Valfaris: Mecha Therion
Valfaris: Mecha Therion
Game
Game2019
Valfaris
Developer Steel Mantis
Valfaris is a 2D action platforming game developed by Steel Mantis and published by Big Sugar. The game was released for Windows and Nintendo Switch on October 10, 2019, and later for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November. Merge Games distributed the physical copies of the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions in November 2019. Amazon Luna version arrived in December 2020. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
229 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 22, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
76
LovedLoved
134 positive · 42 negative
95% range 69–82%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 134 | 42 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 19 | 1 | 24 |
| Lemmy * | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,178 of 1,453 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 137 yes, 41 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 178 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (2,351 of 2,859 positive).
Players praise the heavy metal soundtrack and pixel art style. [1][2][3] Many find the game challenging but fair, with generous checkpoints. [4][5][6] Some reviewers criticize clunky controls and frustrating difficulty. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
Hard for the sake of being hard. This would have been a much better game without the endless enemy respawns. Also the end of the Exterminator boss fight is very unfair, which is where I dropped the game after dying 3 times to that mechanic. The art is okay. It is not easy to see what is happening on the screen at times because of the overall grainy style.
- [1]
If heavy metal were a game, it would look something like this. There is no dodge button here. True metal never backs down.
- [4]
The weapon and level designs are awesome. The game is challenging, but it isn't overly hard. Because you have unlimited lives and the game is generous with checkpoints. But, if you upgrade the wrong weapon, the game can become very difficult. The weapons that are worth upgrading are: Melee Weapon - Jelly Whip - Leg of Arach - Bathoryn Primary Weapon -Vroll's Sidearm - Therion's Call Destroyer -Envoy of Destruction …
- [2]
There's so much blood that when an enemy explodes into a gory mess, the blood actually comes out of your computer screen and splatters you in the face. Soundtrack goes so hard that goth girls will be able to hear it from miles away. If aliens ever try to invade Earth, we will show them a playthrough of this game and ask them if they are sure. 10/10
- [3]
Do you like pixel art with explosions and gore? Do you like heavy metal that melts your ears? How about space fantasies where you wield a sword and shoot space lasers at the same time? If you just eagerly nodded, you’ll love Valfaris. This is a metroidvania where the rule is simple. You kill everything that moves, or it will kill you. Because, trust me, they will try everything to end you. Valfaris is a brutal game …
Summarised from 34 of the 233 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 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Valfaris sits at 76% positive across 176 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Valfaris received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic. It received a score of 31 out of 40 from Famitsu, based on individual reviews of 8, 8, 8, and 7. Liam Croft from Push Square praised the game's platforming sections, weapon variety, and visuals. He called the boss fights "incredibly cool", but felt that the game's enemies respawned too quickly. Dom Reseigh-Lincoln from Nintendo Life liked the Valfaris extreme metal soundtrack and the visuals. He believed that the Resurrection Idols made saving the game easier. He also felt that enemies respawned too quickly, and thought that the game needed a dodge button. Windows Central writer Brendan Lowry rated…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 229 · most liked firstbefore i forgot. here is my games finished in 2025 final list. GAMES FINISHED IN 2025 1. Yakuza Kiwami 2. Monster Hunter Wilds 3. A game about digging a hole 4. Slay the Spire 5. Brigandine: Legend of Runersia 6. Northgard 7. Slain: back from hell 8. Valfaris 9. Titan Souls 10. Ale & Tale Tavern
neutral · AI labelView post →If heavy metal were a game, it would look something like this. There is no dodge button here. True metal never backs down.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Her is my list of games so far. 2025 GAMES FINISHED 1. Yakuza Kiwami 2. Monster Hunter Wilds 3. A game about digging a hole 4. Slay the Spire 5. Brigandine: Legend of Runersia 6. Northgard 7. Slain: back from hell 8. Valfaris 9. Titan Souls 10. Ale & Tale Tavern 11. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 12. Raft
neutral · AI labelView post →This is a rare "barely recommended" for me. It is a good game, with lots of potential but it falls short in a couple places. First the positives: - Excellent art, unique style, much needed metal theme - Of course amazing soundtrack Where it can improve: - the character movement while shooting is frustrating, I can't control Therion well, it doesn't feel powerful as the theme is screaming it should. - the game loop is a little underwhelming, it's just complete section, move forward.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It’s like hard for no reason, hard for no actual rewards, at least put easy mode
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game's hard for all the bad reasons. It's not Ikaruga hard, or DoDonPachi hard, it's just RNG hard.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hard for the sake of being hard. This would have been a much better game without the endless enemy respawns. Also the end of the Exterminator boss fight is very unfair, which is where I dropped the game after dying 3 times to that mechanic. The art is okay. It is not easy to see what is happening on the screen at times because of the overall grainy style.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I share this opinion. My Steam Deck is great, but it gets heavy after a while. GameNative has been great for indie titles. I've been playing Tape to Tape, Cassette Beasts, Blasphemous, Valfaris... I'm also surprised at how well the battery holds out on a charge.
