Kingdom Shell
Kingdom Shell
Game
Game2024
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
Developer Metamorphosis Games
Gestalt: Steam and Cinder is a Metroidvania video game developed by Metamorphosis Games and published by Fireshine Games. Players fight robots in a steampunk city. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
327 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Nov 3, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
78
LovedLoved
185 positive · 51 negative
95% range 73–83%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 185 | 51 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 25 | 2 | 62 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,098 of 1,346 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
80% recommend · 176 yes, 45 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 221 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,869 of 2,325 positive).
Players praise the gorgeous pixel art and solid gameplay. [1][2][3] Many find the ending unsatisfying and abrupt. [4][5][6] Some note the game is short and has excessive dialogue. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [9]
Quite possibly one of the dumbest endings ever to a video game, and I don't care for the "They were setting up a sequel" argument, it's just bad writing. Speaking of, prepare for infinity characters with interchangeable dialogue exposition dumping a word salad visual novel at you every chance they get. At least there's fast forward. I know it can be a challenge writing a story for a metroidvania, basically zero have …
- [1]
Playing through this game I wanted nothing more than to come here at the end and give this an overwhelmingly postive review. It took me just over 10h to get a full completion of the game, which for a busy gamer was perfect! The gameplay is fun, I really like the pixel art, getting all the collectibles was fun, there wasnt anything overly hard about it, it didnt try to be anything more than a fun Metroidvania, which …
- [4]
Short Metroidvania, Gestalt : Steam & Cinder is a fun game with nice pixel art and fun combat. It is not a difficult game by any means, you can very quickly unlock skills and items that makes encounters easy to breeze through and I certainly felt cool while doing tricks and pulling dodge counter attacks. However, for such a Story heavy game, with a lot put on its lore, the ending is quite a disapointment, so much …
- [7]
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a short metroidvania that serves as a beautiful love letter to 32-bit classics. The pixel art is stunning and creates a great atmosphere, supported by a soundtrack that complements each area well. The story is told primarily through dialogue, giving the game the feel of a visual novel at times. While the world building is enjoyable, it lacks the depth of other genre giants and the pacing …
- [6]
its a great game. i loved my whole time playing it. its not a long game tho, done in 11 hours to 100%. but i have 2 issues. 1 is a minor one. you get more skill points than you can spend, its very minor. the second issue is a big one, its the ending. ask anyone that liked this game, and they will all point towards that ending. TLDR: great game, horrible ending
Summarised from 34 of the 289 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
80% of the 221 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Gestalt: Steam & Cinder. The complaint that keeps coming up: unsatisfying cliffhanger ending. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Gestalt: Steam and Cinder received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. GameSpot enjoyed the combat, steampunk setting, pixel art, and customization options, but they said there was too much exposition, to the point that it became overwhelming. They concluded that it is "a great start for a potential franchise". RPGSite called it "an extremely enjoyable experience" and recommended it to people who enjoy action-platformers. They initially thought it would be good for speedrunning but said the amount of exposition and unskippable cutscenes would make this difficult. They suggested making changing cutscenes to be skippable. Shacknews…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 327 · most liked firstTo clear up some confusion: NieR Replicant originally came out in 2010 in Japan. Another version with an older protag, NieR Gestalt, released in Japan, NA & EU. Since we only got Gestalt, it was just called "NIER." Same game, different protag age & relationships! #nier #ニーア #nierreplicant
neutral · AI labelView post →Our indie game: - hand drawn by artists from 9 Years of Shadows, Mariachi Legends, Ember Knights, Gestalt, and more! - cut the world in half (literally!) - fast, cinematic combat with musical weapons - defeat spectacularly animated bosses - explore a huge cyber-nostalgic world
neutral · AI labelView post →Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is OUT NOW on Steam!⚔️ Enter a world of rust and ruin as you join Aletheia on a race to discover the secrets of Canaan! ⚙️ Thanks for all your support, we hope you enjoy the game!
