Murciavania

The Almagra seal is broken, and something broke it from within

Murciavania is a 2D action-platformer metroidvania: a guard with perfect parry, spells cast by combining directions, and a whole castle you explore, get lost in and explore again -with its reflection, on the other side of a mirror-. If you've played the great late-90s classics with that rhythm, you'll quickly see which foot this game limps on. It's a compliment.

What's different is the ground. Instead of a generic fantasy Transylvanian castle, the whole Region of Murcia, room by room: Monteagudo Castle, Caravaca, Sierra Espuña, the Mar Menor, Cartagena under its Punic name of Qart Hadasht -with trips to Toledo, Cuenca, Soria and the mythical Tartessos-. And instead of vampires and demons, the real bestiary of Murcian folklore and of festivals from all over Spain: the Enchanted Moorish Maiden, the Mussona, the Bogeyman, Don Carnal, the Tarasca of Corpus Christi, the Wine Horses, a straw Judas.

Ginés Almagra, last of a line that served the Enchanted Moorish Maiden, crosses over 440 rooms across 88 zones to recover the five fragments of a seal, find out who broke it and face 20 bosses along the way, and 27 more in hiding.

THE GUARD AND THE PERFECT PARRY

Raise your guard and block from the front whatever can be blocked, depending on what you hold in your left hand. The first 0.14 seconds are a perfect parry: nothing gets through, the enemy is stunned and its own projectile flies back at it for double damage. Every blocked hit drains shield stamina, and when it runs out, your guard breaks: almost everything gets through.

COMBO-CAST SPELLS

Ten spells, each one taught by a different relic, cast by pressing a direction and finishing with the attack -like a special move-. They cost Spirit, not infinite mana: you have to pick your moment.

OVER 180 PIECES OF GEAR, OVER 20 SUB-WEAPONS, 7 COMPANIONS

Weapons with elemental edges and status effects, armour in six slots, sub-weapons with their own charged strike -the Arrebato- and companions who fight or heal on their own. Nothing equips itself: what you wear is your choice.

THE ENVÉS: THE SAME WORLD, TURNED INSIDE OUT

A mirror doesn't flip top and bottom -it flips left and right-. The second act flips the whole map horizontally: the same 110 rooms, the same jumps, stronger enemies (double health, +45% damage) and four new bosses, all the way to whoever really broke the seal.

THE 14 SECRET ZONES OF THE REGION OF MURCIA

Behind certain walls, under the water or at the bottom of a lightless well, Murcia hides another Murcia: fourteen optional secret zones that stay off the map until you find their entrance, and that only open with the right relic or ability.

• The Espuña Sanatorium, the Passages of Light, the Mining Hills and the House of the Holy Office

• The Island Mansion on the Mar Menor, the Walled-Up Woman of the Concepción, the Harbour Cave and the Shoals of Cabo de Palos

• The Palace of the Hooves in Lorca, the Almadenes Gorge in Cieza, the Baths and Mount Ope in Archena and the Cave of Treasures of Mount Arabí

• The San Cristóbal Mines in Mazarrón and, for those who make it to the very end, the Sky of the Conjurations

Each zone also has its own side in the Envés: over 200 new rooms, 27 secret bosses, dozens of new enemies, their own relics, weapons and gear, new tiles with Murcian legends, new music and 34 more achievements.

HANDMADE, THOROUGHLY TESTED

Murciavania is made by MANZASOFT, a one-person studio. Every system is validated with over 9,000 automated checks before anyone touches a controller: jumps measured to the pixel, every boss fight played through, every room on the map checked against its neighbour. It ships complete from start to finish, with its two endings.

Murciavania is entirely in Spanish; there is no translation into other languages for now.