Product Info

Platform

PC

Publisher

PixelHeart

Developer

Dreamirl

Genre

Action, Adventure

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

1.5 GB

Release Date (NA)

Jun 21, 2024

Purchase From

Steam

Noreya: The Gold Project is a 2D Metroidvania style indie game that’ll entertain players, but it may be too short for some. The game was a Kickstarter project that was successfully backed and is now available to play.

Rise From Your Grave

This indie game takes place in a dark fantasy environment where you, the player, have already been vanquished. You are brought back to life as a shadowy pixel figure, but you still maintain your humanity and free will.

You’re given a choice between allegiance to the Gods of Light and Shadow or the gods of Corruption and Gold. Which route you take will affect the abilities you gain and the game’s ending. This immediately gives players the option to return to the world of Noreya for alternate endings.

After the game’s introduction, you are thrown into the action without much direction. It’s actually not a bad thing to just explore and not be bothered by constant notifications telling you how to play.

Move Like Water

The gameplay mechanics are fluid and easy to understand. Players have the ability to maneuver freely and attack enemies in various ways. Movement and attack patterns feel great and players can attack below while in mid-air to bounce off enemies to keep combo attacks going. Some enemies will change their pattern, but the player can adjust quickly to counter.

Boss fights will vary from up-close combat to being chased through a maze. Confronting bosses will require strength and dodging. Chases can become a bit rough, especially when the frame rate drops. While playing on the Steam Deck, the frame rate takes a dip while being chased by a giant worm, making it frustrating to try and escape its deadly mouth. This isn’t the only area either. Frame rates dip anywhere there’s a large amount of movement happening. Here’s hoping this will be patched in the future.There aren’t any long-range attacks, such as shooting arrows or magic. In addition, parrying and other defensive skills are missing. There is a skill to unlock in Noreya: The Gold Project’s skill tree where you can sacrifice a life point for a barrier, but that lasts for a small amount of time. Healing yourself costs in-game currency and requires a few seconds to initiate the sacrifice. This is troublesome during boss fights because your opponent certainly won’t wait for you. Good luck!

Choose Your Path

Noreya’s map is clearly inspired by the Metroid series in its design and functionality. If it works, why reinvent the wheel? The path you travel is up to you, and you’ll encounter different enemies and bosses either way, so there’s no wrong answer to what you do.

If and when your hearts are completely depleted, you’ll have the option to retry in the same area or to return to the last statue. This is forgiving and gives players the option to keep trying or explore other areas.

You can fast travel to specific areas of the map, but there’s a catch on how that works. Aside from having to be at one of the statues to initiate the travel to another statue’s location, you must first unlock the skill for transportation. Luckily, it can be acquired if you spend about thirty minutes collecting enough gold from defeating enemies nearby.

These statues are also where you go to unlock skills in the game’s skill tree. You’ll need to donate a certain amount of the game’s currency to gain skill points. Which deity you choose to “pray” to will open paths to specific skills while also closing others. Thankfully, you can undo the skill you chose earlier to regain your points. This will make players push and dive deeper into the game to unlock as many skills as possible.

Many of the skills available are mostly improvements in combat, for example, increasing your damage attack or increasing your second strike’s power. Non-combat skills like the aforementioned transportation are also available.

Beautiful Squares

Noreya is a gorgeous pixel art game with several levels of detail. Its depth perception in the background makes the level designs pop, and the platforms themselves help make the levels pop even more. However, there are some areas where it was difficult to notice platforms or the option to jump past the top screen to continue exploring.

The soundtrack, composed by Sarys and Xavier Dang (MisterMV), makes the game pop further with its scores. Each area of the map sounds different from the others. The music also changes dynamically to add more flavor to the game. For example, when players are close enough to an enemy, the music changes its score to add suspense to the battle.

While Metroidvania fans will enjoy their trip through Noreya, it’ll be an extremely short-lived one. Expect to finish the title in a day, though the opportunity to view multiple endings adds some replay value for perfectionist players. With so many Metroidvania games out there, that aspect may be a tough sell for genre veterans but speedrunners may enjoy this more. At the same time, it may be a good entry point for those you haven’t played one before.

The Final Gold

Noreya: The Gold Project is an enjoyable 2D pixel game, but its framerate issues and combat limitations may prevent players from sticking around long enough to collect all the gold. Even so, there’s fun to be had here.

A review code provided for this review and played on the Steam Deck.