neutral · AI labelView post →Great art and animations, good music, mediocre gameplay and horrid plot. Some of the issues: 1. If you cut out 80% of dialogue, the story loses nothing. 2. No clear correspondence between the visuals of the platforms and the ability to jump on and/or from them. 3. No clear indication why the hell you look for corgis and what's the deal with them: the best explanation is that in Hollow knight we too look for cute guys in remote places, but there we have a whole story tied to them. 4.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gestalt: Steam and Cinder is a tough game to review. The vision is there and most of the mechanics are as well, but it... just falls short. Good things out of the way - the art is really cool, the setting feels fun and looks great and the level design in general is pretty top notch. The RPG mechanics were some the most fun aspect of the game - getting better was incremental, but still felt impactful. Now for the not so good: The combat is very easy, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am also super happy that we could get the amazing @chrispariano.bsky.social for Vampire Tactics on board for the Steam HD art. His original work on Gestalt Steam&Cinder was declined by the publisher back then, bc. it was "too baroque". That shouldn't be a problem for our vampire indie game.
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm going to be honest, this would be a 10/10 metroidvania if it had been finished. The credits started rolling at what I felt was the halfway point of the game. It was a big WTF moment. The ending really ruined this for me. -100/10 ending 10/10 gameplay 10/10 pixel art 10/10 music
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gestalt Steam & Cinder finally released, so now I can share some art. Enjoy the game!
positive · AI labelView post →Playtested my Signalis RPG with 2 players, 1 who knew nothing about the game and one who had finished it. I made them play both the Gestalt playbook (which helped the unfamiliar player). And it went pretty well overall, would have been even better if I had slowed down a bit more the pacing.
neutral · AI labelView post →Don't have very many, but I love them all to bits... There's LSTR-315, just as stuck in the cycles of guilt as the game Elster, except far older and more jaded about things... she also is fighting her eldritch-horror turned Gestalt who wishes to be whole with her again.
neutral · AI labelView post →The gameplay was fun enough with decent metroidvania style gameplay. Perhaps a little easy, especially the bosses, but I was happy with that. The real problems were the combat scaling and the story, primarily the latter. Combat scaling was definitely an issue with the final bosses in a 100% playthrough offering almost no challenge. Still, part of me liked seeing a metroidvania that offered the ability to out scale bosses, as bosses in metroidvanias have never been something I really enjoy.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried. A little. Definitely could push it more. Probably will, later. This is Gestalt ( 28, Irish wolfhound ) my Dungeon Game character. A scholar who was expelled from his last university due to picking a fight with his professor. Also possession of illegal firearm. ( just one )
neutral · AI labelView post →I think it’ll fall into the Silent Hill 4 category for me. A game I end up ruminating over and ultimately really liking ( loving even! Ilu henry so much), but not a game I enjoy playing Considering tho Siren and Nier - Gestalt are also in that family, good company!
positive · AI labelView post →Playing through this game I wanted nothing more than to come here at the end and give this an overwhelmingly postive review. It took me just over 10h to get a full completion of the game, which for a busy gamer was perfect! The gameplay is fun, I really like the pixel art, getting all the collectibles was fun, there wasnt anything overly hard about it, it didnt try to be anything more than a fun Metroidvania, which is my favorite genre of games. I feel today thanks to HK every one of these…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Adler is actually the character who got me into Signalis. I read the Sun = Adler's Gestalt theory and found it so angsty I ended up actually getting into the game. Plus, Adler's a little cutie. And a failmale. And a pen fanatic. He's right up my alley.
neutral · AI labelView post →I was a huge fan of Nier: Replicant/Gestalt back when it first came out and folks always told me it was a bad game whenever I yapped about it And then it got the remake and suddenly it's good and cool I clench my fist like Arthur
positive · AI labelView post →I am fucking destroyed. No game had me crying like this since both NieR Automata and Gestalt, I am a changed person. Generational game, once in a lifetime experience, calling it a 10/10 would be offending it. Art cannot be graded by numbers. This was pure unadulterated art. Simple as that.
positive · AI labelView post →Reverie, my troublemaking tiefling monk; Kalan, her partner(?), and Keria aka "Gestalt", a mech pilot from a Lancer game! 🎨: @britishmuffin.bsky.social @earthsong9405 (twitter) @pitganart.bsky.social
neutral · AI labelView post →Gestalt: Steam & Cinder This cool Metroidvania is 69% Off (6.19 €). It’s also part of the Platinum Collection (3 games for 10€). Game page: www.fanatical.com/en/game/gest... Platinum Collection: www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-...
