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We first reported on Alruna: End of History, a new pixel art Metroidvania from developer Neckbolt and publisher Burning Planet Digital, last month. Since then, we’ve had the chance to play the game for ourselves and bring you our review. Alruna: End of History is out now on Steam, priced at $9.99, with a 20% launch discount still running at the time this review was posted. The game follows up on 2024’s Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists and continues the story of fighting against the destruction of nature.
Most of the story is told through interactions with NPCs that usually speak in poetic language, using metaphors or grandstanding to guide Alruna or grant her new powers. The story in Alruna: End of History certainly digs deep into the messages around saving the planet and bringing mankind out of constant consumption and destruction. None of the story is too heavy or forces the player to take a side; it mostly acts as a vessel to bring the world to life, which it does eloquently.
As with any good Metroidvania, you start with little powers beyond your basic control set and must solve small puzzles to open up the next set of rooms. As you progress, you gain more abilities and ways to manipulate the environment. The pacing of gaining powers is excellent, and although there is plenty of backtracking, most of the new powers will be contained in a smaller area of the interconnected map. Not only does this stop you having to trawl back through the same rooms to do something, but it also creates mini levels with plenty of variety.
Alruna: End of History also has boss fights, which usually culminate with a new ability or simply act as a trigger to open up new places. There are four main bosses to tackle, and once finished, the final set of rooms opens up for the big finale. The boss battles are particularly good in this game and feel like real showstoppers due to the scale of the fights and the toughness they offer. Some of the attack patterns are genius, as are the animations. The boss battles really stand out as some of the game’s best moments.
Controlling Alruna is simple enough, and there is good use of a slide mechanism as well as a dash and shoot move that can be used in multiple ways. The overall design of movement in Alruna: End of History is clever, and there are plenty of moments when you have to stop and think about what abilities you have and how you can get past a puzzle or platforming section. We don’t wish to oversell it, but the balance between action, puzzle solving, and exploration feels perfect, and at no point did we feel that we were simply going through the motions.
Alruna: End of History isn’t trying to create something new or going out of its way to dazzle. It simply takes every trope you would expect from a Metroidvania and presents it in a way that makes you feel as though progress is being made while having fun and getting the satisfaction of working things out. There are too many times when developers want to try and reinvent this genre with gimmicks or huge worlds, but Alruna: End of History just does it all well and without fuss.
Another standout aspect is the variety in areas, enemies, puzzles, and powers. Alruna: End of History slowly builds up the difficulty by naturally introducing harder enemies that blend with the previous set of enemies. This is the same for the self-contained areas that feel more like Zelda-style dungeons than a sprawling Metroidvania map. Each area has a distinct look and feel, as do the new powers you pick up to solve puzzles and gain access to new areas. Of course, there are a few secrets to uncover along the way, and Alruna can buy upgrades to health and abilities through a little shop area that also contains its own puzzles to solve.
Overall, Alruna: End of History is an excellent Metroidvania, with a distinct pixel art style that pays homage to the 8-bit era. The puzzles aren’t so difficult that you get stuck for long, the platforming is just the right side of tough but fair, and the boss battles, as well as the secrets, elevate the overall quality. The controls are also tight, and with a good background soundtrack that matches the presentation perfectly. It’s also just about right in terms of longevity, so it doesn’t outstay its welcome. This is the kind of game that retro fans, especially those who enjoy a solid adventure, need to be checking out.
