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Game
Game2024
Lords of Exile
Developer Squidbit Works
Embark on a quest for revenge in Lords of Exile, an 8-bit side-scrolling action platformer set in the far Lands of Exilia. With classic retro mechanics and linear level design in 8-bit graphics. From the Steam store page
161 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 30, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
79
LovedLoved
108 positive · 28 negative
95% range 72–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 108 | 28 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 9 | 0 | 11 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 5 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
117 of 145 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
80% recommend · 108 yes, 27 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 135 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (202 of 248 positive).
Players praise the game's retro aesthetic, music, and homage to classic NES action platformers. [1][2][3] Many reviewers note the game is short and easy, with some finding it lacking in content and replay value. [4][5][6] Some players criticize sluggish controls, bugs, and a difficulty spike at the final boss. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [17]
Ever since we were graced with Bloodstained - Curse of the Moon 1 & 2 I have a rekindled interest for modernized, retro-styled Classicvanias. Therefore I was pretty intrigued when I first saw videos for Lords of Exile well over a year ago. I followed the development of the game somewhat closely and bought it on release. This was supposed to be the next classicvania to wow me. Unfortunately and after having played …
- [2]
Lords of Exile is a nearly perfect platformer that is heavily inspired by Castlevania, Shadow of the Ninja, and Shinobi. It consists of 8 levels, and you play as a swordsman called Gabriel who is sworn to avenge the death of his betrothed. After you defeat each boss, you gain new abilities such as a double jump, range increase for your sword, etc. And you get 2 shadows that aid you on your journey. You also unlock a …
- [5]
A fairly decent game, albeit extremely short. What really drags it down is the lack of content and replay value. I have completed the main game, did a second playthrough with the new character AND beat the boss rush, all in about 3 hours. And that's it, there is literally nothing else to do in the game. I don't mind shorter games but they really need to have very high replay value and this one does not. Especially …
- [6]
A good retro castlevania style game, but not great. The game is too easy for the most part, and it only really gets difficult in the final stage. The same goes for the bosses, all of which are easy as hell with only the final boss having any real challenge. That challenge is really only a bit of a pain because the boss has two phases, but neither of those phases are overly difficult, it just takes time to memorize …
- [1]
I just bought it, now on the 3rd level, i like the sprite works! the music is catchy, but this seems like a clone of an IGA game Curse of the moon. I am not saying it is a bad game, it is a good one! i hope we get some DLC here.
Summarised from 34 of the 160 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 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
80% of the 135 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Lords of Exile. The complaint that keeps coming up: very short with low replay value. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 161 · most liked firstEver since we were graced with Bloodstained - Curse of the Moon 1 & 2 I have a rekindled interest for modernized, retro-styled Classicvanias. Therefore I was pretty intrigued when I first saw videos for Lords of Exile well over a year ago. I followed the development of the game somewhat closely and bought it on release. This was supposed to be the next classicvania to wow me. Unfortunately and after having played through the whole game I am left rather dissatisfied. The short answer is:…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finished Lords of Exile on #NintendoSwitch. Really cool game paying homage to the 8-bit era with nice visuals and music! Playing as Gabriel feels like classic Castlevania while playing as Lyria is more fast paced and resembles Shinobi. A shame it never got a physical release.
positive · AI labelView post →I just bought it, now on the 3rd level, i like the sprite works! the music is catchy, but this seems like a clone of an IGA game Curse of the moon. I am not saying it is a bad game, it is a good one! i hope we get some DLC here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love most of these modern retro titles that are inspired by NES classics and while there are things to like about Lords of Exile, it's a game of frustrating contradictions that started off not bad for me and just continued to grate on me the further I got. It has pretty solid pixel art and an absolutely bangin' hybrid chiptune soundtrack, but this is contradicted by generally boring level design. The combat and upgrade systems are pretty good, but this is contradicted by your character's…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For me as a kickstarte supporter this game is disappointing. The game starts great but then crumbles with my opinion to many to overused not necessary mechanics like: to many of pitfalls from the middle of the journey, overused vine climbing mechanic, one hit boss battle (spider). One saving grace from this project probably is good soundtrack.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Exile PC and Consoles Squidbit Works, 2024 Now 60% off on GOG af.gog.com/en/game/lord...
