Achelous DX

Achelous DX
Release date: Jun 30, 2024	Author: Exister	Download: 2.0 (36 downloads) Download: 1.0 (18 downloads) (169 downloads of previous versions)
Genre: Exploration [?] Game:	Difficulty: Veteran [?]	Average runtime: 0:26 Average collection: 11%
Read Me: [None]	Forum Thread: Release Thread Forum Thread: DX Release Thread	Rating:

Description

This is a hack made for the starbase contest in a month. It's hard, expect to die at least once and caution is reccomended. The DX version is a updated version who's changes can be viewed on the DX formum page.

Screenshots

Ratings and Reviews

By Voltekka on Jul 02, 2024 (

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11% in 0:20

Boring and uninspired short hack.

By junkrares on Jul 02, 2024 (

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12% in 0:34

My original review was very short, but I am going to expand a bit. This hack feels like a chore, front to back. There's very little flow, there's no ammo even though the screenshots show it -- making me think even the creator of the hack wasn't good enough to handle the artificial difficulty without missiles and supers.

Every enemy (except the bosses) hit like a truck, palettes and tiling are grating and uninspired, and the map is... OK. Every bit of the difficulty in this hack is forced damage from off-screen enemies and it isn't veteran, it is just mean for the sake of meanness. Half the time you cannot even tell what is the background and foreground, and every single tile is a square edge (except a handful of triangles).

I got every major available, and probably missed one e-tank. The map erasing after Kraid made it so I had to hunt around the entire map again just to find Ridley. And once he was dead, it was just over. The escape was one room, a mere 20 foot walk to your ship that just conveniently redocked itself next to the boss.

I can understand this was done in a short timeframe. That still doesn't excuse the lack of quality or execution. I've seen Exister's ROTM submissions and played the Subper Meptroid demo, and truly expected more out of this. Play at your own risk.

By starlightintheriver on Jul 02, 2024 (

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13% in 0:22

Honestly... not as bad as I thought it would be going into it.

Achelous is just... really bland and inoffensive. The level design isn't particularly interesting, nothing really stands out about it. I like the visuals, but that's probably just because i've played so many YNFGs, and/or have bad taste. (I was especially fond of the fleshy areas, I think having a "flesh pit" type area is something that's a bit underutilized in Metroid games. It doesn't even have to be supernatural, you could make it a giant organism like Phaaze)

It's also really not as hard as the Veteran ranking seems to imply it is. Junkrares is right, enemies hit like a truck, but they're also the same basic stuff as in vanilla SM and you can almost always avoid them by just taking your time as you travel. I can't say I don't understand why people wouldn't want to sit around and wait for a good opportunity though.

Overall, I think my biggest complain is just that it's uninspired. There's nothing really good OR bad to really sink your teeth into, it's not much more than just a bisexually-lit maze. Because there's nothing outright bad I don't feel comfortable giving it only one star, but since it's such a nothingburger I don't feel comfortable giving it more than two. I think this can be good if the level design is refined and the setting is made more fun, but until then, sorry for the low rating.

Sidenote, I think the choice between not having Kraid and having Kraid erase the map data is actually a lot closer than it initially seems. I feel like another boss (maybe Draygon, since the hack has Grapple) would have worked well if you just replaced him entirely.

By Onnyks on Jul 02, 2024 (

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% in 0:32

I didn't understand a lot of what was going on here. Hack is filled with surprise and blind damage, that is deadly early on. Slow platforming is one thing, but the seahorse ambushes were just rude. The lack of ammo (despite what the screenshots show) or a gate for charge beam means you can dive right into Kraid's room with no tools to beat him. Yes, the save is right outside so there isn't much lost, it was just a strange moment where you're faced with an ironically slow death against the weakest enemy in the hack.

There were only a couple of progression items, and their purpose was generally singular. Speed booster was only used to unlock a pair of Etanks I think, and I got softlocked at one of them thanks to reforming blocks below Samus.

An ammo-less hack is at least an interesting take, and the secrets were understandable despite not having bombs to reveal anything. I liked the mood of the vibrant colour palette, vaporwave ftw.

By RT-55J on Jul 03, 2024 (

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13% in 0:23

While the original version of this was not the greatest contest hack, I thought it was a fair bit better than the earlier reviews were letting on. The updated version of this turns it into a fairly respectable minihack.

Combat is the name of the game here, with things moving hard and hitting fast. Fortunately (with the new update), enemy placement and damage values are reasonable, and energy progression is well-balanced.

The aesthetic of the station is unique, with a bizarrely square tileset and murky bisexual lighting almost everywhere. The contrast between the foreground and background was greatly improved in the DX version, which combined with the palette glows and outdoor space tiles makes the hack now look quite nice and rather distinctive --- it's certainly more interesting than reheating the Wrecked Ship or Ceres tilesets, at least.

The decision to have no consumable items to collect is delightfully odd.

Don't be dissuaded by the reviews of the original version --- give it a try.

Note: Completion stats are based off the original version.

By Kirarin on Jul 04, 2024 (

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10% in 0:18

As RT-55J said, a bit better than expected!

The Veteran difficulty is somewhat proper. Depending where you go first the hack might be difficult for the regular player, but as soon as you get a couple of e-tanks the challenge it's mostly gone. I'd done this deathless if I didn't find Ridley before Kraid; oh well.