neutral · AI labelView post →Grotesque platformer with lots of guns and shooting. Gameplay is similar to Contra - obliterate alien creatures and make your way through. Level design is interesting and introducing something new frequently. Alien planet like environment with jumping platforms, climbing walls and ropes to get across. Deadly plants, oddly looking creatures are common sight here. Interestingly enough sometimes we drift on the back of goliath while swimming across lava and defending from monsters. Bosses require…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finally satisfied making things look like a Windows ‘95 pre rendered pc game in my weird spaceship management survival sim Underneath a Black Metal Sky Also been trying to compose metal for the aesthetic to varied effect Valfaris by MrAwolf is a huge inspiration on this Turn on 🔊 #gamedev #horror
neutral · AI labelView post →Great game, love the estetic and the design. its hard but nothing crazy, theres always a way if you use what they give you, right when you feel frustrated theres a checkpoint or something that makes you keep going. also its really cheap.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Example of how my free music would sound in context. This game is called Valfaris by the way. You may download my Free Game Music Pack here -> francesco-pirrone.itch.io/free-epic-fa... #gamedev #gamemusic #gameassets #freemusic #freeassets
neutral · AI labelView post →Fallout 4 is, *by far,* the best Fallout game. Yes, having dialogs limited to 4 simplified options is unfortunate. Doesn't matter, the rest of the game and gameplay makes up for that ten times over. And yes, I *am* including New Vegas in the comparison. Also there's a game called Valfaris that I think is rad as hell. It wasn't disliked so much as completely slept on. Definitely worth looking at if you like tough retro 2d shoot & platform games
positive · AI labelView post →There's so much blood that when an enemy explodes into a gory mess, the blood actually comes out of your computer screen and splatters you in the face. Soundtrack goes so hard that goth girls will be able to hear it from miles away. If aliens ever try to invade Earth, we will show them a playthrough of this game and ask them if they are sure. 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Valfaris is much like the game that came before it. As much as I wanted to really love it, I gave up by the end because of simple bad game design. Much like Slain before it, Valfaris is an excellent looking game and I mean excellent. I think the art design is incredible. I really love the sci-fi visuals, the gore and general nastiness on screen. The creators have clearly put a lot of love into the look of their game and no one should ever tell them they did a bad job. Unfortunately, good…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a cup of tea and a broken controller with heavy metal from the headset.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Incredible variety for a game like this. The art is fantastic, killing stuff is fun. Just a solid game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →if you dont have a controller, dont bother. keyboard controls are by far the worst i have ever seen. Gamplay is repetitive and many sections are tedious. if you want to make a hard game, go on, but make it hard, and not tedious to play. i dont recommend it, but you gotta decide
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[review] Valfaris: Mecha Therion Review (Switch eShop) | Nintendo Life.
neutral · AI labelView post →I can’t believe none of you told me Valfaris: Mecha Therion whips THIS much ass!! Head and shoulders above the first game and far more approachable. Currently on sale on Switch for $5!!
positive · AI labelView post →only get into this game if you’re skilled, it can humble you real quick. so far, the level design is the best part, and the art style is also really cool. A dodge or dash mechanic would be appreciated. I’m almost 7 hours into the game and have finished 65% of it… let’s see how it goes; it’s already taking a toll on my brain. PS: I've beaten the game and i have same views on it, get it on steam sale for 85 INR you won't regret, awesome game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Man, I wanted to like this game! If looks cool on the videos. And it sort of is. Music is punchy, artstyle is ok (it defines its own style) But controls are NOT enjoyable. Because of the following: - 8 direction aim / shoot - No auto fire / shoot - Clumsy crouch (even on d-pad, char sometimes walks before crouching) Movement is overall clunky. You'll get tired of manually firing each shot. The 8 direction aim also compromises gameplay, you fail shots / get hit because of it. The first boss…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ignore the bad reviews. They were made by people who either sucks at video games or didn't know what kind of game this is.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My lord, this game is hard to play.... but for all the wrong reasons. The mouse-and-keyboard controls are clunky as hell, and it is painfully obvious that the game was designed around a controller. The default key bindings feel as though they were birthed in hell itself to test the patience of anyone unfortunate enough to use them. Would not recommend unless you own a controller.