[Nintendo Switch] Pronty Review | PS4Blog.net

Pronty from 18Light Game and Happinet is a great-looking deep-sea Metroidvania on Nintendo Switch. Learn more in our Pronty review!

Pronty from 18Light Game and Happinet is a great-looking deep-sea Metroidvania on Nintendo Switch. Your journey will take you through the underwater city of Royla, a place that humanity used to call home. Unfortunately, monsters that had mutated due to toxic marine waste attacked and decimated everything. You’ll take on the role of the titular Pronty, a – recently appointed – sea guardian that will be joined by javelin partner Bront as they take on the mutants and try to find the reason why the creatures invaded.

The game can be played in one of four difficulty settings: Raw Recruit, Sergeant, Protector, and Proteus. Raw Recruit is the easiest one of the bunch and is recommended for those of you who are looking for a more chill overall experience. Next up is Sergeant, which is the standard, moderate challenge. If you want to bump things up, you could play in Protector, with more dangerous enemies that will try to destroy you at all times. The last one is Proteus, and it’s recommended that you first give the other difficulties a go so that you’re not overwhelmed since bosses will also be even more challenging.

You’ll control with the left analog stick as you aim with the right one so that you can attack with the help of Bront – who behaves like a javelin – when pressing the ZR button. If you ever lose sight of Bront, you can press the L button to call him by your side. The ZL button can help you dash around the area, which is a great way of avoiding an incoming attack. Since you need to know where you’ve already been and where you should be exploring, you can press the Y button to access your map. The A button can be used to interact as needed. By pressing the X button, you’ll be able to drink Dr. Kao’s Elixir. This peculiar concoction will heal Promty’s wounds, helping to recover lost health.

The different skills that you unlock along the way will allow you to gain access to new areas, hence the whole Metroidvania nature of Pronty. Dash is one of the skills you’ll unlock right after the starting tutorial segment has been taken care of. Dash will give you a small window of invincibility, so you can use it to overcome some hazards, such as lasers. Dashing through an enemy will also mark them, making it possible for you to then send Bront to attack that enemy for extra damage.

Another skill you’ll add to your arsenal is Power Grinder. By pressing and holding down the ZR button, Bront will begin to circle the area, damaging enemies and acting as a shield that will repel enemy projectiles. While Bront repels enemy projectiles or when you use Power Grinder, it will start to accumulate more and more heat. You will need to pay attention to the heat limit marker on your cursor, as well as to the warning sound that plays before Bront overheats. If it overheats, it won’t be able to move until it automatically cools down or until you help it cool down at a faster pace by approaching it. Next up will be Power Attack. While using Power Grinder, use the right analog stick to aim at an enemy to unleash the Power Attack.

Be sure to obtain as many Memory Boards as possible since they can be equipped by Pronty to gain the upper hand on enemies. The game will start you off with the All Seeing Memory Board, which can be used to see the remaining HP of enemies. Later on, you’ll find other Memory Boards such as Gravitational Pull, which makes Pronty automatically attract and collect items from a longer distance, or Electo-Charge, which will make Pronty accelerate when using Power Grinder on enemies. Each Memory Board will require a specific number of slots to be equipped, which is why it’s important to increase how many total slots you have. You can only change your Memory Board loadout by using the Memory Board Manager at an Outpost.

As you explore each area and defeat enemies, you should keep an eye out for any loot that you find. These are known as Recyclables and are dropped by monsters or spawn after destroying some objects. The Recyclables that you collect can be used to purchase some stuff from the Outpost Keeper. You can purchase additional slots so that you can equip more Memory Boards. There’s also the option of buying more Memory Boards, such as the Overheating one, which will make Bront unleash a powerful heatwave that will damage any nearby enemies. You can also buy, say, an indicator for the map so that you can see the Outposts that you’ve visited or star, triangle, and X markers so that you can place them on the map to mark points of interest. You can also spend Recyclables on repairing the fast travel tubes at the outposts that you find.

Another important object you should look for is the GRT-112 compound. It was developed by the Royal Central Academy and is a unique type of tonic. It will boost and enhance the rejuvenation power and attack resistance of those that take it. If you manage to find three, then you can use that powerful dose to either increase Pronty’s overall hit points or boost his max stamina. You should try to balance things out and choose one upgrade and then the other one the next time you manage to collect three GRT-112. There’s also EXC-358, which enhances mobility and muscle power. Collect three to choose between increasing Bront’s attack power or heat resistance.

While progressing through the game, you’ll be adding new entries to the Encyclopedia. The Encyclopedia is split into different sections – Creatures, Locations, Records, Tutorial, and Others. The Creatures entries will be for entities such as Pronty and Bront, as well as the many enemies and bosses you’ll encounter during your journey. Locations will register the new areas that you visit. Records are for the literal round records that you’ll find floating around. Each one contains valuable information that will help to provide some insight into the world of Pronty and the 25th century. Tutorial will allow you to check all of the valuable information that you gain about how to play the game. As for Others, it will register information on things such as a special poster you find early in the game or remind you about what Recyclables are.

Pronty features an in-game achievement system with a long list of objectives for you to complete. These include defeating each of the many bosses in the game, as well as getting all of the potential endings in the game. On top of that, you’ll unlock achievements as you learn new skills, collect every single Memory Board in Pronty, explore every single area, collect every item, collect every Encyclopedia entry, and view all of the cutscenes. There are many other achievements, but talking about them would take us into spoiler territory.

Ponty is a great-looking deep-sea Metroidvania. Since you’re taking on an aquatic adventure, you won’t have to worry about any tricky platforming segments in this one, but you will have to obtain all of the skills needed to progress further and further in the game. With Bront by your side, you’ll be able to take on enemies and bosses of all shapes and sizes as you try to collect as many Recyclables as possible in a 25th-century world that has certainly seen better days, all due to humans and the deadly polluting of the ocean. As is usually the case for games that are also getting a PC release, Pronty features text that is a bit on the tiny side, which sometimes makes it harder to read some information, but that’s about the one complaint I’d have about this one. Pronty is out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch with a $14.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This Pronty review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Happinet.