Powerslave: Exhumed First Playthrough
4Powerslave: Exhumed, based on the console (PSX/Saturn) versions of the title, touts itself as an FPS with metroidvania elements. Since I'm a sucker for exploration and backtracking in FPSes, I've been overdue to try this.
While the game technically contains backtracking, it is still very linear for the most part until late-game. The main aspect of backtracking for progression involves acquiring new abilities and then revisiting a level to access different exits leading to different paths around the overworld. There is additional late-game backtracking for items that affect the ending. Even with the backtracking, the full experience is still relatively short.
The FPS aspects feel pretty rudimentary, and not always enjoyable. The most frequent enemies are practically invisible and are often encountered in the FPS equivalent to stepping on Legos. The worst aspect of the game is that all drops from breakable objects are completely random - and as the game continues, this pool further dilutes to include more and more traps (and therefore fewer restorative items). This can result in an utter drought of resources, and lead to annoying backtracking to areas known to have early farming points (which are still problematic due to the diluted drops pool). This would be unnecessary in most other FPSes where level designers put in the effort to ensure a reasonable distribution of resources statically around the level.
I'm glad I played it, but it's definitely something to get on a sale.