App Army Assemble: Vohenn - "Is this mobile-first Metroidvania a must-play?"

The recently released Metroidvania impressed Jupiter when she reviewed it, praising its pixel art beauty and oodles of content. But would our App Army agree? We always believe in grabbing a few extra opinions here at Pocket Gamer, so we also handed it over to them to see what they thought.

Here's what they said:

Vohenn is an impressive Metroidvania-style 2D platform game with pixel art graphics. Stranded on an island, the player must negotiate levels and kill monsters. Picking up spells and charms allows you to open up inaccessible areas and increase your character's abilities.

There are a few niggles. The monsters regenerate when you re-enter an area, and the touch screen controls can lead to annoying deaths. However, this is a good platform game for iOS and is a game I’m determined to finish.

Vohenn is a Metroidvania-style action platformer that’s done exceptionally well on mobile, hitting all the right notes of some of the best the genre has to offer. And it’s really a great entry point for those looking to get their foot in the door. The beautifully crafted pixel graphics stand out with smooth and subtle animations that take you back to the age of those early classic Nintendo games. 

Sounds pair well with the environments, and the combat feels nicely fluid. The responsive touch controls work really well, with a simple attacking and jumping layout that never hinders any progress. There are some cool boss fights, and the map does a good job of keeping you on track, without that overwhelming feeling that these types of games can generally tend to get. Highly recommended!

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A great beginner-friendly metroidvania that focuses on exploration and offers a LOT of content. It looks great for a pixel art game; it's obviously a labour of love, scenery is beautiful, animations are top-notch, and there are visual hints for everything. Touch controls are simple (move left-right, jump, melee, ranged) and well done; I never had to switch to my controller even for boss fights. Platforming is generous, there's room for error, combat is all about learning patterns, and if you're patient, don't rush, don't panic and pay attention to your surroundings, you'll have a blast. 

There are plenty of secrets to be found, challenges to overcome, collectables to collect, achievements to complete, and the RPG elements are solid - not just stats, but also many charms, spells and weapons to buy/find/upgrade, and many quests to complete. Save points are very well placed, too, which means you can play for minutes and still make significant progress. Backtracking is inevitable but not tedious, because the maps aren't huge and have multiple entry points. 

There are vendors and NPCs and agility challenges and combat challenges and a very well-done interface to track them all. Summing up, it's a very well thought-out metroidvania for mobile that's sometimes challenging but never punishing. Highly recommended to beginners and veterans alike.

I have been a fan of Castlevania and Metroid since they first launched on the NES. Having said that, I'm a sucker for a game in this genre. Vohenn is the main character here, who is tasked with, you guessed it, fighting the evil that destroyed his lands, basically. The graphics are nicely detailed and crisp in a pixel art style. The animations are also quite good, with little touches like the way the character's cloak moves when you play. You have melee and magical abilities to help you along the way. 

Your magic helps you fight, but also helps you flip switches and such to find ways to get to areas. The controls worked surprisingly well with touch, but a controller would definitely cause me to make fewer mistakes, especially in boss battles. Your character levels up with an RPG-lite style (health, magic, power). The map works well, and the game is challenging but not punishing. Overall, this is a well-made Metroidvania worth checking out. Just play through the first boss before deciding if you like it.

Visually appealing. Good graphics, simple controls. Fun game, everything a Metroidvania fan should love, with some interesting ways to move (including grabbing and holding onto vines to climb). A bit of a challenge sometimes to get the timing right for a jump to get past something that seems almost impossible, but that’s part of the charm of this. Overall, a challenging but satisfying adventure. Happily recommend.

Vohenn is a substantial metroidvania with plenty of exploration and challenging bosses. The gameplay is smooth, and it works well with touch controls as well as with a controller. I love the 16-bit era graphic style and the music/fx work well with the game. A must-play for any fan of platforming or metroidvania style games. I absolutely love it.

I played it for a couple of hours, and can say that it’s a properly metroidvania, the ingredients are all there, the map, character enhancements, save rooms, challenging mid and main bosses. All in a pixel art beauty… in short, if you love Blasphemous, Bloodstained, and obviously the Castlevania franchise, this is just the game for you, go for it!

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Vohenn