neutral · AI labelView post →TLDR: An og castlevania-type platformer with sluggish controls, few to no innovations and bugged achievements. Short and easy, visuals and music are decent, but overall experience is underwhelming. Classic platformers are my jam, so a castlevania-inspired game is exciting stuff. Visually the game looks nice, 8-bit era aesthetics (although I much prefer 16-bit), music is decent, but nothing to write home about. Kinda a random thing: the sound effect of picking up health is way too abrupt –…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is bugged and 6 months later there was no fix... I guess the developper has no plan to support it. For that price, I suggest you to buy another game, you can easily find more complete, more enjoyable and not bugged games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Exile is a nearly perfect platformer that is heavily inspired by Castlevania, Shadow of the Ninja, and Shinobi. It consists of 8 levels, and you play as a swordsman called Gabriel who is sworn to avenge the death of his betrothed. After you defeat each boss, you gain new abilities such as a double jump, range increase for your sword, etc. And you get 2 shadows that aid you on your journey. You also unlock a new playable character, Lyria, after beating the game once, and I’d say that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game slaps dude, I had a blast from start to finish. Played it to completion twice in a row, just like Curse of the Moon. Absolute fire soundtrack, great aesthetic, nods to the classics, and so on. No complaints from me. In fact, the gameplay feels very close to perfection. Slap some CRT shader on that baby and you've got yourself a mastapiece. :) Side note, you may find the final boss to be a difficulty spike. Trust me, it's not as bad as it seems once you have his patterns figured out.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun game until the final boss, which does so much damage that you can only take four hits over the two phases of the boss (well I assume it’s two phases, I couldn’t beat the boss’ second form). Most of the game is relatively easy with well designed levels and good responsive controls. The additional powers unlocked as the game progresses are fun too. The music is excellent, it’s not very 8-bit but that doesn’t bother me. Hopefully there will be a soundtrack release at some point. If you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hilariously easy...and then abruptly, right around the final level mark, frustrating and awful. 50% of said difficulty comes from mean design. IE get hit once, into the instant death water with no counter you go, enjoy redoing the last 3 minutes of waiting for fireballs to pass stupid gitgud :D 50% of said difficulty comes from the double jump just downright deciding, despite being a required mechanic, "nawh I don't feel like activating right now, guess you'll just die :)." Though to be…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a sucker for the NES aesthetic, so this game was an instant buy. And while it does deliver on classic visuals and a banging soundtrack, it's mostly a very pretty shell. The Castlevania formula is fun, but without the nuance of something like Castlevania 3 (powers / different characters / branching paths) there's really not much here. There's a few power ups in particular that are completely underbaked - the block breaking and grappling hook. Pair that design with either super easy or super…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The double jump doesn't work properly for sometimes it won't happen even though you press the button, and this certainly will cause some extremely infuriating situations. To make sure it wasn't skill issue I made a quick research and found other players having the same problem. I'm really disappointed because I was looking forward to this game after I first saw a small video about it on YT. I really don't like to give negative reviews to games like this, the game has beautiful 8-bit like…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely not worth it at full price. The game is perfectly competant and enjoyable enough, it's the very short length of the game which leads me to say this. It's a solid Castlevania style game (classicvania period, not the metroidvania one). It's kind of like playing those older games, but more like playing them on emulator with save states. I say this because Lords of Exile saves your progress after each segment and the segments themselves aren't overly difficult. I think it works…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fairly decent game, albeit extremely short. What really drags it down is the lack of content and replay value. I have completed the main game, did a second playthrough with the new character AND beat the boss rush, all in about 3 hours. And that's it, there is literally nothing else to do in the game. I don't mind shorter games but they really need to have very high replay value and this one does not. Especially since the second character just feels like the first one except much faster and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really hope to keep seeing more games like this appear. As retro titles go this one leans decidedly more original NES Castlevania. By that I mean the movement could be described as stiff, so you really have to commit to your actions. I love this type of game but if you are coming for something like any other Castlevania game past the first one you won't find it here, so be aware. I saw some saying isn't this just a smaller Curse of the Moon clone game? My answer to that is very NO. Curse of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't get why some people leave negative reviews for pit falls and knockbacks - this is mostly your fault and it is an essential part of experience. Played through 3 levels so far and I LOVE IT! Not so annoying as some other 'retro' games - you have decent checkpoints (in the middle and near the boss so you don't have to start the level all over after every fall or fail), plenty of error space (you get heals before every boss and in the middle you get a store with health and other items), you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ninja Vania II Electric Boogaloo Lords of Exile is a pixel art homage to NES era actions games. The whole game takes place in a 2D environment where all you can really do is move, jump, and attack, but the game decides to also incorporate Castlevania style elements with bosses dropping orbs that give you new abilities. These abilities are required to make it through the next areas, but with the exception of the double jump, they don't really change how the game plays much. There is an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a bad game, short, replayable, perfect difficulty and awesome retro styles
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like classic Castlevania, Genesis soundtracks, and/or Shinobi, you should check out Lords of Exile. I can't praise this game enough!
