The writer is part of that very small category of crazy people who, in 2010 or so, instead of investing their money in bitcoin or in much more famous and noble video games, decided to buy a title only for the bewitching cover. Ten years later, in a decidedly unexpected way, that same title is back by those who write with a little something new on a platform that we never expected to see.
Welcome home, El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron.
The historical data speak for themselves: E.l Shaddai Ascension Of The Metatron it is a title whose genesis was in itself quite odd. It was developed by the Japanese software house UTV Ignition Games, house that has supported the development of many titles without then creating any truly noteworthy product. To guide the development, however, we find a name on average known among fans: that of Sawaki Takeyasu.
Sawaki Takeyasu before throwing his head down on the making of the title he cut his teeth working as a designer for some of the greatest works of Capcom like devil may cry o Okami, putting his hand in a little more niche productions like Steel Battalion o Fatal Frame: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse.
El Shaddai, therefore, is a first work by a director who before that moment had done many different things with very different results, precisely in terms of genre and stylistic taste. On the one hand we find the calligraphic brushes by Okami, on the other i rough polygonal models of the first Playstation 2.
The final result obtained by Takeyasu and associates in El Shaddai, however, it makes everything else that came before pale (and many things that came later).
First things first.
Visually unreachable
From yesterday to today in El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron nothing has changed, quite the contrary.
After installing the title and starting it from Steam we will find ourselves in front of a couple of windows that they would not have disfigured in the slightest within the PC Gaming landscape of 2010, with settings in windows hoped for by the game one and with few graphics options. As if the title weren't enough it is not playable with the keyboard and supports only the joypads, an element that makes us turn up our noses but returns us with a certain sad nostalgia to that by now past era made up of games that on PC, objectively, ended up there by mistake.
Having overcome this first obstacle it is easy to notice, with a click of the mouse on the options interface, the first major upgrade for new players: lwith the presence of the Spanish language. The original El Shaddai was completely in English and, on the occasion of its arrival on PC, Crim Co. ltd (the new company of Takeyasu) decided to carry the adventures of Enoch also in the Italian language. In doing so it is useless not to notice the criticalities, with a new game instead of a new game and some blunders here and there but the overall result it is pleasant and helps players understand the narrative framework, which is itself quite messed up.
Here, narratively speaking El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron is one of those things so beautifully Japanese that it is impossible to remain indifferent.
Deeply inspired by the Book of Enoch, an apocryphal text of Jewish origin, El Shaddai tells of the scribe's attempt Enoch to find and bring home the seven fallen angels for prevent the universal flood. In doing this our hero will be helped by Lucifel, an angel who lives out of time who will act as an intermediary between our protagonist and the most high. In this his journey lasted several millennia the player will find himself traveling incredible places and dimensions, knowing what remains of humanity after they have been influenced by fallen angels.
For us españoles, who grew up in the midst of the infinite Christian references linked to Catholic education and practically omnipresent Catholicism, living the adventures of Enoch will mean going to watch an incredibly imaginative reinterpretation of names, places and characters that we will have heard about during catechism as children. Despite an exposure anything but clear (the story is left to the player to guess a lot, without explanations or too many dialogues) it is impossible not to be fascinated from the events that we will find ourselves living in the role of Enoch.
Much of the charm, however, all comes down to something: the artistic sector.
Although technically El Shaddai is not a particularly interesting game, also thanks to a 1: 1 port from the X360 / PS3 version, nowadays few are the titles capable of rivaling him.
El Shaddai takes the painting techniques used by Clover Studio in Okami and transfigures them to distance them even further from the earthly world, so as to be able to bring to the screen places that do not exist and never will exist with that brightness and that ability to amaze.
The polygonal graphics of the title make use of sharp outlines for the characters, theskiing, however, the textures of the environment are very bare, immersing them in a continuous kaleidoscope of changing colors. This gimmick allows the game world to get a unrepeatable atmosphere, perpetually out of this world and out of time, giving panoramas an infinitely more alien aspect than any sci-fi title ever to come to consoles. The colors mix in very variegated palettes, wisely using contrasts and chiaroscuro, sometimes giving nocturnal atmospheres, other times sunny atmospheres.
