An artist’s story of hope, dreams, being overworked to the brink of exhaustion that is tightly rolled up into an enthralling beautiful hand-drawn Metroidvania adventure. Constance was a magical journey pulling on heartstrings that we have all felt in one manner or another.

After being pulled into a dream-like state, we are searching for a way out, figuratively and literally. The game feels like a personal journey from the creators, BTF Games. A journey of work-life balance, deadlines and a battle with our inner-demons and the struggles of day-to-day life. Constance's journey was touching and rewarding. Learning more about her backstory was impactful and purposeful in moving the game forward, searching for Tears that will aid you on your quest for home.

A Beautiful Path Forward

I can’t say enough about the stunning hand-drawn world. It’s both beautiful and breathtaking. The glow of ambient light, rays of sunshine, the sparkles of particle effects are created to perfection. The blurred images in the forefront that draw you to the depths of the background is something that is rarely achieved to this magnitude. Constance at times would remind me of Ori and the Blind Forest or Will of the Whips in its art direction. Absolutely incredible!

The World Around You

The art may have drawn you in, but the gameplay is a loop of constant precision with well-executed maneuvers and pinpoint paint brush strokes. With well-timed traversal, hidden secrets and thoughtful level design. Constance is a true testament to fundamental level design of true Metroidvania games from the past. Expect to travel back to locations you’ve already seen, knowing that the ledge may be higher than you can currently reach, but it’s only a matter of time before you come back to claim the challenge which was once unobtainable.

Thoughtful planning with each of the 6 biomes was a pleasure to explore, finding hidden areas, unlocking new paths that were once blocked to later return to fresh opportunities had me constantly test my new abilities and expanding my artistic arsenal.

To Be An Artist

Learning the flow of the paintbrush will be your artistic lifeline. They say to be a great artist it takes years of practice, or in this case, a little inspiration. Finding a canvas along your travels will grant you access to “Inspiration.” With your newfound abilities known as techniques, they become your inspiration to help you traverse the world, fend off enemies and more, but it all has a cost. You only have so much paint on your brush at once. It is a clever way to limit the use of your abilities. If you continue to spam your abilities, you will run out of paint and begin to steal your health for its use. In turn, this had me constantly checking my paint meter and looking for paint bottles to help upgrade my use of the paint brush.

Swinging my paintbrush around, splattering paint across the world and the various enemies all felt varied. There was always something new presented to me that kept the game fresh. Whether it be a new enemy to face or a new obstacle to block my path, that would lead to some sort of puzzle mechanic that needed solving. I never felt as though the game was on repeat. New areas meant new challenges and new encounters.

Which leads me to the bosses. Each boss with its own unique toolset. Unique style to find the balance of attack and the pattern they present in front of you. Bosses aren’t something I usually enjoy. I prefer to simply play the game, but I found myself challenged by each new boss and looking forward to the puzzle at hand. Just how do I take care of the Joker, or Sir, Barfalot challenging myself to dodge at the perfect moment to begin my attack. Each new boss encounter was a welcomed challenge for me to overcome.

But if you die, which you will many times throughout your playthrough, you can “Persevere” or return to the shrine, a safe respawn area and try your hand again, or search for a new path. Persevering will allow you to stay and respawn at your location in which you died, but just like using too much of your paint will cause you harm, selecting the persevere opition will come at a cost as well. Enemies become stronger, more challenging and much tougher to beat. Boss fights and the world around you are already challenging. But for the opportunity of staying where you are versus heading back to a checkpoint, it might be worth taking on the challenge, knowing you were so close to finding a new location, a hidden secret, the desire to push yourself was a welcomed challenge I found myself often taking upon myself.

Finding Your Path

There isn’t much for me to criticize when it comes to the game, but I did have a small gripe about the use of the games map. I would have loved to have seen a much more detailed understanding of my surroundings. I would pull up the map and see the area I was in, but not the full path of how I got there or the area I was currently in. Instead, it’s more of a block on the map, pointing to your approximate location. Zooming in may show my current block of the environment, but if I wanted to zoom out and see which path I would like to go next, it zooms all the way out to the world map. There wasn’t a happy medium of in-between. It was either too far zoomed in or too far zoomed out. I would have liked to have seen more control over viewing the area with more detailed information.

The Perfect Brush Stroke

Constance instantly had me invested in the game with the stunning world and the desire to learn more about her journey that lay ahead. Her story of personal growth and struggle was a connection that felt personal on many levels. Pushing through her struggles with excellent combat, the beautiful hand-drawn environment and level design which would hold you back on stages to have you return with purpose was the perfect brush stroke any artist would love to create.

Constance is the perfect artist’s journey. Filled with self discovery that will inspire and challenge you to the end.