positive · AI labelView post →It’s clear where Lords of Exile got its inspiration from. Still, the game has some little touches of its own and its challenge is very interestingly balanced. You get 8 stages with bosses at the end and often mini-bosses in between. You also unlock speed run, boss rush and a second playable character after completing the game. You mostly try to beat enemies and stay alive because there are death pits and if you get hit by enemies, you can easily fall to your death. You have some traps, jumping,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good retro castlevania style game, but not great. The game is too easy for the most part, and it only really gets difficult in the final stage. The same goes for the bosses, all of which are easy as hell with only the final boss having any real challenge. That challenge is really only a bit of a pain because the boss has two phases, but neither of those phases are overly difficult, it just takes time to memorize the first phase well enough so you can have enough health to learn the second…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would love to give this a thumbs up - I love linear platformers. This Castlevania clone is fun, the levels are pretty, and the story is whatever. But what sinks the game is the awfully unresponsive controls. The double jump, for example, is very hard to execute successfully in sequence and, when we need it the most (like during the final boss), it makes us lose many attempts. It's a pity. On the flip side, though, I paid about $2 USD for it, so I guess I won't regret it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am fairly new to these types of games as I havent played them as a kid, but they always seem cool and fun, so I wanted to try. While I do like the visuals, sound, setting/story, its off set by the bad movement, sluggish controls, strange level design/balancing and mixed combat where sometimes it seems relatively easy and straightforward while other times they seem awkwardly placed and vague in how you confront them correctly. There is some cool stuff there, but unless you are fine with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very addictive, soundtrack is great, fun bosses, though it would be one of the best if you could run like Ryu Hayabusa
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"We're out of Castlevania. Is Diet Castlevania OK?" I dunno about this one! The game presents well to start and has a solid soundtrack, but it feels hollow. It rings of ambitious plans that never came to fruition. Looking at the store page, I thought the shadow system was going to be a major gameplay component, but it's barely there. There are only two shadows. You need to use each one a few times to progress through stages, and...that's it. They're too weak to be of much use in boss…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Exile is what happens when you take what made old retro games good and charming and you filter them through the lenses of modern game design. Basically is as fun as those games, without the difficulty that made them so brutally frustrating. It's so fun that I actually didn't mind playing the whole game again with the other character that you unlock when you beat it for the first time (Which changes completely the experience, btw). I say YES, RECOMMENDED! It's a great game that doesn't…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What initially looks like a Castlevania ripoff by way of Bloodstained shapes up to be a thoughtful 2D action platformer full of ideas and a personality of its own. You may end up here looking to scrath that CV3 itch but you'll get a really creative, surprising and deceptively varied game that echoes some of the best sidescrollers of all time, not just Castlevania. Good stuff!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Alright im not at my best but i picked up something fun that im excited to show to you all! a little retro modern game called Lords Of Exile! The immediate feel i got for it was shatterhand meets castlevania so look forward to that in an hour! #vtuber
positive · AI labelView post →trying to get in touch with the dev of Lords of Exile because i backed the game but never received a key. i don't want to buy it or have someone else buy it because i already paid for it years ago so i guess either they give me the key or i'm never gonna go through it good or not
neutral · AI labelView post →I would like to give it a thumbs up because there is sure fun to be had but like some comments already mentioned: The double jump only works half of the time, which gets annoying in boss fights. And this game is out for 2 years and it's not fixed. Otherwise pretty fun
