u/New_Yak_8982

Bought Grime II at a small discount after playing the demo. At first I disliked the graphics but then found them deliciously gross, my favorite is the animation when you unlock a new checkpoint. But the star of the show is the combat. I prefer platforming-centered metroidvanias, but even fighting basic mobs in Grime II is so much fun. The parry timings are well tuned, parrying feels really satisfying to pull off and the mechanic of dashing into an enemy to steal its attack after it reaches a certain amount of health adds a new layer to the combat. The level design is well done and constantly forces you to engage with enemies.

My only complaint is that I'm currently 90 minutes in and my route was a straight line, didn't really hit an ability gate yet that forced me to take a major detour.

Bounced off this game several times in the past and finally started completing it.

I like the graphics, just enough detail to look good.

The setting being a big sci-fi station is really cool.

The >!hook !<is decently fun to use, not Rusted Moss of course but still makes traversing the world more interesting.

The bad parts:

Backtracking: When you get a new ability, you want to backtrack and try it to open some new stuff on the map, right? In Enviromental Station Alpha you first need to struggle against the big amount of one-way rooms the grid-based map doesn't show. In mid-game it becomes EVEN WORSE because (spoilers) >!of the generator activation event which activates previously dormant doors that now forever block the way. WHY? WHY? WHY? Please, the map is already unreliable enough can we not add even more dead ends and one way rooms.!< Also the enemies revive right after you re-enter the room which means that taking the time to kill them won't even result in easier backtracking.

Then you finally reach your destination, use your ability to enter the previously unavailable room and pray you don't find a dead end gated by an another ability because there are some cases where the developer only informs you 'akshually you need to have Ability Y as well to complete this route' only after you start this route! And in that case you sadly walk away.

Writing: What an interesting setting, a mysterious space station that seemingly preserves enviroment! Sadly, most of the logs are unnatural and hamfisted 'I heard that there's an Ability in Location' 'This way to Location collapsed but if I remember correctly there's an another one' and even more overexplaining of basically everything. Imagine if Hollow Knight lore tablets were like 'Man, this Greenpath is sure a dangerous place. Some kind of a... Mothwing Cloak that allows me to make dashes to cross these long gaps would help a lot, I think it's somewhere in the west of this location'.

I didn't come here expecting stellar writing but this is an issue considering the unique aspect of Metroidvanias is procedurally uncovering a world and that includes it's lore.

Consistency: More minor than the previous two issues. Instead of sticking to one breakable block design it's always different. Sometimes it's even inconsistent in bounds of one room! It leads to some unecessary shooting spamming as you try to guess what segments of this wall are breakable and which ones are not.

I will still complete it but definitely not for 'true ending' (if it exists) or anything more than the game requires.

While playing the location, I thought that the puzzles for each path were annoying and the combo of Slime Girls and Humphrey bossfights back to back was exhausting to complete. But looking back, I can admit it was a really well executed location.

Not only it's the actual last line of defense before Blackspace (Last Resort is clickbait) with the drawn out bossfight supporting that, it's a super cool parallel to the Whitespace itself, with Humphrey being Sunny, Humphrey's insides being the Whitespace and little Humphreys being Omori's dream friends.

This is also one of the only times the RPG element of the game actually works in it's favour. Not only you're not allowed to save before Humphrey which makes his fight feel more tense, his big amount of phases, vignette and big HP pool make you feel helpless as Humphrey swallows you for yet another time. And all of this contrasts with Humphrey's introduction as a ":) whale" Sweetheart and Witch scientist gags and the goofy Humphrey NPCs.

In general, a great transition to the Blackspace, horror elements while still using general Whitespace vibe.

‎At first I contemplated whether I will like this game and if I should refund it or not because the grapple only refilled when landing on a surface/grabbing a ledge which limited my freedom + I wasn't used to the hook back then. But then it clicked and the hook felt great to use (especially after getting the >!hook retracting!<) upgrade.

‎The game feels very smooth in (almost) all aspects with the procedurally generated animation, grapple physics, lack of runbacks and a detail as minor as not having to stop moving to use a save point.
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‎My only nitpicks:

‎Losing the map progress I've made after dying. I've already seen these rooms, don't hide them from me

‎(Lategame location spoilers) >!Having to learn an another movement system just for that one kingdom location at the bottom of the map was annoying!<

‎Transitions between the locations feel jarring and abrupt
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‎All in all, a great game and I'll definitely continue playing it.