Minicology
Minicology
Game
Game2021
Recompile
Developer Phigames
This atmospheric, Metroidvania hacking adventure lets you take control of a semi-sapient program struggling against deletion. In the sprawling 3D world of a Mainframe, Recompile features intense combat, tight 3D platforming, super-powered abilities and an environmental logic-based hacking mechanic. From the Steam store page
148 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 29, 2026 · last updated Oct 29, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
86 positive · 39 negative
95% range 60–76%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 86 | 39 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
87 of 130 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
69% recommend · 86 yes, 39 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 125 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (125 of 180 positive).
Some reviewers note the game is more of a narrative-driven platformer than a traditional Metroidvania. [1][2][3] Several players report bugs, lack of control options, and tedious platforming as major drawbacks. [4][5][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
Man it's sad giving this game a negative review. If you love 3D platformers and you can put up with some crap then play it. It's got a lot of awesome things going for it. But this game has some serious problems, I highly doubt more than 1 or 2 people actually play tested it. I'm just gonna list all the issues in an arbitrary order. -No Dead Zone: - I play with controller and this game has no deadzone setting for the …
- [15]
I feel really bad about this. I REALLY wanted to like this game. I love the premise, and I love Metroidvania games, so when I saw this on Steam I was instantly sold. But after forcing myself through a couple of play sessions I realized that I just wasn't having fun. This game has so much potential to be truly great, but before that can happen, there are a lot of things that need to change: 1. it's hard to tell where …
- [7]
In my 7.2 hours I was able to get 100% of the achievements, so this review is my complete perspective on the game as I don't see myself replaying it. TLDR: The game has a lot of good and a lot of bad, so it's hard to fully support. Even still, I enjoyed my time with it. The Good: - The game is absolutely stunning to look at, easily one of the prettiest games I've played - The music is very good in a Hyper Light …
- [2]
While i can understand why this game has mixed reviews, for me it ticked basically all the boxes i wanted it to. I want to provide a good idea of exactly what the game is, as i feel like that doesn't really get across very well what with it's metroidvania marketing and such. First thing's First, Recompile is a narrative driven action platformer way before it is a metroidvania. there are metroidvania elements, …
- [9]
A beautiful, short piece of art. The gameplay in and of itself is somewhat underwhelming, unfortunately. However, this is one of, if not the best story games I have ever played. If you do decide to pick this up, take the time to collect all of the logs. The story told through them is beautiful and an amazing experience to piece together. It also allows you to unlock all 5 endings, which in their own right are …
Summarised from 34 of the 146 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
Recompile sits at 69% positive across 125 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 148 · most liked firstMan it's sad giving this game a negative review. If you love 3D platformers and you can put up with some crap then play it. It's got a lot of awesome things going for it. But this game has some serious problems, I highly doubt more than 1 or 2 people actually play tested it. I'm just gonna list all the issues in an arbitrary order. -No Dead Zone: - I play with controller and this game has no deadzone setting for the analogue stick. This is a must imho. -No Variable height Jump: -…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ever since Metroid: Prime 3 failed to set the world on fire despite releasing on one of the world's most popular consoles, we haven't exactly been spoiled when it comes to 3D Metroid-style games. Usually games that traditionally would've been considered a Metroidvania fall into soulslike trappings, forgoing the thrills of exploration and instead opting to make users partake in difficult and punishing combat. Not Recompile, though. There's not an ounce of soulslikeness found in this game. But…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Patchzy's Mario Kart Wii Recompile Gen-ai used for coding www.tomshardware.com/video-games/... -y
neutral · AI labelView post →I really wanted to like this game. Starting out, it felt super promising. Awesome style, great music, and a wonderful environment. But slowly... the cracks in the concept start showing up. The game seems to be really confused about its identity. The first bit of exploring is super interesting, but slowly, jumping from oversized, unclear, gray pentagon to oversized, unclear, gray pentagon gets old. There's nothing really interesting going on. I can't even tell what type of game this is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I use so many alert sounds on stream from Banjo Kazooie that my mods are driven crazy when I actually play the game. They think raids are happening, channel points are redeemed, etc. But-- the Recompile makes me want to replay the game next week. Hmmmm.....
positive · AI labelView post →36) Quest 64 Kinda janky RPG but its got some neat ideas held back by N64 limitations, like being able to dodge enemy attacks as they launch them at you. But the camera angles kinda make that hard to do sometimes. Still a really neat game and there's a RECOMPILE for it being ironed out too!
