I don’t have a lot of free time to play games just for fun, so when I carve out a few hours of my evening, I want my actions to count for something. That said, my first encounter with the Ultros cycle didn’t go well.

Exploring the abandoned alien-turned-flourishing ecosystem known as the Sarcophagus for the first time was beautiful, exciting, but also difficult work. Understanding platforming in any metroidvania can take some getting used to, but the landscape of Ultros was so wild that it was sometimes difficult to determine which direction was up, let alone the right path to follow. There were also angry alien creatures on every corner of the map, ready to chip away at my health one hit at a time. Needless to say, finding the first boss wasn’t easy.

Little did I know that fighting this rabid crustacean beast would be the least of my worries. I had spent all my time preparing for this moment, collecting food that I had harvested from the ship to unlock different skills: kick, double jump and a third attack for my final combo. But after getting my hands on a shaman (my prize for winning) after killing the beast, I was teleported back to the start of the game and deprived of all my precious upgrades.