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game looks and musics feel pretty nice in a brutal way. Gameplay-wise, it is a basic side-scroller shooter where you aim with the same stick you use for movement. It's yet another one that didn't notice there are two sticks on a gamepad or that a PC also has a mouse. Of course, one button is used to stop moving while firing. I've checked in the options and there is no way to change that. I've only played a few minutes but it just feels too clunky for me. The delay between a "stance" and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Music, art and world is great but controls are not enjoyable for me. Also, the checkpoints are deliberately put in places so that you have to play the same places over and over again. I understand that this game is built upon retro games so 8 point aim is chosen. But I hated the fact that you have to move while shooting (or press shield to stop moving which makes you eat all the bullets). I wish they had chosen a hybrid method (using modern technology) to bring back retro games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is hard for the sake of being hard but this game doesn't appreciate your time like similar titles. I feel like the controls could be better and there could have been more checkpoints or difficulty settings. The challenge outweighed the fun on this one i'm sorry to say.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heya folks, here's a 2nd, and final, set of screenshots featuring Slain: Back From Hell by Steel Mantis and Digerati. Interestingly, this game ended on a cliffhanger. I wonder if Valfaris is the sequel (I've never played it). #slainbackfromhell #videogames #indiegames #metroidvania #screenshots
neutral · AI labelView post →---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☑ Old Fashioned ☐…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Going LIVE 🔴 The LAST Son of Valfaris Returns - 2 Hoping to finish this today 😁 It's a pretty gnarly game. youtube.com/@kittsgame twitch.tv/kittsgame
neutral · AI labelView post →Going LIVE 🔴 😁 Using Heavy METAL To Uncover The Truth of Valfaris This game gives me Brutal Legend meets Metroid vibes, but having never played it I can't be sure 🤭 let's find out together 😀 Stop by, say hi, and let's jam out 🤘 youtube.com/@kittsgame twitch.tv/kittsgame
neutral · AI labelView post →THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO RAVI FOR SUGGESTING VALFARIS! NEXT UP IS PSEUDOREGALIA, A GAME I KNOW LITERALLY NOTHING ABOUT!
neutral · AI labelView post →[Nintendo Switch | US eShop] Valfaris (3.74 USD / 85 %). Ends in 22 hours.
neutral · AI labelView post →The weapon and level designs are awesome. The game is challenging, but it isn't overly hard. Because you have unlimited lives and the game is generous with checkpoints. But, if you upgrade the wrong weapon, the game can become very difficult. The weapons that are worth upgrading are: Melee Weapon - Jelly Whip - Leg of Arach - Bathoryn Primary Weapon -Vroll's Sidearm - Therion's Call Destroyer -Envoy of Destruction (I think Bringer of Mayhem is better) - Bringer of Mayhem - Vroll's Fist…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It has its fun moments, especially the new weapons are fun to use. However it really tests your patience times and times again with brutal and annoying difficulty, which at some times needs skill and some other times just needs luck!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#23 completion for the year Valfaris A dope Gory sidescroller placed in the world of fkn space metal!! Music 10 Violence 10 Level design 10 Bosses 10 Headbangability 10 This game might be my favorite sidescroller of all time holy fuckin metal madness is it good!! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘
positive · AI labelView post →A great epic game that i reccomend with 100% confidence, with hot music and gameplay. Enjoyed progression system and it's difficulty, which can be overcome and doesn't make you angry because of it's fairness. if i knew about this game earlier - i guess i would choose it instead of Blasphemous (don't want to say the last game is worthless) but this one is closer to my spirit. 9/10 only because of simple story - but it's 100% fit.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've tired of this game. Hope to finish it someday, but not now. Despite the many things I like about it, don't recommend. I believe that making game difficult makes the requirements for the mastery of design much higher. This game is difficult and though some places are fun in their challenge, the deeper you are in the game - the more fun is sucked off. You just constantly replaying the every stage from checkpoint to checkpoint because of some ♥♥♥♥♥♥ designing decision. Like flying bugs…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hardcore platformer with gorgeous guitar riffs, old-school pixel graphics, gloomy atmosphere and interesting plot. For fans of platformers, definitely in the collection.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stream Finished 😁 This was a pretty fun and charming game. The difficulty jumps between the different settings is kind of insane. Easy is genuinely too easy, but Moderate/Normal can just wreck me 🤣 Anyhooo, I'm playing Valfaris next, looks pretty hardcore 🤘
neutral · AI labelView post →THE GAME HATES ME THE DRUMMER HATES ME I HATE ME AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not my cup of tea, feels too frustrating when you can only aim at strict angles. I don't care if it's "authentic", that's just my taste.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →V: Valfaris Now here's an interesting one. Maybe not so much for the game itself, which is a tough platformer/shooter, but for the soundtrack. It is composed by former Celtic Frost guitarist Curt Victor Bryant. Celtic Frost was one of my favourite metal bands in the 80s.🤘
