Cathedral

Cathedral is a well-made and enjoyable action-platformer that's sure to please fans of the genre, as it showcases lots of strong level design, tough difficulty, and plenty of rewarding secrets. Even so, there's a sense that something is missing here to take the experience a step higher, as it's the epitome of 'just' another entry in an already crowded genre. All the same, we'd give Cathedral a recommendation to anybody who enjoyed Shovel Knight (or its many imitators) and is looking for something to hit that same appeal. Cathedral very likely won't be your favourite action-platformer, but it's got more than enough going for it to be worth your time and money.

Cathedral is basically 10 to 15 hours of decent exploration, with some decent upgrades to find, which will help you fight some decent boss fights, while enjoying the decent retro audio-visuals. Sadly, that's the best thing this has to offer: a decent time. In a sea of similar games, there's little reason to spend any time in here, unless a collector of all things metroidvania.

Cathedral is an enjoyable retro styled Metroidvania but also doesn’t do a lot new that we haven’t seen before in the indie space. It will challenge you and there is a ton of secrets to find, puzzles to solve, and quests to busy yourself with as you explore this world. If all that sounds up your alley then you’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of this.

From Decemberborn Interactive comes a new "retro" metroidvania that shines thanks to a great level design full of secrets, but that does not take any risks in terms of innovation.

If you're a Metroidvania/Search Action fan and you're looking for something familiar, Cathedral will do more than enough to scratch that itch. You'll likely happily spend 20 to 30 hours exploring what this game has to offer. However, don't expect this game to be easy or feature innovative new gameplay mechanics. It's a pretty good experience if you're here for more of the same.

Cathedral is a hell of a challenge, but if you're up for taking it on you'll find a lot to love in this old school Metroidvania.

Cathedral's real sin is that there's not much to make it distinct from other Metroidvanias on the system. It nails the retro look and the need for exploration. The lack of handholding is refreshing, and the combat is rather good, especially for the boss fights. It doesn't have anything else to pull in players, aside from the fact that the world you traverse is absolutely huge. If you're a genre fan who wants something new yet familiar to work with, Cathedral is the right game.

If you are itching for a challenging retro-inspired metroidvania that is backed by competent design, then open the doors to Cathedral!

Cathedral is a welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch library. It was a lot of fun solving the puzzles and finding my way around the cathedral and surrounding areas.

By being simple in many ways, such as aesthetics and gameplay, Cathedral plays it safe and focuses on offering expansive and varied content. In that sense, the title is successful, proving to be an intense and fun exploration adventure, although highly difficult. As much as you have faced similar games lately, a visit to this mysterious and robust world is recommended, even if it is far from introducing innovations to the metroidvania genre.