neutral · AI labelView post →Share some of your favourite game OSTs 🎶 ✨Octopath Traveler 2 ✨Final Fantasy VII Remake ✨Sonic Adventure ✨NieR Replicant/Gestalt
neutral · AI labelView post →Pretty alright, in all honesty. A game that's "8 hours" to 100% on the first run is pretty good length as far as I'm concerned, and the controls and upgrades are well-implemented and one never feels hampered by the inputs. Plus, you get to pet the dog. Dinging it a few points for sequel-bait at the ending, but I'm not gonna lie -- I'll buy said sequel when it comes out.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →📦 Story Rich Bundle ℹ️ 3 for $10 · Choose from 17 Steam Games 💚 You support me 🕹️ Featured Game: Gestalt: Steam & Cinder 🔗 www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-...
neutral · AI labelView post →Indie Game Sale! ❄️🎮 Looking for your next winter game? We've got some BIG Steam bargains: ⛏️25% off @corekeepergame.com 🕵️40% off @detectivesim.bsky.social 🧙♀️25% off @emberstorm-dev.bsky.social ⚙️50% off Gestalt: Steam & Cinder Offers end in the new year. Happy Holidays!
neutral · AI labelView post →A game everyone should play at least once in their lifetime, I have to say Nier Replicant/Gestalt. This game was what opened my eyes to different methods of storytelling and introduced me to the absolute badass that is Kainé.
positive · AI labelView post →30 day video game music challenge. Day 5 - Hub world or overworld music Hills of Radiant Wind - NieR Replicant/ Gestalt youtu.be/9XV7TeThdVA
neutral · AI labelView post →Quite possibly one of the dumbest endings ever to a video game, and I don't care for the "They were setting up a sequel" argument, it's just bad writing. Speaking of, prepare for infinity characters with interchangeable dialogue exposition dumping a word salad visual novel at you every chance they get. At least there's fast forward. I know it can be a challenge writing a story for a metroidvania, basically zero have good stories, but this aint it chief. More words does not equal better…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is an aggressively average metroidvania held up by its good art. The main things I look for in a metroidvania are movement, exploration and combat as the most important, with story being a secondary priority. Gestalt is competent enough in these areas but doesn't do any of them especially well. Movement in Gestalt feels... fine, just fine. You're not a super fast character but you're not a slug either. You start with a jump, wall jump, and roll/backstep and later…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, I shelved this game and don't plan on going back to it. I can't really comment on the story, but what really annoyed me was that this game felt like yet ANOTHER Metroidvania trying to be 2D Dark Souls with a Double Jump and Air Dash. It's just incredibly boring and I can't recommend it if you, like me, appreciate a more classic Metroidvania experience. If you're a HUGE Hollow Knight or Blasphemous fan, you'd probably have a good time with this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This seems to be a game primarily by artists. It looks beautiful, but so much of the crunch is lacking. It's also blatantly unfinished. I think it's insulting that they are charging $20 for what amounts to an unsatisfactory Act 1 and 2, with no Act 3 in sight. The best implemented mechanics are lifted from Megaman X and/or Zero. This is not inherently a bad thing, but when the only standout features of your game are not created by you, it casts a pall over the whole work. Several times I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I very hesitantly recommend this game. The art is the best aspect of it, with fun gameplay and a decent story, but it just never really clicks. It's far too linear for a proper metroidvania, and the story throws a lot of Proper Nouns at you without really explaining it. It also cuts away from your main character quite frequently to tell the story from the perspective of other characters, which basically happens at random and is quite confusing. It gets a bit better with more of an emotional…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If I could give a "Thumbs Middle" I would. Gestalt is a game of half-measures. It looks good, but it doesn't look amazing; the soundtrack is good, but there's a number of tracks that are just tepid; the moveset you have access to feels good, but half the moves arrest your movement; the enemies are varied, but are often designed in such a way that the only viable way to deal with them is to stun them or not interact with their moves entirely. And so on, and so on. This is all compounded by the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dean Takahashi's 2007 review of Mass Effect or Justin McElroy's review of Nier Gestalt, both of which encountered a near(get it) identical failure to play the game