Often and willingly elements alien to the context peep out here and there, going to alienate the player even more who, however, cannot help but feel inside something credible, a work created by a man with a certain vision and a lots of expertise with certain means.
Sometimes places strive to become human (like the tower in chapter 3) by going tocalculated to lidi like cyberpunk, inspired by a certain exoticism typical of nineties Japan that draws concepts and suggestions from Akira's Neo Tokyo or Ghost in the shell's Hong Kong, without necessarily having to grasp the science fiction spirit. El Shaddai does travel from place to place seamlessly the player, alternating phases from three-dimensional action / platformer to more two-dimensional platformer ideas for a final solution to the interesting practical act.
Of course, these scenarios still do not give a great sense of exploration and the absence of a geography consistent with the rules of our world makes progress rather confusing but it is difficult to advise against El Shaddai for these reasons, so majestic is the artistic sector. Absolutely breathtaking, artistically speaking, are the horizontal platform sections, almost certainly inspiring the much better known Gris released about ten years later.
Hitting who and what, sorry?
If you want a reason not to play El Shaddai, well, we can try to mention the sicombat stema.
At the time like today, the fighting system of El Shaddai brings together a series of interesting ideas (mixing the simplicity of execution with the depth of decision making) but lacking in bite, not giving any kind of progression to experience. Our Enoch will be able to count only one button to attack which, depending on the pace at which it is pressed, can lead to different results. If we attack continuously we will get the classic three-hit combo, if we perform two attacks waiting for a moment then we will have a break guard attack, if we keep the attack button pressed we will have a charged attack and so on.
This combat system is enriched very quickly in the game through the presence of three different weapons, each intrinsically linked to the other in the classic triangular relationship where A
Clashes therefore acquire an important decision-making element where, in order to normalize the level of difficulty of clashes as much as possible, it will be necessary to understand in what order to take down the enemies based on the weapon you have. Going further in the game it will also be possible to unlock an enhanced mode with which you can do even more harm to the enemies, also a nice element that does not change the cards on the table much.
The variety of enemies, in fact, it is not very high and despite the interesting triad of weapons the total absence of progression in combat it ends up making the adventure boring quickly. The arenas in which the opponents compete are always the same, as are the war solutions to be adopted to the clashes that we will face during the vast majority of the experience. Much better go instead bossfight, more epic and with a broader scope which, however, clearly represent the least part of the experience.
Another thing that makes your nose turn up a little and slightly spoils the experience are the three-dimensional platforming sections that the game is equipped with. Poor precision in jumps, especially if you do not have the glide (power that belongs to only one of the three weapons, which fortunately are interchangeable), it will transform dendless moments in baths of tears for less tough players. The adventure lasts a little less than ten hours and, in this re-edition, it also has a final post in the form of a novel translated into English and Japanese, not a lot but certainly better than nothing.
Fortunately, the majestic soundtrack of Hayato Matsuo, a frequent collaborator, takes care of everything close to several big names in Japanese videogame musicand that in over forty tracks brings together a respectable musical panorama. The themes often become airy, with veils of dissonance and choirs that go to make the atmosphere eerily ethereal; when things get tough, however, the sound industry puts the turbo and equips itself with an ssynthesized rhythmic eection respectable, an element that gives even more power to the chants of strings that draw the melodies.
The end result is great, for a sadly little known soundtrack that deserves even more. Hayato Matsuo, with no one knows what inspiration, he managed to create a very worthy accompaniment for one of the most messed up and best viewed worlds of the last fifteen years of gaming history.
El Shaddai: Ascension Of The Metatron is a particular title, which deserved a re-release on PC perhaps better than this one but which, even so, is worthy of the attention of us players. With a semi-budget price and an artistic sector of the highest order, divided between an unrepeatable art direction and an incredibly beautiful sound, the title of Sawaki Takeyasu is appreciated despite a somewhat lackluster gameplay that deserved extra care even at the time. . The new PC version of the title can also boast a novel narrative that tells what happens after the game's ending, a little bit undoubtedly, but nothing that can distance us from putting the gist of the matter clear. If you want an artistically unattainable video game, with many beautiful suggestions and you are willing to pass over a not exactly exciting gameplay, you have found the game for you.