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too few content. 2 playthroughs is everything you could do for this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing experience! Took me 6.5 hours, but after you finish it, the game gives you the PERFECT excuse to replay it and have a different experience. It does not have Cloud Saving, though. At least I couldn't find the options. Finished it on my Steam Deck, but when I switched to PC... there was nothing there.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoy this game. it looks, sounds and FEELS old school. Its difficult and slow and an incredible homage to NES games from my childhood.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Obviously this is not only a tribute to classicvania but also Kage/Shadow of the Ninja. Love it. Aside from the double jump sometimes being unresponsive others all good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The only people I could recommend this to is people that yearn for playing another old school Castlevania with really slow movement and cheap one-hit knockback deaths. This game doesn't do anything all that original and many of its ideas fall flat. You unlock summons that help you traverse levels, but they equate to holding the button to charge up abilities to "pull me over a big hole" and "slice block in your way" both of which seem implemented not as a means to benefit the gameplay, but as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been following the development of Lords of Exile for years, and it's finally coming out for Switch and Steam. This is a video I made 2 years ago playing through a demo, and if you like the NES Castlevanias, or even games like Bloodstained Curse of the Moon, you should check this game out.
neutral · AI labelView post →Short and easy but sweet platformer for just couple of euros? Sign me up! I played through the main game in couple of hours. This one has fun combat, simple bosses and somewhat weird feeling platforming (I'll talk about this later). Eight short(ish) stages and upgrades to collect. Every upgrade felt meaningful apart from the "double damage sword" that didn't really do anything to help you. Tons of subweapons during the levels to abuse. You could just toss em across the screen to clear most of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is amazing, I just beat it and I loved every second of it (except for the times I died over and over to 2 bosses). Video Review: https://youtu.be/7Y8tRWuh41I Amazing pixel art graphics and epic chip tune soundtrack that sounds like a top tier Sega Genesis game or better. The controls feel perfect and it's got a medium difficult level that gives some challenge but isn't overly brutal. This is a fantastic game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Lords of Exile" is a quaint retro-pixel-action-platformer in the veins of the classic castlevania with an eastern dark-fantasy-setting, good pixelart and a crunchy and stellar soundtrack. Presentationwise it hits all the boxes nostalgiawise, in terms of gameplay it is more on the simple and easier side, for there are no losable lifes/tries, infinite continues and checkpoints, making some passages somewhat trivial. You get some upgrades and summonable spirits as you progress, which is nice but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ever wanted to play Simon Belmont but he walks twice as slow as does? Well then, this game is for you. Credit where it's due, the sprite art and music are fantastic but the gameplay is awful. The secret rooms are just slot machines which will make you LOSE more gold than if you just buy EVERYTHING on EVERY SHOP you see. Half of the upgrades do nothing for the player (the ghost floating behind you is completely useless besides the mandatory block breaking) I've beaten the game in 2+ hours and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is quite good. The music is fantastic. It's short and the bosses were fun.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Exile is a passionate and highly focused tribute to the golden era of 8-bit action platformers, developed by Squidbit Works and published by PID Games, PixelHeart, and Dear Villagers. Rather than striving to modernize or reinvent the genre, it fully embraces the look, feel, and structure of late-’80s side-scrollers. Its inspirations are immediately recognizable—Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, and similar classics—but the game layers enough personality into its setting, bosses, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lords of Exile is heavily inspired by the early Castlevania games, and that’s what I enjoyed most about it. The controls are tight, the stages are well made, and the boss fights are fun without feeling cheap. The mix of sword attacks and throwing weapons works well, and the 8-bit visuals and sound are fantastic. It doesn’t try to be anything fancy, but it’s a solid game from start to finish. it captures that classic action-platformer feel really well. If you enjoy the older Castlevania style,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game #37 being added to the games beaten log is none other than Lords of Exile!! I just bought this game three days ago and it's already one of the best games I've played this year. It's a BEAUTIFUL callback to classic Castlevania in ALL of the best ways.
