ReSetna Review
ReSetna is a flawed but fun 2.5D Metroidvania.
ReSetna. Today’s Games / Module16
ReSetna, released in January by developer Today’s Games and publisher Module16, has received major updates to its systems since then. I played the game after the changes and came away satisfied with this brief but excellent close-combat-focused 2.5D Metroidvania, despite some remaining flaws.
The story takes place in a post-human world populated by robots and AI, where ReSetna is awakened to battle a mysterious force that is driving the robots mad. I wasn’t drawn in by the story and quickly stopped reading the dialogue and related lore; this didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game, as it was so much fun to play.
ReSetna. Today’s Games / Module16
As you’d expect from a game in this genre, ReSetna gains new abilities that aid traversal and give you access to previously unreachable areas. Movement in the game feels great, especially once you unlock some of those abilities, such as double jump and air-dash. There’s a grappling ability where you can pull yourself toward glowing orbs and fling yourself through the air; this is the only movement mechanic that felt unpolished, as it was a bit frustrating and unpredictable. Being able to hold on to these grapple points before choosing a direction for your propelled leap may have been better.
Combat is fun, with three distinct weapons you unlock over the course of the game that all feel great to use. Parry timing is generally intuitive to grasp, and it feels responsive; however, I ended up using dodges mostly. Normal enemies are never very difficult to beat as long as you’re not careless, but bosses are challenging and usually took me several attempts. Those challenges never felt unfair.
The only part of the game that left me frustrated was a VR sequence that featured a wall of death. The damage I took seemed to be increased, and death meant starting over from the beginning, making me repeat tricky platforming involving the imperfect grappling mechanic over and over again. To make things worse, the overwhelmingly red graphics of the environment made it hard to distinguish platforms and spikes due to a lack of contrast.
The world’s seven environments are well-designed and feel distinct. Finding secrets was always satisfying, and I spent a lot of time wandering around looking for things I had missed. The game’s map is helpful, with a feature that lets you mark locations with an attached screenshot. However, it was hard to distinguish between unlocked doors and walls on the map, which is a significant flaw. On the Steam Deck, the lines demarcating the doors just aren’t thick enough, and they blend into the borders of the rooms; there were a few times when I was wandering in circles, not knowing where I should go next, because I couldn’t find unopened doors on my map. They should have been a different color or marked in some other, more easily distinguishable way.
ReSetna. Today’s Games / Module16
ReSetna features a customizable chip upgrade system, where you can place tetromino-shaped chips on a grid to equip buffs that modify your abilities. I most recently saw a similar system used in Yar’s Rising. Here, it wasn’t quite as effective; there weren’t enough available chips to make me have to make significant choices in how to spec my character.
The game’s 2.5D look, with real-time 3D-rendered environments, helps make the environments distinct, with each room in every zone being unique. The levels have a lot of depth, which looks especially good when played with decent graphics settings that blur foreground elements. However, some combat encounters are placed near distracting foreground elements that block my vision; my view should never be obscured during critical moments like these.
ReSetna. Today’s Games / Module16
Despite some of its flaws, I had a great time playing ReSetna, thanks mainly to its well-executed traversal mechanics and the responsiveness and feel of its combat. I can’t identify the major changes the developers made in their updates, but whatever they were, they worked.
ReSetna is available now on Steam.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: Steam Deck
