Ariana and the Elder Codex review

A Metroidvania game about entering books in order to repair the magic that lies within their pages? Sign me right up. That’s Ariana and the Elder Codex, a 2D adventure from Idea Factory and Compile Heart available now on PlayStation and Switch, and launching next month on PC. Combat heavy, fast-paced and great to look at, this game is certainly worth your time if you’re a fan of metroidvanias and side-scrolling action games.

Ariana and the Elder Codex gently eases you in, throwing you into the most basic of the seven ‘Hero Codices’, the books that need repairing in order to save the world. Only taking roughly 30 minutes to complete, this one codex feels like a mini metroidvania game in its own right, with a small map to explore, enemies to cull and secrets to uncover.

Once you’re done with that codex, which technically acts as a tutorial to the game as such, you’ll find yourself in your ‘hub’, a place where Ariana can rest between worlds, upgrade her skills, and choose the next codex to jump into. There are people to talk to here, so it’s worth hanging around and exploring, but chances are you’re going to be eager to jump straight into the next codex, where things get much more meatier.

Despite its colourful appearance and its seemingly cute protagonist, this is a game that doesn’t pull any punches. You’ll need to be nimble with button presses in order to best your enemies in combat, but with both melee attacks and magic at your fingertips, you’ve got plenty of options. Thankfully, difficulty options are available, so if you opt for ‘story’ difficulty, combat should never be too much of an issue. But even on ‘normal’, you’ll need to keep your wits about you otherwise death can come all too quickly.

With a weapon in hand, a melee attack will likely be your bread and butter when it comes to engaging in combat, but you do have a few magical abilities at your fingertips from the off. The press of a face button can fire off a fireball attack and another will heal a small amount of HP. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock plenty more spells too, and you can choose your own loadout to suit your preferences.

While Ariana and the Elder Codex isn’t the type of game where you can equip a full arsenal of weapons and armour, you can craft and equip various magical items that will enhance your abilities in meaningful ways. One item might increase your HP by 10%, while another might lower the cooldown on your magical attacks. You can equip up to five items at once, but with each individual item having a cost, you might only be able to afford to have one or two more powerful items equipped at any one time.

It’s by defeating enemies, and more powerful bosses, that you’ll gradually repair the codices you’re tasked with exploring. As you make your way through the beautifully-designed 2D environments of each codex you’ll find a lot of foes to defeat, but special groups of enemies will appear in ‘tears’ of the codices. Defeating these in a set period of time will repair a percentage of the book, with plenty of these tears to be found as you explore. Mixed in along the way are story scenes, too, making for a rich and engaging adventure should you choose to engage with them. You can skip any dialogue or story scene, but they’re absolutely worth paying attention to.

There are seven codices to restore, each with a boss to complete and lots of secrets to explore. You won’t need to reach 100% completion on each one to ‘finish’ it, but it’s worth going back in to see what you’ve missed – especially when you’ve unlocked some new abilities. Being a metroidvania game, there are new skills that you’ll unlock as you progress, allowing you access to new areas, such as a double jump.

If you’re a fan of 2D action games, Ariana and the Elder Codex is well worth your time. It might not offer up anything particularly new or exciting, but with an intriguing narrative, eye-catching 2D visuals and enjoyable combat, it’s a fun game that’s easy to recommend.

This review of Ariana and the Elder Codex is based on the PS5 version of the game, with a code provided by the publisher. It’s available on PS4, PS5 and Switch, with a PC version coming soon.