Metroidvania-style games have been hugely popular since the early days of gaming. Developers 18Light Game, FunZone Games, Joy Brick Inc., and publisher Happinet delivered us something that was new yet close to heart back in 2021. They have now ported Pronty onto the Nintendo Switch. Let’s see how the experience transferred onto the handheld console.

Story

Pronty is a simple story that I think holds a bit of an impact. It is set in the oceanic city of Royla, a once-thriving aquatic city. You are awoken in your safe house and it’s your birthday! Surprise, now you’re old enough to become a protector of the city! You leave your safe house only to find that Royla is in shambles and seemingly abandoned. You then come across your combat coach robot who informs you that you’re the last protector of Royla, but you still have to go through the combat training procedures.

After combat training, you leave your safe area and start exploring Royla to find your first enemies. You come across some red noxious gas that will kill you very quickly if entered. Your Bront informs you that there is toxic pollution and you are unsure of how it got so deep into Royla. The pollution also seems to be causing mutations in local wildlife. It seems that fish have fused with plastic and other types of trash and pollution seem to be fusing with wildlife. There is then a loud ROAR above your head where you see a giant behemoth of a fish who you find out is named Raksha. Raksha has been tormenting Royla for hundreds of years but has been missing for quite some time. Is Raksha to blame? Is there something sinister afoot? It is up to you and your mechanical pal to discover what has happened to the city of Royla and who or what is causing this pollution.

Gameplay

The game starts with you waking up on a bed of algae in your Safe House, which you will visit a lot since it is where you heal and adjust your perks on your Memory Board. You are also introduced to your sidekick who doubles as your weapon. He is a mechanical swordfish named Bront. From here you go through basic movement training and then you engage in a training procedure to learn the combat mechanics.

The combat works in an interesting way. You aim your Bront around and there are a couple of different attack types. You can quick tap for some light quick damage or you can hold down the attack button for a heavy-hitting damage type. You play through and unlock abilities like a dash to help evade enemies, and later you unlock an ability where you release a wave of water that can deflect projectiles. As you play through the game you unlock attachments for your Bront, such as an upgrade to his body that allows him to surround you and act as a shield that can also damage enemies. You unlock other attachments as well, like a hard head attachment that allows you to break through walls previously there to block you from getting through. As you progress through the game you will find collectibles that will give you perks that you can adjust through your memory board at your home base. Your perks add to your preferred fighting style. You can make it so you heal yourself as you defeat enemies or you can deal some extra bonus damage when dashing through an enemy.

After your combat training, there is a cutscene and then it guides you through some caves in the ocean as it introduces you to your first couple of enemies. Then you are thrown in quickly to your first boss fight. It wasn’t too difficult, but it got the job done and shows you what to be aware of as you’re coming up to boss fights. After the boss fight, you continue on to find that the ocean is being filled with pollution by an unknown being. Your job as a protector of this Modern Atlantis is to figure out who or what is causing this deadly pollution.

My playthrough of the game was pretty challenging as I played it on the Protector difficulty or what would be known as Hard. There is a large map that takes plenty of time exploring and there are certain places that are inaccessible until after you have unlocked different abilities in the game. There are numerous bosses to fight and there are Challenge rooms that you can choose to do to unlock exclusive abilities and upgrades.

Audio and Visual

The visuals in the game are what you would expect from an aquatic metroidvania game, which is not a bad thing. For the most part, the game can be pretty dark, and on the handheld Nintendo Switch, it can be a little too dark at times. But other than that, there are some scenes in the game that are pretty surreal to see. One thing I will say that I didn’t care for too much that only added to difficult visibility was the shine on the screen that at times made it seem that my screen was dirty. I ended up cleaning my screen a couple of times to be sure that wasn’t the issue.

The music in the game adds to the underwater giving an all-alone vibe which I really liked. It gave it an eerie sound that really gave it the feel that you were deep underwater. The sounds of Bront hitting walls and enemies, and when you dash through the water actually translate very well.

Replayability

There are a few ways that this game can keep you playing after completing the main story. There are challenge rooms that aren’t required to complete during the game but you gain bonuses for doing so. These are challenging rooms where you are thrown wave after wave of enemies where you fight until the simulation is done. The story also doesn’t take you through the whole map so for you explorers out there it may take some problem solving to explore parts of the map. For the collectors there are plenty of collectibles to find all over the map that might not add that much play time but it’s a reason to revisit. There is a challenge room specifically for a boss rush where you will fight your way through the bosses you’ve already defeated. But probably the biggest replay reason, there are multiple endings to the game so if you’re curious you might want to dive back in and see what there is to do different.

What It Could Have Done Better

The controls being handheld aren’t the smoothest. They could have made it easier to aim your Bront on handheld and made swapping abilities a little easier. Sometimes during a crucial low health part of a boss fight, no matter how many times I aimed and fired it seemed like I could not hit them or it would auto-lock onto a normal enemy.

There are also abilities that allow you to gain access to other parts of the map that weren’t previously accessible. They don’t guide you back to these spots so it is a little bit of retracing your steps until you can find your way.

Verdict

Pronty was a familiar yet new experience. I enjoyed the storyline and the boss fights were punishing but the satisfaction after beating them was extremely satisfying. There is also enough replayability to have me return to the game and play it more. There is plenty of ground for you to cover as the game doesn’t require you to go to every corner of the map to beat it, not to mention the Boss Rush mode and the Challenge rooms. The game didn’t have any problems running on the switch so other than the darkness it doesn’t really have any graphical problems. But all in all, it is a fun handheld experience that would be perfect for taking up time on a long car ride or waiting for a bus especially for $24.99 USD.

Pronty was originally released in 2021 on PC via Steam and will be available March 7th for the Nintendo Switch.