The Momodora series is one that I’ve been interested in for a while, but the thought of getting into a series without playing the previous games first is always paralyzing. Thankfully, Minoria was developed as a spiritual sequel rather than a direct one, making it an ideal point to jump in.

Obviously, this screenshot was taken when the screen was fading out. Minoria doesn’t normally look so dark.

I started Minoria on my “B” computer that has comically outdated hardware (especially in the CPU department), and it worked remarkably well right up until a cutscene where a princess brings the main character and her helper to a library. Every time I’d reach the point in the screenshot above where the screen fades out, the entire game would freeze up before it had the chance to fade back in, so beware, PC gamers with extremely old hardware. We’re talking hardware so old that only about 75% of current-gen games work properly. Anyway, now that I’m playing on my “A” computer, everything’s going really smoothly. Attacking and parrying are intuitive, and while I’m not entirely comfortable scrolling through Incense—which function like Estus Flasks in Dark Souls in that you can use them a certain number of times between save points, but differ in that their effects aren’t limited to healing—to find something specific in a heated moment, I’m finding the general gameplay to be comfortable.

You know, I legitimately believed that I was doing well. I hadn’t died once, but the first boss and some kind of miniboss that I stumbled across were both total softballs, and Minoria begins to tip its hand when you come across the fight against Sister Devoir. The timing of her attacks takes some serious getting used to, and she smeared me across the metaphorical concrete as a result. She also damages you on contact, which is a mechanic I’m not entirely on board with since I’m not yet used to the dodge distance or where the invincibility frames are. There’s a level-up system that automatically increases your stats, though, so I’m probably going to grind my level up a bit and see what difference that makes.

Ding-dong, the witch (or in this case, evil nun) is dead. Grinding appeared to reduce the damage I took while increasing how much I put out. However, normal enemies are now perfectly capable of killing me in two hits if they use certain attacks. That’s totally fine; if I get hit, it’s my own fault. It’s when enemies are grouped up tightly enough that it’s impossible to dodge past them without landing inside of one of them (which, again, deals damage to you) that can get a bit annoying. Especially when you’re stuck in a small arena and don’t have the room to maneuver too far in the opposite direction. Minoria is actually really enjoyable, but these little things keep making me yell “oh, come on” at my screen.

Despite the little frustrations I’m encountering, Minoria is actually a lot of fun. It’s totally unbalanced (bosses and normal enemy clusters alternate between being very easy and very hard), and there are definitely some moments of cheapness like when I died instantly after my special attack ended right as an enemy pulled out their hardest-hitting attack, but the atmosphere and controls are great. I now have an upward slash that’s performed by hitting the jump button while in midair, and this effectively functions as a slightly awkward double-jump. I’ve also found a new sword called Brunhilde that has an attack pattern I like. Its air attack lets you float a little higher with your jumps, and this combines with the jump slash to make aerial movement tricky and fun. Speaking of movement, I’ve noticed that dodges are faster than running, so I’ve gotten into the habit of chaining them to get around. It looks like a frog hopping in fast-forward and can be dangerous when enemies are in the way, but it’s fast.

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