Astalon: Tears of the Earth

A retro metroidvania where three swappable heroes climb a tower through a death-and-upgrade loop.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.

Match your experience?

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

Execution
cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs
7/10
Tight retro platforming and boss dodging
Reads
cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent
1/10
All enemies fully scripted
Variance
cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG
2/10
Unknown tower layout on first ascent
Optimization
cheat: A perfect solver / coach
6/10
Character-swap routing and death-loop upgrade economy

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.