Zeran's Folly

My first instinct with Zeran's Folly was to write it off as a Newgrounds relic that somehow washed up on Steam, and I am genuinely glad I didn't. This is a solo-developed 2D action-adventure platformer with a Metroidvania skeleton underneath all the foul language and cartoon gore, and once you accept what it is on its own terms, there is something quietly special buried inside it. You play as Lone, a dual-axe-wielding amnesiac working through seven worlds alongside a rotating crew of up to seven playable characters, each with their own abilities, talent trees unlocked by talking to specific NPCs, and upgradeable rings that grant passive bonuses like wall-sticking or improved heart drops. The Whisper Stone checkpoint system is forgiving in the right ways: you respawn at the last stone touched, keeping keys and collected loot on death, which keeps frustration from tipping into genuinely unfair punishment territory. The deeper loop has real Metroid DNA, with newly unlocked overcharge skills blowing open previously sealed walls and keys hidden in hard-to-reach spots rewarding thorough exploration. New Game Plus lets you carry your full kit into a replay, and the Steam version adds an optional randomly generated dungeon and three bonus characters you have to earn through side content. Now, the caveats, and they matter. The platforming physics have a floatiness that takes real adjustment; momentum carries farther than you expect, slopes produce diagonal jumps, and melee range is stingier than it looks. Enemy placement in certain stretches edges from challenging into sadistic, with a few sections that feel less like skill tests and more like attrition. Boss fights are mostly frantic button-mashing affairs with some notable exceptions that actually reward pattern reading. The humor is aggressively crude, leaning hard into shock-value gags involving nudity, profanity, and some content that will put off players who aren't already fans of that particular comedic register. That tonal choice is a feature to some, a deal-breaker to others, and I think it is fair to call it upfront. What holds this together is the handcraft underneath the vulgarity. The soundtrack genuinely surprises, pivoting from breezy island rhythms to punchy metal without feeling incoherent. The art is bright and purposeful for a one-person production. And the story, crude packaging aside, is actually about loyalty and the cost of memory, which is more than most budget platformers attempt. A standard playthrough runs seven to ten hours, the pacing earns that runtime, and the free demo version on the developer's own site means you can test the controls and tone before committing to the Steam release.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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