Today GameCritics is happy to present this video covering Gestalt: Steam & Cinder from guest contributor Arlyeon. For more from Arlyeon, you can check out their YouTube channel or their Discord. Also, you can support them on Patreon!
TRANSCRIPT: Hey Folks! My Metroidvania binge continues- since I’ll be tackling Metamorphosis Games’ Gestalt: Steam & Cinder – which takes a narrative heavy approach to the genre. But that begs the question, doesn’t it? Was Gestalt a whole lot of hot air, or was it more than the sum of its parts? I’m your host Arlyeon, Let’s find out together.
To say that the world of Gestalt is troubled, is to put it lightly. First, the Calamity leveled the world- reducing it to a post Apocalyptic state. That said, it was then followed closely by the opening of the Abyss, a nigh-literal gate to Hell. Oblivion seemed all but assured- until humanity built a bunch of friggin Sentai, fueled by the Abyss to fight back. There were definitely no repercussions to this. Surely, these Abyssal Knights didn’t become corrupted by their power, kicking off a rebellion which tore the remnants of society apart. And, a generations long civil war? Unfathomable.
So, yeah- the world of Gestalt is in pretty rough shape, to the point that it’s honestly surprising they’ve reached steampunk levels of technology. Not that it’s doing much good, given that a -third- apocalyptic event is potentially due, and an attempt at a truce fails -right- out the gate.
Terrible stuff, really. Which makes it a relief that the focus of this story is Aletheia- a Soldner (*Cough*Mercenary*Cough*) who’s just trying to get by. Or, she would be- were it not for the fact that she finds herself in the wrong place at the right time- and soon finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy that will determine the fate of the city, and reveal her own forgotten path.
All in all, it’s a fairly neat premise- and one that the game puts a lot of work into telling. Only- the way it’s executed frequently comes at the expense of the gameplay. Let me explain myself here. In and of itself, the cutscenes do a decent job of laying out the overall premise of the game- but, they’re extremely intrusive, often queuing up as you’re progressing through an area. And I do mean often, since if you’re moving at a relatively steady clip (see: not exploring/grinding excessively)- it’s entirely possible for the game to wrench you out of playing the game not even 15 or 20 minutes after an earlier scene. And this can just *chain* together, given the sheer number of scenes lodged in Gestalt.
Which then brings me to the next point. Because as jarring as that is- what finally broke any semblance of immersion for me, was how more than half of Gestalt’s story wrench the focus away from the protagonist, and settle it squarely on the machiavellian plots that are currently happening behind the scenes. Much of which, I should mention, boils down to a combination of exposition, and foreshadowing for some fairly belated pay offs.Ultimately, I came away feeling that the story is less a matter of organically discovering the events at hand, and more a matter of sitting through the synopsis of a plot.
A sometimes repetitive synopsis, given the dialogue will echo itself- as though it has little faith in the players ability to follow along. But, honestly- despite everything, I do have to give it credit. At the end of the day, Gestalt had managed to build up some fairly central questions- which I was legitimately looking forward to seeing answered.
And then the game ended. It’s hard for me to describe how abrupt the conclusion feels, but if I have to: Shameless Sequel baiting feels the most accurate. I felt -robbed-, both by the ending itself, and the sheer lack of closure, or answers. It’s just more ominous foreshadowing and the promise that the player will eventually get answers, if only they’d poke at the sequel. Yeah. Sort of a grim note to finish the story segment segment on, but, here we are.
So, let’s shift gears and talk shop about Steam & Cinder’s gameplay. Which, given its nature as a Metroidvania, means it’s about time to tackle its’ exploration elements. Aaaand the awkwardness I ran into here. Now, I do want to be clear here- I am rather fond of the Gestalts stage design, as venturing through the regions felt nice enough the first time around, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the manner in which they each harbored their own distinct obstacles and enemies. And I will never complain when a game takes steps to enable efficient shortcuts for a diligent player. That said- for a title that exists within this genre, the experience felt fairly linear.