positive · AI labelView post →Fun game with strong Castlevania vibes and NES-style art. Great music and fair difficulty. Boss battle are cool but are trivial once you learn the patterns. Still worth picking up on sale!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Clear early Castlevania inspirations here, but it would have been better off leaving some of things about those games behind. In particular the sluggish movement and especially the protagonist's inability to jump any appreciable distance drag the experience down enough that I can't recommend this game. You will constantly be falling into tiny pits or getting hit by what should be easily avoidable ground projectiles. The double jump would help, but its unresponsive and finicky about timing. You…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was a pretty nice play-through. Some really great music, decent story, and good gameplay. It has some signs of lack of polish here and there... the biggest thing that comes to my mind is that many of the boss battles were too easy, some killed on the first attempt. And then the final boss will give you quite a challenge, I probably died like 20 times on him. So the difficulty is a little bit scattered. I also found the "shops" to be borderline useless and just ignored them after…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is well-crafted, with a clear nod to classic Castlevania. If you enjoyed the early NES titles, this one will likely appeal to you too. I’ll admit, though, I ran out of patience and time when it came to tackling the final boss. One small issue that affected my experience was the double-jump timing - it has a built-in delay, preventing you from pressing jump in quick succession. This intentional mechanic caused me to miss jumps more often than I’d like and could benefit from some…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first the game was good but later on it become too much tedious. Buy Bloodstained: Curse of the moon (1 & 2), they are better than this game and offer more replayability.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a great art-style, and the core concept is good. But, there's five specific things that just make it a slog to play through. And I say this as an avid Classic-vania and Rockman fan. 1: The character moves so slow, he makes Simon and Trevor Belmont look like Sonic the Hedgehog. Causing stages that should only be 4 - 5 min take around 10 - 15 minutes. 2: Gimmicks that rely on these JoJo Stand powers become tedious really fast, by slowing down gameplay. 3: All of the sub-weapons…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →😀kudos game of the year 4 me castlevania megaman Ninja Gaiden successor I do enjoy me 2d hack slash platform with backward fall bs will buy this for my friends earns my money
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a pride for me to attend the release of a game that I was able to see from its inception, and about which I can only offer praise. From its graphic style to a soundtrack that I can't get out of my head, Lords of Exile is a game made by retro gaming fans for retro gaming fans, and another lesson that Spain has great game developers. Playing it brought back memories of childhood days spent with NES classics like Castlevania, Batman, and Ninja Gaiden, capturing that spirit beautifully. My…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game is awesome. the complaints in the negative reviews are about things that are common with nes games. if you play nes games these things shouldn't be an issue, especially if you can beat castlevania 1-3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very cool little game :) Support Indie Devs! Could make for a good Speedrun as well.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're looking for another Curse of the Moon. This is it not! The movement is extremely slow, even for this type of game. Yes, there is a way faster second character, after beating the game, I know... There is air control, but there is also knock back (of course there is). However the worse part is: you cannot re-grab the walls you can climb on, no matter how long you fall. This results in some very cheep deaths against the third boss. Also spikes on the ground kill you in one hit (another…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i myself am tired of indie games that are just Reference to Thing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A decent Castlevania clone, but it suffers from bad movement. It feels like there is no momentum behind any of my jumps.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A short side-scrolling action platformer (aka. classic Castlevania-Like) which, overall, plays fine. There's nothing particularly outstanding, and there are some questionable design decisions holding it back. Recommended when on sale, but would not buy at full price. A lot of this game is exactly what you'd expect from a classic-Castlevania-inspired-game. Linear levels, straightforward combat with items, but, in this case, a lower difficulty as compared to some of the other entries, with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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