neutral · AI labelView post →Visual design: >Nice, old-school lo-fi graphics >Cool and edgy-looking locations >A great otherworldly atmosphere >A solid sci-fantasy setting Music: >Generic, but very fitting and energetic >A real love letter to the heavy metal aesthetic >Written by Curt Victor Bryant of the legendary Celtic Frost Gameplay: >High difficulty in the style of Contra and other similar classics >A really bad shooting model - aiming and movement assigned to the same gamepad stick with no way of seperating the two…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →what an incredible followup to Slain Back From Hell. one of my favorite side scrollers EVER
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you like pixel art with explosions and gore? Do you like heavy metal that melts your ears? How about space fantasies where you wield a sword and shoot space lasers at the same time? If you just eagerly nodded, you’ll love Valfaris. This is a metroidvania where the rule is simple. You kill everything that moves, or it will kill you. Because, trust me, they will try everything to end you. Valfaris is a brutal game where you will die and die again. And yet, inexplicably – perhaps due to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Looks great Sounds great Controls make this unplayable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →absurd difficulty, bosses that kill you after you won the fight, atrocious platforming sessions, the quantity of enemies just punishing from checkpoint to checkpoint, difficult for no reason, cool weapons but only a couple viable
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Brutal in every possible way
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#SHMUPtember goes into Day nr.5 and we're continuing Valfaris: Mecha Therion! This game has been a blast so far, great music and some neat additions to the shmup formula, rarely do I see an auto scrolling shmup with secret areas for example. Let's see if we can beat it today! www.twitch.tv/e_bommel
positive · AI labelView post →Game #5 of 2025: Valfaris: Mecha Therion; the 2.5D shoot 'em up sequel to Valfaris. It looks/feels like a lost PS1 era arcade shooter that would have sat alongside G-Darius, R-Type Delta & Einhander. I finished the game on True Metal difficulty with everything collected. I loved it!
positive · AI labelView post →A punishing game with pretty tight combat. It took a while before I realized how powerful the parry mechanic is, but it is very useful when fighting bosses. The game is crunchy, gritty, metal, and gory. Overall super fun, though be prepared to die a lot as you figure out the timing of boss and enemy attacks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Looks cool, sounds cool, plays like crap. The controls are ones of the worst i've seen, be it keyboard or controller. The enemies that just keep spawning 1 second after you kill them just makes it worse since you are fighting both the enemies and the controls. Shame, since it looked like a really cool game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Before buying the game, at first I thought the game was interesting. Unusual and heavy metal soundtrack, interesting art design with skulls everywhere and cool monsters and a cool main character. But as I progressed through the game, I was frankly tormented by the difficulty level. When I got closer to the end I felt like "God give me courage somehow advance to the next checkpoint." I think if the difficulty level was lower, it would be more interesting to play this game. I cannot recommend…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another garbage game where 90% of the difficulty is the garbage aiming/controls. Steel Mantis makes awful games.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked the game. Nice arm, smooth gameplay and everything is decent. So why the thumbs down? Well, it is a lot more about trying after a few mandatory deaths, pure luck and specific weapons than skill that is needed to win this game. Also don't even bother to learn enemy patterns as they're as random as it gets. Balance? Doesn't exist. You will be hit by the boss, and the enemies around the boss, and the boss moving around animation, the boss landing even the boss dying to take out that last…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like platform shooters, this is a no brainer. EDIT: Got to the end of the game and had no resurrection idols so it was impossible. It turns you have to keepo them to increase your life so I felt dumb. My bad! Except on a new game... this mechanic is never explained. Uninstall and review changed to negative. The devs can eat butt.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why does Steam only run sales on awful games like this one? Ok, here's the list of no-no's for Val-farts: - Too many controls for a basic "Contra like" shooter. - Using the sword forces you to swing it in the opposite direction. - Headache inspiring music. - You have to press the button for each individual bullet. Seems like holding the button should let the pistol auto fire. - Bosses are WAY too hard to defeat.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Using AzorMX's list (which I also read and enjoy) as a starting point... 13. _Valfaris: Mecha Therion_ This is a cool game, but not a shmup 16. _Tengai_ Psikyo games have input lag (I still love them). 17. _Steredenn: Binary Stars_ Not a shmup, I couldn't get into this one enough to bother trying to finish a run. Cool music. 20. _Strikers 1945_ Psikyo, see above. Games I haven't played but have been told to avoid on Switch: - _Steam-Heart's Saturn Tribute_ - _Sonic Wings Reunion_…
neutral · AI labelView post →Valfaris: Mecha Therion It's not too often you see a sequel change game genres, but shifting to a sidescroller shoot-em-up was surprisingly natural. Another short and solid game that continues the story from where it left off. Bonus to the final boss here being more of a challenge. 8.5/10
positive · AI labelView post →
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