neutral · AI labelView post →Gorgeous pixel art, but the game got nothing else going on for it. Exposition dumps from the first second that get you lost in names, places and events, and it doesn't stop. Tedious combat: an absolutely braindead mechanic of enemies "attack in a fixed loop when the player is in the vicinity". Their attacks are slightly faster than your character's ability to evade and they interrupt everything you do, so all the combos and specials are useless, you get one hit in, you dodge away, repeat ad…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short Metroidvania, Gestalt : Steam & Cinder is a fun game with nice pixel art and fun combat. It is not a difficult game by any means, you can very quickly unlock skills and items that makes encounters easy to breeze through and I certainly felt cool while doing tricks and pulling dodge counter attacks. However, for such a Story heavy game, with a lot put on its lore, the ending is quite a disapointment, so much build up for it to be ruined by the last 30 secondes of the game. Let us hope…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The combat, story and map exploration feels great, and the art-style is gorgeous, the only real (and debatably big con) IMO is (ending spoilers) that after beating the final boss, he just shoots you in a cutscene before dying, and a certain character I wont name comes in and discovers he has the same powers as the MC, so he ends up doing the thing Aletheia was going to do while carrying her body, and the game just ends; no confirmation whether or not Aletheia is dead or alive, and no…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has 11/10 pixel art, great music, lovingly designed areas that are intricate, bosses with complicated attack patterns that are a joy to fight, sublime controls, engaging level design, really on a technical side it's perfect. And on a gameplay side my only problems are that the game is really, really easy, and that the world design is rather scattered, with areas only connecting at single points that the game linearly unlocks. Combine these and the side content is really only worth…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sorry to always be the guy who refuses to engage with Gestalt, but as I’ve said before, the entire existence of that version of the game is rooted in wild homophobia, misogyny, and xenophobia. It was never supposed to exist, so I prefer to pretend it doesn’t LMAO. Also. It just Doesn’t Work.
negative · AI labelView post →✨🚨SALE ALERT!!🚨✨ GESTALT: The Fifth Day is under $5 on Steam rn, and with DLC it's still under $8! Play my horror game and the first game under KINJAKO, I love this game and love Wicke, so add it to your library right before Spooky Month gets here! 💀 store.steampowered.com/app/2616720/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Grandma. 🗡️ Bro, this part in the game DESTROYED ME¡ 🥺💔 Song from: Nier (Replicant, and a little bit of Gestalt)
neutral · AI labelView post →Did you know that GESTALT: The Fifth Day doesn't have 100 reviews yet? Did you know that's about to change?? The game is at 98 reviews, standing at 92% on Steam! If you played the game and liked it, consider leaving a review to get The Fifth Day to 100!🔥 store.steampowered.com/app/2616720/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Final days to get Gestalt: Steam & Cinder, made with the Dialogue System for Unity, and several other great metroidvanias in Humble's Metroidvania Mayhem bundle: www.humblebundle.com/games/metroi... (I also did the programming for the game.) #indiedev #indiegame
neutral · AI labelView post →I cant say that i enjoyed my time with the game at all, as it was just constantly "meh". The best part is that the art is really nice to look at, but thats also where the positives end. Gameplay isnt enganging at all, the enviroment is pretty boring and the dialogue just drags on for so long. Metroidvania is a very saturated genre with a lot of great games and I would recommend looking for a different one than this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay, graphics, animation, systems design, the world - its fantastic. IMO 10/10. Incredible all-abled red-haired protagonist - overused and quite frankly, boring, but tolerable. I can excuse lack of imagination for a great game. What truly bothers me is the eagerness to shove its storytelling in my face. Almost literally every 3-4 minutes, control will be taken away from me and I'll have to sit through 2-3 minutes of dialogue. Granted, I can hit 'V' and fast forward through it - but I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I saw a couple of “BRUUUUH YOU WOULDN’T LIKE THIS GAME IF YOU PLAYED AS AN UGLY DUDE 😭😭😭” and that’s just Nier Gestalt.
