La-Mulana 2011

Is it still worth playing?

Lemeza, an archaeologist, goes into the ruins of La-Mulana, said to be the cradle of every civilization, and finds a thing called the Mother that fell from space. This 2011 remake of the 2006 freeware original came out on WiiWare in Japan first and in the West in September 2012, and on PCs and the Vita after. It is a Metroidvania with the signposts taken out: the ruins open in no set order as items and powers are found, the clues are read from the ruins themselves, and the challenge is brutal. The design means you to think twice before jumping into a dark pit, as the archaeologist would. A sequel came in 2018. The pits still punish a guess and reward the one who reads the walls first.