Environmental Station Alpha

Environmental Station Alpha is a 2015 metroidvania created by Finnish indie developer Arvi Teikari (known professionally as Hempuli).

Environmental Station Alpha
Official ESA Steam artwork
Developer(s)Hempuli Oy
Publisher(s)Hempuli Oy
Designer(s)Arvi Teikari
Composer(s)Roope Mäkinen[1]
Platform(s)
Release
  • WW: April 22, 2015
Genre(s)Metroidvania
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The player character is a robot who must examine a vast bio-dome space station which was mysteriously abandoned, despite still holding signs of life.[2]

The player explores the vast side-scrolling maze of the space station, consisting of several large areas. At the beginning of the game, many areas are inaccessible, so the player must acquire items that grant the robot new abilities (like a grappling hook, the ability to double jump, etc.), and then backtrack to previous areas to find previously-inaccessible paths leading deeper into the station.[3]

Reception

Jed Whitaker of Destructoid scored the game 7/10 and said, "[o]verall, Environmental Station Alpha didn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to Metroidvania games, but it certainly helped satisfy my appetite." He praised the game's pixel art aesthetic and bosses, writing that "[t]hese confrontations are some of the most satisfying boss battles I've had in a game in some time"; however, he was less enthusiastic toward the game's mandatory backtracking to find new pathways, which he said could be either "rewarding, or tedious depending on the amount of time needed."[4] John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun also gave the game a positive review, calling it a "Metroid-alike pixel platformer that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, right up until I didn’t any more. And yet, I find myself recommending it." He said that "[t]he fine balance of Metroid games is often underestimated by those wishing to emulate them, but Arvi Teikari and Roope Mäkinen demonstrate a rare skill of precision" but wrote that the game was too difficult for his tastes, labelling its later sections as "fiddly and over-complicated."[5]

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References
  1. Tannous, Jesse (May 5, 2015). "Explore a Sci-fi Bio-dome in Environmental Station Alpha". Indie Game Magazine. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  2. "Environmental Station Alpha". giantbomb.com. Giant Bomb. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  3. "ENVIRONMENTAL STATION ALPHA REVIEW". indiesense.github.io. Indiesense. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  4. Whitaker, Jed (April 28, 2015). "Review: Environmental Station Alpha". Destructoid. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  5. Walker, John (May 1, 2015). "Wot I Think: Environmental Station Alpha". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
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