TL:DR: Basically aside for a few technical issues this a SOLID GOOD GAME but 80s-90s game design references can easily be mistaken for a lack of polish or just bad game design by people less familiar with the genre and/or older games.

A very solid Metroidvania a balanced alloy of "Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse" and "Symphony of the Night" styles of Metroidvania games - perfectly evoking feel of games from 90s.

Clearly has some technical issues - specifically when interacting with menu (stutters) or trying to do double/triple jumps combined with air dashes (sometimes inputs don't register or come through with a small delay - causing to lose altitude and miss the platform).

Other than that... Game perfectly achieves what it was aiming for though some of it can be confused for a lack of quality due to those choices being a clear design choice to mimick games from 90s - for example:
- "OHKO sudden traps" - could be viewed as bad design but game actually puts extra effort into death sequences if you do land into them or usually have something to warn about their existense before you walk into them like NPCs warning you about "That deadly trap my brother walked into cemetry trying to check on a red glow" or trap itself having a very obvious RED marking or corpses of OTHER VICTIMS and enough space before entering "dead zone" so you can go "Nope, not going there" - in essence this is also a throwback to 90s game design of "Deadly traps" but this game at least actually gives you hints or makes your death "special" instead of just instant "-9999 HP" with zero flair.
- Voice acting - sounding a bit flat with echoes - some people who are not familiar with old games from the genre would think that it is because "Devs failed to do it properly" but in reality it looks like an intentional choice to make it sound EXACTLY like voice acting was in the like of "Symphony of the Night".

"When Game gives you 20 hours in Japanese Crosswords, don’t solve them, make Game take Japanese Crosswords back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn Japanese Crosswords! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see Game’s developer! Make Game rue the day, it thought it could give ME Japanese Crosswords! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna finish your Game! With the Japanese Crosswords! I’m gonna get my 2 braincells to solve those Japanese Crosswords while solving sukeban puzzles and finish your game no matter how many times I will need to eat grasshoppers to beat it!"

Amazing game. Play it. Solve it. Reach the end. Keep going, Uncover all. To the brighter future.

-Ver. 1.06-

A very very good metroidvania with beatiful visuals (with perfect contrast of Pure and White against Grey, Brown, Dark Red and Dark Green colors of Dust, Rust, Clotted Blood and Decay respectively), good level design (Artists created a very coherent picture of Ruined Kingdom which still keeps its Dark and not so dark secrets beneath with Air of tragedy permeating every corner) and fluid responsive gameplay (you'll never think that game lagged - you'll always know if something went wrong it was you).

Special mention goes to bosses which all have proper movesets with different phases + you having ability to stun bosses if you deal enough damage fast enough coupled with very good Dodge/Parry mechanics actually give incentive to play agressively.

On top of it game is very balanced and every boss battle even if you cleaned the location for every possible collectible at the moment requires learning their pattern and adjusting relics/spirits to triumph.

Last but not least - this game has INDIVIDUALITY - something to make it shine among others and for any who first looks at it - it will be gameplay where spirits acted like protectors for player character (while effectively being just different type of weapons) and design focused to highlight contrast between Pure and Blighted and how Blight slowly Corrupts.

This is an EXCELENT Metroidvania. Just one or one and a half steps below the likes of Hollow Knight and only because it is simply smaller in scope - other than that each and every part of this game is a very good part.

P.S. Good luck to devteam and I really hope to see more from them in the future. We need more good games!

A very good action-puzzle platformer

The best thing is how well story implemented and vowen into gameplay. What also makes it better that aside of collectibles relevant for current story's mystery - they actually added extra hidden mysterious stuff which creates a sequel hook - which is a good sign - every game should have something special to discover on top of regular story if player decides to go deeper.

Quite a good narrative bridge between Dashbored and next story. It is short but does a good job of showing how unstable Nash's mind has become and how hard it is to salvage... But still there is something good left there to keep it together.

From gameplay standpoint it kinda suffers from a slow start - as you can't just go with a flow - you'll need to grind EXP for a bit for a safe journey later (and money for meds and Poison pockets) - while game itself shifts towards puzzle approach in later chapters. Basically for such short narrative driven game - early part's need of stocking up on resources acts as an artifical throttle on a game flow.

Visually you can clearly see improvment over Dashboard which is the most prominent in cutscenes of dreaming Nash.

Overall it is good to see Fading Club is improving with each game even if it is a small in-between story.

An ultimate recreation of Half Life 1.
Original parts preserved and enhanced, new additions fit so well - it feels like they always supposed to be there.
My deepest thanks to the developers who despite everything finished this project. It is truly a testament to your perseverance and respect to source material...
once more, Thank you for this game and for reminding everyone what a great game Half Life is.