neutral · AI labelView post →A first impression for sure, but one strong enough that I won't be spending any more time with this. Disclaimer: This could definitely be a me problem - I'd strongly recommend spending some time with a Let's Play or similar to get a feel for the gameplay before jumping in. I kinda wish I had a rogue program of my own that let me just read all the story pieces. They were intriguing, flavourful and well written. The problem is I have to play the game to keep finding them, which seems to consist…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I guess I just won't buy a ps6? What's the point? Get fomo for a game that's gonna come to pc later? Exclusive? Emulate it in 10 years. Recompile it. Whatever man software is over
neutral · AI labelView post →In my 7.2 hours I was able to get 100% of the achievements, so this review is my complete perspective on the game as I don't see myself replaying it. TLDR: The game has a lot of good and a lot of bad, so it's hard to fully support. Even still, I enjoyed my time with it. The Good: - The game is absolutely stunning to look at, easily one of the prettiest games I've played - The music is very good in a Hyper Light Drifter kind of way. Very understated, but always perfect for the mood - The logs…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel really bad about this. I REALLY wanted to like this game. I love the premise, and I love Metroidvania games, so when I saw this on Steam I was instantly sold. But after forcing myself through a couple of play sessions I realized that I just wasn't having fun. This game has so much potential to be truly great, but before that can happen, there are a lot of things that need to change: 1. it's hard to tell where the "intended" path is. Everything in this game has collision. EVERYTHING. Not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love the aesthetic and concept. But.... I've often wondered why developers put so much effort into creating a game, only to screw it by messing up on what is arguably the EASIEST things to fix or adjust. So for example, you could have spent 2+ years building assets, graphical effects, Level environments, manually crafting behaviour, continuity, coding, whatever... then at the end you simply decide NOT to play through it and patch out stupid things that could be fixed in a fraction of the time…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very, very boring game. In three hours of gameplay, I've "hacked" exactly one thing. It was a logic gate in needlessly complex "circuit" that was conveniently connected to all three outputs, and I "hacked" it by asking it nicely to invert its output! It took all of one minute, while the rest of three hours was spent: 1. Falling through random gaps in platforms, I mean name one other game that leaves a gap between an elevator and the floor around it 2. Missing my landings because the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The visuals are amazing, the story is amazing, the writing is amazing, the gameplay is... very tedious. I was disappointed with the label Metroidvania, as most of the game is very linear with the exception of a gated boss fight and a few late-game levels. There is combat, but it's infrequent and annoying (can't aim above you, but many enemies fly). So what genre is it? To me it's somewhere between: - Zaktronics-like: the puzzles are about tracing logic gates -- think AND/OR/XOR/etc -- which…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"We seek more reviews on steam in purpose to fulfill your expectation and make your game experience the better it can be." Well there is still no keys rebinding options as of August 28th. There is no doubt there is a nice game right here but many people simply can't play it without keys rebinding. You simply don't release your game in 2021 without giving players the possibility to rebind controls.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Terrible experience. The aesthetics and story are good, but the platforming and gunplay are intolerable. The platforming is really unpleasant and relies on you getting upgrades to compensate for the bad platforming, and then you enter OKT and have to do a bunch of precision platforming on random floating platforms to the point where I'm not kidding when I say it felt like playing Bubsy 3D. The gunplay is terrible because most of your weapons are weak. The only one that does respectable…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too many issues to make this an enjoyable experience. Supposedly this is a third-person metroidvania, but it hardly plays like one. The upgrades are just a few basic weapons and more jumps/dashing. Not exactly the typical approach that metroidvanias have with cool new features/abilities to unlock new areas of the map. Speaking about the map, prepare to get lost and then frustrated by the map. It's simply not properly thought out as implementation: The world is very 3D (by this I mean a lot of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game has reverse mouse accelleration... like, faster you move your mouse, the less sensitive it is.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First impressions of being about 75% done with the game in about 8 hours. Basically so far there have been 3 areas after the initial tutorial area. Each area has a focus on a specific game type but all of them still have elements of platforming, collection of lore data, finding upgrades for your character, and flipping switches to advance through the area. The HEX (Green Zone) focuses on hacking, where you can use Bits that you have collected from killing enemies to flip switches basically. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has so much potential. It could be really good, but it falls short on 3 major fronts, that most people will just put the game down and not finish it. 1) Unskippable dialogue. If more of the dialogue was shown and it could be sped up, that would be ideal. Instead, the player has to wait for it to be drawn on screen, which wouldn't be too annoying if it was clearer when dialogue would end. There were so many times where I would think the dialogue was over, but it would just keep…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just made an image of a certain game. I've been waiting so long for an Xbox 360 emulator or something. This is the next best thing. (Sonic Unleashed Recompile) My 360 died 2 years into its life. (White 20gb version.)
