Pseudoregalia

Pseudoregalia is a game that really shouldnt have grabbed me so much. I have never played mario 64 or other 3d platformers back then, as I started gaming with the PS2 and my focus was elsewhere. Pseudoregalia tries its best to be a forgotten 3d platformer for the N64, and it absolutly nails that and then some.

First off the way that it managed to emulate the visuals back then is suberb, but thankfully they took no restrictions when it cames to FPS and long load screens. Its so good seeing more and more devs taking inspiration from the 5th console generation instead of the oversatured 4th.

The game gives you a few interconnected levels to explore. The end goal is to retrieve 5 keys to open the door to the final boss, but in order to do so you also need to find a lot of abilities that unlock your transversal movement. Its a true 3d metroidvania no doubt about that. The focus however is on the platforming, as the very complex movement later on is essencial at beating some of the hardest platform challenges. The game actually is flexible enough to let you skip a lot in a matter that doesnt seem intended, which is a blessing for speedruns but also player choice. There are some enemies in the game, but these are very basic and really offer little to no challenge.

Because the world design is quite complex and there is no in game map, I got stuck and lost, and it took me close to 10 hours to beat a 5 hours game. This however didnt made me quite or get frustrated, since the movement options are so good that they kept me entertained, and I ended up picking up the great majority of optional powerups (which made the end boss a piece of cake). You get acess to a slide and a wall jump in the tutorial section of the game, but it opens up with jump after sliding, a lunge with high jump followup, a wallrun, the ability to hit objects to increase altitude, a charge attack to destroy barriers, a long shot attack to activate faraway objects.. The game really has a high skill ceiling if you choose to master its movement abilities.

I had a really enjoyable time with this one, to the point that im certainly going to open myself to more 3d platformers in the future.