Constance

I went into Constance expecting a cozy bite‑sized Metroidvania and came out with mixed but warm feelings. The game nails atmosphere and movement — think Celeste’s flow with a paintbrush — yet occasionally trips over pacing, boss patterns and a map that could use more clarity.

Constance turns you into a paint‑wielding protagonist who dives into walls, slices through air and uses brush techniques to traverse and fight. Paint is both resource and mechanic: you unlock new abilities, but overuse corrupts your Paint bar and brings penalties — a neat risk/reward that forces choices in combat and platforming. The world is an interconnected, non‑linear inner landscape with biomes representing parts of Constance’s psyche; each area introduces mechanics that feed into platforming challenges and boss encounters. You’ll collect Inspirations to slot into your sketchbook (a charm‑like system), take map snapshots as pins, and upgrade sketches with gathered materials. Death has options — revive in place at a cost or return to the last safe point — which I appreciated for player agency. Highlights are the buttery movement, the paint tricks and the soundtrack; weak spots are repetitive boss phases that rely on long invulnerable windows, a healing system tied to breakables, occasional jumpy platforming spikes and the game’s relatively short runtime. Overall it’s a polished little package with clear artistic vision, even if it sometimes feels like the first act of a bigger game.

Constance is a lovely, art‑forward Metroidvania with clever ideas and satisfying traversal — just don’t expect a sprawling epic. For players who value atmosphere and tight movement over length and tight boss design, it’s worth a shot.