neutral · AI labelView post →While i can understand why this game has mixed reviews, for me it ticked basically all the boxes i wanted it to. I want to provide a good idea of exactly what the game is, as i feel like that doesn't really get across very well what with it's metroidvania marketing and such. First thing's First, Recompile is a narrative driven action platformer way before it is a metroidvania. there are metroidvania elements, specifically with level design and pacing, but that takes a backseat to the amazing…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Review cOmPiLiEd finally. After playing for an hour i think this game is worth playing for its gameplay style,Graphics... "Please add photomode" My Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqLt-iDtpSs
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5 random SQL Server things I may / not find time to blog about. 1 Query Store Recompile Chicken Game: when all the plans in store suck for a very frequent query (or only one plan), so you temporarily slap a recompile hint on it for a short time and hope it doesn't fall over.
neutral · AI labelView post →Platformer with plenty of exploration that will not always hold your hand. You have to look around to find THE WAY *knuckles chuckles*. Gameplay is set in dark cybernetic environment where as lone program you have to recompile the E.X.E. process. Gather new power ups as you play allowing for further exploration. Level design allow for a bit of freedom but not too much. Involve in shooting to get rid of corrupted programs, scripts, etc. Overall calm ambience and original idea. Good for single…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →✨🐰This bun is ready to game🐰✨ MON - Banjo Recompile TUE - Super Mariomon WED - Sonic Racing CrossWorlds FRI - Banjo-Tooie on @twilightdeku.bsky.social's SAT - Fortnite with @neonharper.bsky.social on @voidfeline.vtubers.social's SUN - Super Luigi Sunburn 🎨by @zinnyfinity.bsky.social #Femboy #Furry
neutral · AI labelView post →I was super excited for this game when I started seeing posts on Reddit about a year back. I added it to my wishlist and immediately bought the game the day it came out. Unfortunately, Recompile didn't really live up to my expectations. PROS: - Atmosphere is awesome. - Story has that "Dark Souls"-like way of being told. You don't have to look at text files at all and just get straight to gameplay. - Metroid-like upgrade system is good when it comes to movement upgrades. CONS: - Platforming…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't recommend, the controls are clumsy and it makes fighting very difficult. Bosses will scorch you in no time as you frantically try to figure out if there is some mechanic to it...nope. Player is slow, weak and boss has multiple flamethrowers blasting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fell in some random gaps on the floor 200 times already within 5 mins
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Printed this lil Hex figurine a while back from a game I worked on a few years ago called Recompile! #3dprinting #gamedev #indiedev
positive · AI labelView post →I have a soft spot for this game, if I'm being honest. If you want a nice little take on the internals of an AI, all while being a metroidvania, play it. They really killed it with the art direction and music.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Needs work the first two areas were pretty fun, but when the game got to the third area, it decided to shift gears to turn into one of those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mascot platformers that forgot that it wasn't a quarter pinching arcade game and became hard as possible to maximize rental time it required such incredibly precise jumps that I felt like I might have missed an upgrade, and was sequence breaking, but nope, I'm 99% sure that losing entire lives to just missing jumps and falling down bottomless pits…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →complete waste of potential Horrible really surprisingly horrible level design boring puzzles cant tell if you completed objectives or not mediocre game play absolutely useless map The only thing this game has going for it is that its aesthetically appealing
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Poor optimisation, melts your GPU even on the lowest settings. I don't know what's up with the grapics in this game, everything is low-poly and almost textureless, yet somehow GPU load is too high for an indie game. No mouse sensetivity setting, awful camera movement. Looks cool on videos, meh in reality.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not much of Hacking puzzles, a LOT of Jumping It's actually a platformer. Jokes on me for hoping for a Deus Ex: Breach game -_- Recompile doesn't explain where to go and what to do. "Restore power and get data" - that's all your briefing. After initial installation (first map), you are left to fix 4 massive system locations in any order. I honestly liked the absence of any marks, objective points etc-etc. You HAVE TO explore and think how to get to certain areas. The gate above you is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think that this game had a wonderful idea with lots of potential, it just was not executed very well. The map was fairly gray, and pretty dark. For a lot of the time I spent playing (which was not much) I was wandering confused on where to go, what to do, and when I eventually found the place I was supposed to go, it was like "Oh, I would have never found this on purpose!" The storyline seems good for what I got through, but there was not many points to access