I like the usage of pink and violet, but the background and foreground mixed way too well and it got confusing. The hack really needed a different palette for those moments. The red eyes and eye thingies were cool, even if most rooms were rough on the edges and not smooth.

The hack was mostly alright. Not amazing, not terrible. I liked the custom sprite for the Charge guardian. It would've been a better experience if sfx and coloring was more polished imo.

By Croakomire on Jul 10, 2024 (

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11% in 0:22

Playable, got boring extremely fast once I got an e-tank.
Tiling and colors don't actually look like anything cohesive, they just look.
Tries to be combat centered, but instead feels like any other "increased enemy damage" hack unfortunately.

By Zhs2 on Jul 25, 2024 (

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12% in 0:15

I liked it. Practically the only problems it had was that all of the enemies were from Norfair when you were in basic gear, save stations were few, and it's super easy to run into a boss and get killed without having found the necessary Charge Beam needed to beat them up first. It has a skewed difficulty curve, tough before you find any items but simple once you have a few. You could definitely make an argument for bad aesthetics and finding difficulty in distinguishing between foreground and background in most rooms, and this is a pretty big reason I can't rate this hack terribly high, but it's still serviceable and there are some room themes that definitely appropriately unsettle you. I definitely recommend playing this for the small amount of time it takes to finish.

By OmegaDragnet9 on Aug 05, 2024 (

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8% in 0:26

Achelous DX Review from my 08/19/2024 playthrough. Version 2.0:

Highly recommend. This is at least a 4 orb hack all day long.

GFX greatly enhanced. (I think the fleshy tiles being perfectly square is odd, but my only gripe there.)

The Layer 2 FX1 stuff adds a lot of character to the rooms (and sorts out that foreground/background thing folks have been crying about.)

Enemies are balanced.
They don't detract from the main character, which is Achelous Station.

Exploration is rewarded (not punished.)
Ceres doors were the crowning jewel of the aesthetics.

Ridley was hard as balls, but the fight was 100% fair.

Real good stuff here.

-----------------------------

O8/05/2024 for version 1.0:

While I have some criticisms, I actually had a pretty good time playing this, and I will likely replay it in the future once I finish the last of the contest hacks.

SPOILERS:

Graphics. There was actually more to this that I thought was great than was not. While I can understand the criticism of "foreground vs background tiles" I found that ambiguity was largely nonexistent (except in a few places.) To me, foreground and background looked very clear.

My only true issue is that I wished there were more inner corner and outer corner tiles. Then again, the whole station had this digital interdimensional vibe and I think the sharp digital edges came across more as a deliberate design choice. All in all, this was some of the prettiest pink, purple and blue mosaic tiles and it really gave me strong Mega Man X5 final area flashbacks in the best kind of way.

Difficulty:

If you can get past the early game, the momentum really starts to pick up. (I believe the early steep difficulty curve is to blame for some of the 1 and 2 orb scores.)

I had read that enemies hit like a tank. I thought, "big deal. I beat Eris and Redesign." Then I kept dying, nearly immediately. Felt like every route I chose was wrong. Three times I nearly quit for good.

But eventually I learned the rules of the game and persevered. It being a short hack I believe it can get away with this.

This warns you it's a tough hack. Approach it with and open mind and love it for what it is.

By thedopefish on Aug 11, 2024 (

)

13% in 0:21

Would have been relatively short and straightforward, except that I was careless and missed a door that turned out to be very important. And as a result I spent a good bit of time stubbornly trying to beat Ridley under-equipped. Also that definitely is a color scheme.

By Kremit44 on Aug 18, 2024 (

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11% in 0:20

Ugly and uninspired design I wouldn't recommend.

By Zincoshine on Sep 28, 2024 (

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% in 0:59

I suspect that the previous reviews were all for the 1.0 version of the hack because they don't seem to align with my experience playing this. This is the second best quickplay super metroid hack that I've ever played (thanksgiving is the best one). The positives are that the world a cohesive unit with decent ability gates and can be completed without advanced moves. Another positive is the originality of this world: Instead of another incarnation of zebes we get a totally original setting in a space ship. The negatives are the lack of QoL features for the map, the hi-jump being hidden in a secret spot despite it being a critical upgrade needed for progression, and the very blocky/ugly tiling for the interior of the ship. I was not able to defeat the final boss but that's probably just a skill issue as I get acquainted with the controls on the steam deck. I definitely recommend trying this out.

By Dime on Oct 12, 2024 (

)

9% in 0:30

I grabbed version 2.0 of this hack. The reviews for this hack appeared to be a little negative, but I downloaded anyway and started playing.

Now first off, the hack is kinda hard, and whilst this was frustating to start with the issue was my expectations. There are places where skill is needed to avoid damage and there are a few btis designed so the player will take damage. So, adapt. The hack is listed as veteran difficulty, and once I'd adjusted my play style to not just steam through the map, be a little more careful and patient I did a lot better.

Noticed another critisism was the colour pallet, to be honest, after I played a while and let my eyes adjust to what provided collision and what didn't, I liked it. Especially the blue and purple colour scheme.

Progression felt alright and somewhat rewarded me for my time, and when I managed to hit a location that I couldn't escape from, the author was good enough to discuss it on Discord. The bosses were pretty challenging with just Charge and Varia, Ridley took me 5 attemtps.

Take the hack for what it is, a small experience in a space ship with enemies that hit hard and a layout that will demand a bit of patience. Set your expectations appropriately and you'll have fun.

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