When I explored a region, I generally found myself guided through the bulk of its content, to the point that it began to cultivate a sense of almost being on rails. While this does mean you’ll get to see the gist of the puzzles and obstacles that will define each of the regions, and in fact, would be hard pressed to bypass what it has in store for you- this ultimately makes the game feel closer to an action platformer, rather then the exploration focused endeavor I was hoping for.
That’s not to say side paths didn’t exist, but, the majority of them felt quite shallow, to the point that there were only a handful of times where I found myself rewarded with anything more than a new shortcut, or a small nook with a chest or collectible, after I’d backtracked to a location with the double jump, or air dash.
And even when it did provide -something- it’d be extremely limited in scope- to the point that I’d only really encountered a handful of solid optional puzzles by the time the game had run its’ course, and the crux of those were near the finale.
So, yeah- again, I was *super* grateful that the shortcuts were as robust as they were, because between that, and early access to a fast travel system- it meant that backtracking was less painful than it might otherwise have been, given the pay off.
But, okay- I’ve said my bit on navigating its world. What I haven’t addressed is the combat and character building- and this is where Gestalt has a bit more to offer on a mechanical level. Take the basics of combat- while you’re initially limited to a brief sword combo, a 1 shot pistol, and a pair of (stamina-limited) evasive options, it wastes very little time before introducing the stagger meter, and a secondary pistol shot which eschews direct damage in favor of chunking it. – Given that a staggered enemy is disabled for a decent amount of time, loses any existing defense they may have -and- takes extra damage- this small change already provides players with more choices, such as whether they should focusing on disabling an armored enemy to finish it off, or to pick off potentially squishier enemies while it’s disabled, or even just use the guns normal shot to just vaporize something small to facilitate maneuvering around. (And Gestalt’s ammo system adds another strategic layer entering the equation, since the bulk of your energy is generated by hitting enemies who -aren’t- staggered- forcing you into the fray in order to make use of the mechanic).
Something, I should note, that worked incredibly well during the boss fights, since their health and defense ensured fights will drag on by default, forcing a player to find the gaps in their attack patterns to generate the energy needed to stagger and melt them.
And that feeling was further reinforced when I unlocked the crunchy heavy attack, which provided a short range option to spend ‘ammo’ on. But even with that, it didn’t actually take all that long for Gestalt’s combat to feel as though it had plateaued for me.
The biggest factor simply boiled down to how its fights pan out, because, sure, there may be a decent array of enemies to fight- but a lot of those normal enemy encounters boil down to them spamming one of two attacks, generally only leaving enough time to roll through, take a slice, and back off. And I do mean needing to back off, because enemies do not have any form of hit stun, disincentivizing attempts at trying to do more elaborate combo-chains, if you don’t want to trade hits. (And remember that whole- ‘Estus Flask’ thing?).
No small wonder, then, that I began to cheese the encounters as best as I could. Such as sitting on a platform below an enemy, and tickling their feet with standing or jumping slices until they died, or smacking one through a wall.
Still, what’s weird about all this, is that it runs afoul of another of Gestalt’s systems- specifically, Aletheia’s leveling tree. While the majority of it is composed of stat nodes that boost her health, or damage- there’s also a number of skill nodes, ranging from passive extensions to light combo, or ammo capacity, to more active options- like new heavy attacks. Which sounds like it’d be neat, but- well, I never found a point where attacking out of a backstep was more efficient than rolling behind an enemy. It certainly didn’t leave me as vulnerable.
And this is only compounded in the case of the alternate heavy attacks, because while they’re pretty- they also tend to be situational, to the point that I never really found myself leaning on any of them organically. Their case also wasn’t helped, by the skill nodes which further ramped the power and utility of the safer gun options. If you cap out the skill tree, they are powerful to an unhinged degree- and well, Gestalt makes it easy, since even after maxing out the tree & emptying the skill point shop, I had leftovers.. (But then, it is kind enough to grant them for leveling, completing quests, and for certain collectibles).