new content. Additionally, the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Camera controls are horrible with that "aware the platforms" thing. As a player i really can't distinguish where is the edge of a cylinder with this camera controls. Horrible. But it's not the main reason of refund. My main reason is "opening episode". It's amateurish. No real reason to wonder about the game with this "look your step or you will fall to the black like 5 useless seconds and you cannot jump because YOU NEED TO OBTAIN IT. Nope. I tired of this "wanna play? you need to cry." thing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an indie game programmed with love. At the full price, the control and the sometime-too-vague level design that lets us guess at what to do, can be frustrating. But on sale, especially with such a big cut - as I write this the game is at less than two dollars. The concept, the animation, the decors, the writing, and the BO are all just right! It's a fine example of what a Tron game could and should be like... but never has been because Disney made it all about special effects and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →YES THEYRE BEGGING FOR A VERSION OF A GAME THAT WILL RUN EXCLUSIVELY CURRENT GEN AND WILL RUN ON LESS HARDWARE THAN THE RECOMPILE
neutral · AI labelView post →This was a surprisingly fun adventure. I finished this in 12 hours. If you dislike or find 3D platformers challenging then this game is not for you. Early game is challenging and direction is pretty open until you figure out that you need certain unlocks to progress. The level design is fun and really reflects the inner themes. The bosses are fairly challenging without cheesing. overall I very much enjoyed this game. The game does not hold your hand on where you need to go. Recompile ability…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was a bit disappointed about this game. The controls just don't feel good. The biggest issue is that the aiming camera is very jittery and while jump is somewhat high it is very heavy feeling. Other issues are that there is no clear indication whether whatever you are shooting is taking damage or if it is immune to your shots. The world looks very bland because everything seems to be lacking textures. Not to mention that most things are very dark. Things that shine can create a very strong…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm going to be frank, this game has a lot of good ideas. It's technically competent. But it's just... not good. Graphics: Well made, but the design is questionable. While the actual models are fine, the environments as a whole are /extremely/ same-y. You're basically jumping between random pieces of rubble. If you told me that the developers just had a few random unity asset packs sitting around and decided to use them to make the graphics, I wouldn't be surprised. Additionally, the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a metroidvania with large empty areas, poor platforming with bad checkpointing and SLOOOOOOOOW movement speed, and no fast travel. You might as well skip it. There are some positives, you can turn off the bloom effects to actually see what is going on.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Critical flaw #1 main hub lets you choose either green or red area first even though red is 90% necessary to complete green area. I started in green, the wrong choice. The 10% wiggle room some said worked for them in the green area is what i can gather just guessing the puzzle right. The provided guide in the menu is undecipherable showing three different types of curcuits and in the level there is what looks like either open or closed and not like the picture at all. "This is not required but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New title(s) added to "Stream your own game" on #XboxCloudGaming - Observation - Recompile New noticeable #XboxPlayAnywhere titles: - Cronos: The New Dawn (upcoming) - OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0 (upcoming) - TRON: Catalyst (released June 2025)
neutral · AI labelView post →A beautiful, short piece of art. The gameplay in and of itself is somewhat underwhelming, unfortunately. However, this is one of, if not the best story games I have ever played. If you do decide to pick this up, take the time to collect all of the logs. The story told through them is beautiful and an amazing experience to piece together. It also allows you to unlock all 5 endings, which in their own right are amazing as well. The music is also incredible, fitting the atmosphere perfectly and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Should be named "ReJump". This game had a lot of promise right from the beginning, then it turned in to a boring jump fest very quickly. The graphics are great, unless you're near a light emitter, then the entire screen is overpowered by an annoying bright fog. Level design needs work. Retracing your steps after completing some of the levels is very annoying, especially when you're able to make it all the way to the end, only to find out you need an upgrade to proceed. Since you've already…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The graphics are beautiful, the music is fairly nice, the story logs are fairly nicely written, but the gameplay is honestly pretty dull... When you are platforming its a bit difficult to land precisely because of the camera angle, when you are shooting your movement slows down to a crawl, and you cant aim very high up which is a problem when there are flying enemies, you also cant really do anything while you are aiming, like dashing or jumping, so its pretty hard to dodge