neutral · AI labelView post →15 years of amazing games, music and stories. Wonderful artwork. Wonder if that's A2 or someone else. I love the #NieR & #Drakengard series. Proud of my game collection and NieR Gestalt/Replicant still has one of the best intros for a game imo. Really set's the tone. 🤣
positive · AI labelView post →Introduce yourself with your top 5 #TTRPG picks. - World of Darkness 20th - Gestalt RPG - Mythras - Untiled RPG in playtesting - Scion 2e My favorite WoD game is Mage by far followed by Vampire. The untitled RPG is actually currently in development by my girlfriend. It’s great!
neutral · AI labelView post →Gorgeous pixel art, solid gameplay, fun combat and movement, interesting story, decent writing. I hope for a sequel. 100% in about 11 hours without any guides.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty underrated metroidvania, solid 8/10. Only problems are map is kinda useless and the ending is not satisfying for such a story heavy game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a metroidvania I wish I liked more. It gets a lot of things right, but I have some issues with the story. That aside, it’s an entertaining game with gorgeous art and a great soundtrack #indiegame #indiedev
neutral · AI labelView post →The Developers of Nier (Nier Gestalt) and Drakengrad "Cavia" made a Resident Evil Style game once and it was a Kamen Rider Game I am not making this up this is just great amazing even I now know what game to buy next
neutral · AI labelView post →NieR Gestalt/Replicant my favorite game of all time bar none. few works of art have moved me as much as this game. Kainé in particular was kinda pivotal in me coming out as trans.
positive · AI labelView post →I very conflicted on this one, Positives: art style is great, combat is fun a little too simple, movement is good Negatives: totally forgettable story, unclear direction at some points, but worst of all is the length, i beat it with nearly 100% in 5 hours without a guide. I got this on sale for $5, and if you are looking for a short, simple metroish game you can finish in a afternoon, id say go for it, if its on sale, but I just cant recommend it at full price
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a serviceable Metroidvania unsalvageably buried under way too much tumblr fanfiction level dialogue trying WAY too hard to be dramatic... By talking... With an ellipsis... EVERY PHUKKEN CLAUSE... like this. That every female is conspicuously some kind of hypercompetent coolguy while most males are conspicuously "aw shucks" doofuses who aren't NEARLY as cool as all the SuPeR cOoL gIrLs is not helping the Written By Tumblr allegations. The gameplay also has way too much vapid…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love the pixel art and metroidvania style in this game. Besides that, everything else is horrible.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beautiful graphics and animation but flawed execution and combat. Some attacks feel useless and somewhere around the last third of the game you can pretty much power through any boss without trying. The abrupt ending without a proper pay off is definitely disappointing. If you get it cheap you'll probably get something out of it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game *sucks*. Oh, it's a competent enough metroidvania, if nothing special... but the story drags it straight down. It is both a major focus of the game AND also VERY BAD, so that hurts it. If the story didn't matter so much- if we didn't constantly get subjected to cutscenes about it- it wouldn't matter, but it's constantly in our face and isn't very good. The story makes no sense, takes WAY too many words to tell, and jerks away its one interesting thing at the end to reveal…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Major McKenzie @erikbraa.bsky.social Video Game: Nick Chase: A Detective Story Year: 2009 Erik Braa was part of the voice cast for this detective noir puzzle game developed by Gestalt Games. Also in the cast were Adam Harrington as the title character and @melissahutch.bsky.social as Mary Ann.
neutral · AI labelView post →The latest edition of mod @gbmento.bsky.social 's "Indie Game of the Week" feature on @giantbomb.com tackled Gestalt: Steam & Cinder! What makes it a memorable "exploraction game?" Read their review to find out! Link: giantbomb.com/users/4945/a... #games #gaming #indiegame #indie #giantbomb
neutral · AI labelView post →It is a good game although it is way too short with far more dialogue than it should have had for that length and with a cliff-hanger ending that makes very little sense.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stream (9.4.) at🕕18.00 (UTC+2) Game: Gestalt Steam & Cinder twitch.tv/renotus
neutral · AI labelView post →
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