Not that this enables you to break the game early on, since Alethia’s leveling tree is gated, with portions of it only unlocking once she’s acquired the relevant progression ability. Also, this weird bit of generosity isn’t just limited to your skill points- since it also provides you a few backup materials to improve your healing item. …and by a few, I mean- there came a point where I was hoping to see something else would pop out of a chest. Seriously, even with potion upgrades costing more with each new improvement, I had enough to boost it again, and still have change left over. Which is sort of busted, because the boosts to healing efficiency you unlock in the skill tree are additive, making each one practically a full heal by the end of the game.
No, what I was hoping for was more accessories, because- well. Accessories are perhaps the only real difference most players will see in their characters’ end game builds- being a set of up to 4 items you can equip to our stalwart Soldner. And they are certainly useful, being able to reduce damage you take by a percent, or boosting your damage.. Or- um. Yeah. No, the vast majority of them really do boil down to being stat sticks that you slot in. That’s not to say there aren’t a couple novel ones in there, like one that makes potions faster to use,, but- it’s mostly a matter of crunchy numbers. – Not everyone’s cup of tea- but, I enjoyed building a semi efficient Crit Build. And it’s not like you’re disincentivized for messing around, given there isn’t a death penalty. (Yet another merciful mechanic, just Like Gestalt choosing to eschew pits as a source of instant death. Hence why I finished the game with only 4 fatalities by the tail end.)
Anyways, that’s gameplay- so, here we are. The aesthetics. The thing that caught my intention in the first place, because- yeah. Gestalt is a great looking game from start to finish. Whether it’s the enemy, the world, or the protagonist- everything looks -great-. I mean, yes, the maps themselves can be a little bit hazy at times- but, frankly, this is offset by the fact that you can put down relatively precise markers for points of interest to explore later.
Really, the only lingering flaw that stuck out in my mind by the game’s end, is the way that the dialogue portraits can sometimes clash with a scene that’s playing out. Because each character only has 1. Still, what we’re given instead is a world where the actual characters are animated during the scenes you’re seeing- so, I think it’s a worthwhile trade, however distracting it may be. Oh, and audio wise? The music slaps. It does such a great job of breathing a bit more life into the world, and building its ambience.
But, it doesn’t change my final thoughts on Steam & Cinder. And what those thoughts are, is that Gestalt is ultimately in a bit of an odd place. It’s a metroidvania that doesn’t really provide all that much on the exploration angle of things, an action platformer that can’t help but constantly interrupt its own action with multiple cutscenes, and a narrative experience that kneecaps its finale, while offering an empty mystery to mull over.
That’s not to say I particularly dislike any of these elements as a whole, but they’re all a bit off the mark. Working at odds with each other, rather than synergistically. Which is a shame, because I came into this title -wanting- to like it more than I do. But when I think about the 9 and a half hours I spent fiddling through it- it’s not exactly the sort of thing I’m excited to talk about.
At the end of the day, I think Gestalt is an adequate experience- but, It’s not something I’d find myself immediately recommending to someone in search of a Metroidvania, Or an action platformer, or even a narrative oriented game – unless I couldn’t think of anything else off hand – or they absolutely needed a post apocalyptic steampunk aesthetic.. So, yeah, in my book, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a beautiful, yet bizarrely fumbled experience.
Also, it sorta pained me to realize that the bulk of Gestalts’ side quests are literally MMO-tier Filler goals. I.E. kill 5 or 10 of a given trash mob, or farm drops from a given biome. Woo.
P.S. if anyone has considered commenting on how Corgi accessory would push my crit past 100%. I know. But It also enforces god mode. So, nah.
Anywho, Thanks for tuning in. If you have something ta’ say, leave a comment. I’ll catch you on the next episode of Crit Hit. Take Care till then, Folks.
- Slime Rancher 2 Review - November 11, 2025
- Echo Point Nova Review - October 14, 2025
- Rematch Review - August 27, 2025