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Anonymous User asked:

All of your Metroid write-ups recently have been fantastic, and a great insight into some game design choices and thoughts about genres that I hadn't really thought of before (Seriously, "Metroid isn't about blowing up secret boxes" should be on some game dev's whiteboards in the top left corner as a reminder).

Curious thought, though, have you happened to play La-Mulana and or its sequel? I love them, but their design perplex me in a very unusual way, and I haven't ever seen anyone inspect them under a lens and discuss why the game does or doesn't work, and what the sequel did to change it to be almost more friendly to people (which imo felt like it hurt it's gameplay and vibe a little bit, but I've heard that its also people's preferred game of the two).

Either way, keep up the great work!

It's tough, I haven't played La Mulana in a LONG time (and never 2). I played the real old fake MSX version. My memory is hugely shakey so take all this with a grain of salt.

I made the map above trying to connect some areas, excluding their back sides and like... it kinda STARTS working and quickly falls apart. I had to just throw my hands up in the air and give up and there are still plenty of maps to try and fit in.

Through the lens of a "Big M Metroidvania" this would be.... a mess. I wouldn't say it'd necessarily be a failure, it could be to confuse you! ... but La Mulana isn't exactly trying to confuse you and La Mulana isn't trying to be a "Metroidvania". It's trying to be La Mulana.

La Mulana isn't that concerned with navigation. You get the grail cup early enough and get to warp. The game wants you to explore and discover. Nonsensical shortcuts don't even register because the map is so sprawling. Finding a new entrance somewhere is about "what does this let me do" more than "Oh a new way to get around". Even if a new route is useful, that use is short lived. You reach a grail tablet, get a warp.

La Mulana wants you to explore, and it wants you to have a lot of freedom. It wants you to work on puzzles and riddles, and read tablets. It wants you to be able to get around. Would it be neat if it all fit together nicely? Sure, as a like... trivia fact. But you don't feel it the same way you would in Super Metroid or Dark Souls. You don't feel the betrayal of your orientation, good and bad, that comes with playing M2.

La Mulana's areas are constructed very thematically, they tend to either have gimmick shape of some sort, or b relatively linear. As far as I remember, it's never hard to remember how to get around in La Mulana because of all of the obtuse things in the game, they keep that part easy. This is a game about wandering around, taking notes, and banging your head on the wall. It's about doing things in different sequences not as a "sequence break" but because the game knows you need be able to dwell on certain puzzles sometimes. You need something else to do when you're stuck.

I can't tell you where this succeeds and stumbles because it's been over 10 years, but the Metroidvania lens doesn't do La Mulana justice. It's about local design more than global design and it's about keeping you engaged in problem solving.

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