enemies and fight at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →https://youtu.be/7DZ1g40ogs4 A little disappointed with this one. I play a lot of Metroidvania-style games and this one misses a few important marks. The platforming feels weightless, so it's difficult to gauge a lot of the jumps. The combat can also be a neon bleached mess most of the time. While the art style looks cool with stark contrast between glowing neon light and darkness, in practice this leads to a lot of missed jump and hidden gaps. The story is pretty interesting, but mostly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →NO, I WILL NOT PLAY YOUR MOD FOR A 23 YEAR OLD NASCAR GAME BECAUSE YOU USED CLAUDE TO RECOMPILE THE GAMES CORE CODE TO ADD THINGS IT NEVER HAD NOR WAS DESIGNED FOR, FUCK YOU, LEARN TO CODE SHIT YOURSELF. FUCK AI, FUCK YOU IF YOU USE AI,
neutral · AI labelView post →Combat is so unenjoyable that I just can't finish it. Spent little over an hour getting to know this game, seems cool on the surface. Enjoyable puzzles and concept. After combat gets introduced you get whiplash from how fast your crosshair is moving, so you adjust it (normal, I guess). Once you're in the first area there's more combat and you quickly realize the enemies are dodgeable ONLY if you're zipping around with your dash ability. Once you're aiming your weapon you're relying on lucky…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OK REVIEW TIME! Good game! Excellent narrative and without spoiling anything, the ending is great. However, this game deserves it's mixed reviews. There's just bugs, the dev probably needs to go back and give the game another update fixing some bugs from steam reviews like: Crashing on low RAM systems Locking mouse long before the game is open And more Janus updates in OKT (I think) because you are going to have to climb through comms at least twice and that is not easy. If you are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TLDR: Nice story (has a lot of reading and no voice acting) with decent but unpolished combat/platforming The story is interesting. You have the current day one which is straight forward (you are a program trying to repair a broken computer system) and the backstory of what has happened in the past (which is revealed by collecting text logs in game and explains why/how the system broke). Also there is no voice acting. As for the gameplay it has a few issues: First and most important this game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is not only an enjoyable metroidvania, but much more flexible than most metroidvanias in how you play. There is gating, but it's more soft gating, meaning that multiple skills or abilities will allow you to get through different sections. The game is composed of 3D platforming, logic puzzles, and third-person shooting. These elements are present in fairly even amounts. However, as previously mentioned, the way you tackle these problems is very flexible. Hacking is an ability that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely adored the storyline and aesthetic of this game. The gameplay itself is nothing super new... pretty standard Metroidvania-style game with a few areas that you have to backtrack a bit to get the final lore pieces for. The platforming levels were annoying, though, because your character doesn't have a shadow, and the kill floor is the actual level floor, so when you miss a platform you fall for a bit before you get to try again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's nothing here.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I came into Recompile without any knowledge of the underlying story. From trailers and short clips I assumed that it was your standalone fight-to-survive Metroidvania where it's you vs. the evil machine. Well, I was wrong. The more you venture into the Mainframe, the more you uncover and begin to realise that your fight isn't actually about you at all. You're both trying to complete your task for those who sent you as well as uncover the reason as to why you're here and what has been left for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am not very compelled to write bad reviews but Recompile really does everything to hinder the player's progress without delivering any motivation or explanation. The fact that the level design is non-linear with many hidden paths is not the problem although it becomes part of it. The main issue is that the difficulty curve is so steep in terms of world architecture that you are mostly confused before it all makes more sense. For example, I didn't find the weapon at first because everything…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just finished my first playthrough. The story is really captivating and the sound design is on another level. The game could have been a bit longer and more difficult and it seems like some levels and features were rushed. Overall would recommend 4/5.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game needs to be recompiled.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I initially stumbled upon this game when the dev posted pre-alpha work in progress on Imgur. It is really fantastic to see the game finally dropped. TL;DR: Artistically everything one could want from a 3rd person adventure game. Story that draws you in with lore logs that tell a tale of survivors from a time long past. Gameplay (Puzzles/ Shooting) is clunky and rough around the edges like an indy game. Yet for all of its flaws it’s worth the price point. Recompile, for me completed in about 7…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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