Sydney Hunter might seem like Indiana Jones, however he’s a 180 flip. Sydney didn’t intend to be locked in a Mayan pyramid – he’s there fully accidentally. He’s bought little 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 stay there. If he superglues the calendar collectively, they’ll let him out. He will get to go dwelling.
That ‘acquainted, however completely different’ theme runs throughout 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 unique tackle the 8-bit classics that you could be know. It appears like a Rick Harmful, Balderdash or Metroid, however beneath the floor it’s bought some trendy sensibilities, a hell of loads of depth, and a streak of humour.
We maintain 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, type 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 following one. If not, you’re heading again to an older door to canvas it for noggins.
Heading by the door and right into a stage, you’ve bought a big, moderately 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 explanation we get tempted to throw ‘Metroidvania’ at it). However principally you might be 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 over again.
There are many explanation why Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is ace, however this construction is unquestionably a giant one. Every stage 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 massive hints that there’s a collectible close by, however you’ll want some ability 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-compulsory ranges, then you’ll need to be rinsing every stage of skulls.
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is deep and wealthy like Mayan espresso. I discovered myself swinging violently between accumulating the whole lot – gotta catch them skulls! – and racing by at velocity, 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 remainder. It may be devastating to gather the whole lot 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 just a little 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 ‘absolutely a checkpoint has bought to be on the following display screen!’, as yet one more space would cross and not using a whisper of a save. That will get coupled with an absence of a map, some odd save guidelines (it’s onerous to inform what is going to stay collected or not collected after a dying or save) and a few problem spikes to create a barely too unfriendly expertise. Issue 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 just a little pleasure to play, with tight-as-a-drum leaping and fight. It doesn’t do an enormous quantity that’s complicated, which is a part of its secret: there may be treasured little parkouring or performing like Prince of Persia. However by maintaining the talents restricted, they will get them proper. The identical goes for fight. There are further assaults to be gained like boomerangs and spears, however principally it’s a alternative between melee and projectiles. Each really feel good. These assaults are a alternative: you are likely to must rotate by them, slightly than having a always obtainable arsenal.
There’s just a little 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 top that discovering the one you need is a barely numbing cycle by the shoulder buttons, or a fast jaunt to the stock. It’s not an enormous trouble, however the bothers accumulate in direction of the top, while you need completely different talents at velocity.
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 very best Metroidvanias do (there you go: we’ve dedicated to the time period, even when the degrees are too discrete and quick for it to actually classify). It provides you an enormous engaging place to discover, deep with secrets and techniques and taunting you with areas which can be – simply – frustratingly out of attain. By breaking its world into ranges, you even have alternative in what’s subsequent. Do you exhaust an earlier stage, unlock a side-room or proceed with the important path? It’s a small tinker to the formulation, however it drew us in.
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan isn’t within the dialog of ‘greatest Metroidvanias on the Xbox’. It’s bought an unhelpful streak, and the graphical scrappiness stops it quick from being the following 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, finances Metroidvania, you possibly can’t do a lot better than this.