of it. If you wish to see the entire sport, together with all of its non-critical, non-obligatory ranges, then you will want to be rinsing every degree of skulls.
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is deep and wealthy like Mayan espresso. I discovered myself swinging violently between accumulating all the things – gotta catch them skulls! – and racing via at pace, hoping to hell that I’d attain a checkpoint. Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is brutal with these checkpoints, sprinkling one or two after which pocketing the remaining. It may be devastating to gather all the things after which discover you’ve misplaced all of it as a result of the sport final saved ten minutes in the past.
It does, if we’re being frank, push somewhat too far into being unhelpful. Whereas reaching a checkpoint is massively rewarding – we’d usually be punching the air – it’s not precisely constant. We’d be shouting loudly ‘certainly a checkpoint has obtained to be on the subsequent display screen!’, as yet one more space would go with no whisper of a save. That will get coupled with an absence of a map, some odd save guidelines (it’s onerous to inform what’s going to stay collected or not collected after a dying or save) and a few problem spikes to create a barely too unfriendly expertise. Problem is ok, however there’s problem and there’s unhelpfulness, and Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan can stray into the latter.
Problem doesn’t come from the controls although. Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is somewhat pleasure to play, with tight-as-a-drum leaping and fight. It doesn’t do an enormous quantity that’s advanced, which is a part of its secret: there’s valuable little parkouring or appearing like Prince of Persia. However by holding the talents restricted, they’ll get them proper. The identical goes for fight. There are further assaults to be gained like boomerangs and spears, however principally it’s a selection between melee and projectiles. Each really feel good. These assaults are a selection: you are likely to must rotate via them, slightly than having a continuously obtainable arsenal.
There’s somewhat criticism right here, too. Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan borrows a trick from Legend of Zelda and TUNIC by having a secondary stock to tinker with. That’s the place all of your potions and weapons lie. However there’s so many by the tip that discovering the one you need is a barely numbing cycle via the shoulder buttons, or a fast jaunt to the stock. It’s not an enormous trouble, however the bothers accumulate in direction of the tip, while you need totally different skills at pace.
It didn’t matter all that a lot as a result of Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan had us in its skeletal mitts. It achieves what the perfect Metroidvanias do (there you go: we’ve dedicated to the time period, even when the degrees are too discrete and quick for it to really classify). It offers you an enormous attractive place to discover, deep with secrets and techniques and taunting you with areas which are – simply – frustratingly out of attain. By breaking its world into ranges, you even have selection in what’s subsequent. Do you exhaust an earlier degree, unlock a side-room or proceed with the crucial path? It’s a small tinker to the method, but it surely drew us in.
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan isn’t within the dialog of ‘finest Metroidvanias on the Xbox’. It’s obtained an unhelpful streak, and the graphical scrappiness stops it quick from being the subsequent Hole Knight or Ori. However you recognize what? That’s a ridiculously excessive bar to set, and Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan confidently walks beneath it with its head held excessive. As a retro-leaning, funds Metroidvania, you may’t do a lot better than this.
