[Preview] ReSetna – Steam Next Fest

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The demo version of ReSetna pleasantly surprised us. Although we noticed a few bugs and a certain awkwardness in the gameplay, what we saw felt promising. For a Croatian studio, this is quite an ambitious project, and we believe the team at Today’s Games will improve the game in certain aspects.

This game boasts a dark and mystical atmosphere, appealing graphics, and excellent sound and music design. As a metroidvania and platformer, ReSetna brings typical genre elements such as fast travel, diverse boss battles, and constant enemy respawns whenever you re-enter an area.

The gameplay is somewhat clumsy and not executed in the best way. The game offers various types of attacks: basic attacks, jumping attacks, charged attacks, and even ground slams. The biggest challenge is the parry mechanic, whose animation is extremely short, forcing you to predict attacks several seconds in advance, as performing a perfectly timed parry is nearly impossible. On the positive side, enemies don’t feel overly tanky; the amount of damage you deal is satisfying. Still, you will certainly encounter enemies that frustrate you more than others.

For example, ground-based robot fights are quite fun, whether it’s sword-wielding units or robots charging toward you. On the other hand, flying robots are unusual because of their unpredictable movement. They will often appear above you, attacking alongside other enemies and forcing you to fight on two fronts.

However, flying robots frequently clip through walls (likely a bug) and tend to fly as high as possible, making them generally harder to defeat. You’ll also encounter various elite enemies, such as burrowing worms. The boss fight was interesting, but we won’t reveal too much to avoid spoilers.

Essentially, the issue lies not so much in the robot design, but in the gameplay itself, which occasionally “breaks.” Robots can block your attacks, and when they do, your only option is to attempt a parry, which, as mentioned, is quite difficult. Additionally, the dash mechanic often becomes unusable after your attack is blocked, leaving you vulnerable as enemies attack you freely in those moments. Still, dashing is otherwise extremely useful for avoiding enemy attacks and outsmarting opponents.

As you progress, you will unlock more platforming mechanics such as double jumps and wall sliding. Platforming is mostly straightforward and not overly challenging, you will jump up, down, left, and right, and most platforms are accessible at any time. Special praise goes to the map, which is very intuitive to navigate. Everything is clearly marked without the need for random wandering; as you progress through quests, important elements automatically appear in the map legend.

Fast travel points are located in multiple places, and you can also save your progress there. Currency is easy to farm, practically every time you enter a new room, you can choose to fight enemies or skip them, although they will relentlessly chase you. You can also revisit the main hub area to pick up key quests and various upgrades. The demo doesn’t showcase these upgrades well, but the option to purchase them exists, though details are still limited.

Storytelling often takes a back seat in games like this, and the same applies to ReSetna. Most of the time, you’ll forget about the narrative because the game rarely reminds you of it. On the other hand, the graphics are very good, and it’s interesting to observe what happens in the background while exploring the variety of characters scattered across the world. The world isn’t too large, making travel from one end to the other quick and simple. The side-scrolling aspect adds charm and fits the game’s design perfectly.

The demo offers plenty of content, so it’s no surprise if you find yourself fully immersed in this version. Naturally, you may encounter several bugs, such as being unable to climb ladders, falling through the floor, or triggering aerial attacks while standing on the ground. These minor issues didn’t heavily impact the overall experience, but they are noticeable.

If ReSetna fixes certain aspects and adds some extra polish, the game could turn out very good and will surely find its audience. Considering the studio’s quality, we’re not disappointed with what we’ve seen — and we believe you won’t be either. You can try the demo version on Steam, and the game is also part of the Steam Next Fest event.