Constance review: "If Hollow Knight: Silksong seems too daunting, this wonderful paint powered adventure should do nicely"

What a delight this is. Constance is a Metroidvania platformer that combines beautiful artwork with tightly designed platforming. Both accessible and challenging, it's so refreshing to play a game that knows exactly what it wants to offer and packages that up perfectly without stretching itself too thin. Not too short, not too long, and full of clever moments, this is how it's done.

The story follows the eponymous Constance, an artist and digital creative who is struggling to cope with the stresses of life. The game begins with a trigger warning for the various issues it deals with, but it's never heavy going. Instead the game manages to tactfully deal with impactful, emotional content without ever over-egging it, focusing instead on great gameplay. In fact, its gentle sense of humor and valuing of kindness actually make it a pleasantly wholesome experience.

The game world is a bit like Constance herself: charming but slightly unsettled. It includes fantastical locales like a circus in the clouds and a library full of astronomical instruments, all populated by robots and some humanoid bosses. Your time is divided pretty equally between exploring these environments for new abilities that will allow you to reach new areas, and fighting imaginative and enjoyable bosses. There's nothing wildly original in any of it, but I was always eager to see what was next.

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Combat is relatively simple, though you can unlock 'inspirations' to add effects and buffs that make things more interesting. Mainly, however, you work with your paintbrush, using special strokes to dash through and hit enemies. It isn't as gimmicky as it sounds, still rooted in traditional action-platformer gameplay and not based around color switching as you might expect. Cleverly, when your paint meter is depleted from using specials, you can still paint – it just depletes your health bar instead. Just wait a short moment and the 'corruption' clears. It's commendably balanced and never annoying.

Master of Puppets

Another of the game's best features is the 'Puppet's Curse' where, upon failure, you're given the choice of returning to your last checkpoint, or continuing at the start of the room you last entered, albeit with stronger enemies. They have roughly 50% more HP than before and hit harder too. If anything this element is underplayed, as the 50% isn't that much more effort to overcome (though it does affect boss fights) but the ability to continue when you've just made a breakthrough in a tough new area is really welcome.

The difficulty level certainly rises but it's cannily balanced. Later on there are some phenomenal, short, hardcore platforming sections (including one standout where you're being chased by a giant maw, which is just sublime), with every platform and grapple point perfectly placed to challenge you without ever being unfair. Some sections do require a lot of very quick thinking as you have to push one button to bounce on spikes before pushing another to dash and another still to clear special obstacles with your paintbrush. Success feels fantastic when you finally reach the other side, but there's a chance it will prove too difficult for some players. For me, every time I thought 'this is really hard', I cleared it a few attempts later, which was mega satisfying.

The map is invaluable and soon reveals a 'snapshot' feature allowing you to pin a finite number of screenshots to the map, either to remember where things are or (at times) to fulfil side quest criteria. The broad rooms on the map can leave you slightly unsure exactly where to go, but these rooms are smaller than in the likes of Possessor(s), so you'll rarely get lost. I did spend a couple of hours looking for the last of the four tears but, had I examined the map closer, I would have noticed a dotted line indicating an exit I hadn't visited. You can even click in the right stick during the game and overlay a small version of the map in a thought bubble above you. It's slick and feels like it's on your side.

I finished the game in under 14 hours, but I probably could have done it in 12 if I'd raced through it. The game file tells you your current completion percentage so you know when you're near the end. That stat does count every collectible, so I actually saw the credits roll at 74% completion.

Bossing the bosses

The boss fights deserve special mention as they are all enjoyable and memorable too. There's certainly an element of learning the patterns each time before smashing them up, but they're so lovingly crafted and tightly designed that repeat attempts don't feel like a chore at all.

One boss glitched a little so that I didn't take any damage, which naturally made it way easier, but it was just the one. I did also experience one soft lock on the post-death screen, and the sound crackled after a few sleep cycles on my Steam Deck (fixed with a quick reboot). Overall it is a very solid experience and well optimized too, with a flawless 60fps on Steam Deck and a pretty low hit on the battery, even with the quality up full and 4x Anti-Aliasing enabled at native resolution.

Despite small annoyances and its clear retreading of countless games before it, I would go so far as to say I enjoyed Constance more than Metroid Dread and far more than Possessor(s) that's also out this month. While the likes of Hollow Knight: Silksong will doubtless lead the genre conversation this year, Constance's unique features and welcoming approachability make it a compelling alternative. Constance is a beautiful, enjoyable, imaginative, meaningful and charming take on the genre, and you should absolutely play it.

The best Metroidvania games have taken us on some incredible adventures, so we have plenty more recommendations!