Marrow: 2D, Horror Themed Action-Adventure

"It has been weeks now... or is it months past since that bulbous, beautiful sphere had been cracked, and that low, maddening hum still wafts out from the walls and hollow ground beneath. My workers, the simple but observant men from Windheim could sense a presence, a mind, inside that darkened and dormant orb found beneath the Manor. Something was hiding inside, like a turtle flees to the inside of its shell. After it was cracked, but before it could be shattered, a face emerged, or so I was told. I did not see it, I seem rarely so lucky to witness such things, but others have said the face seemed to mimic the face of a man. The others surmise it was pleading to us, pleading for its life, I read it differently. I believe it was a warning to its kin below of the form of its captors. That is why it needed to be shattered, and soon we will have what's needed to harness that wretched hum."

The Migrant is an enemy composed of two parts; the body of the creature is a muddy, scaly blue form with two legs and what seems to be a single eye, but the "brain" of the creature is the sphere which is attached on top.

The migrant is a kind of mid-boss of sorts. It is only fought a few times in the game and can even be circumvented in one particular case. The enemy's only weak point is its brain, the body is impervious to both weapons and fire. Fortunately, the migrant begins in a kind of sleeping state and can be damaged easily from far away without making it aggressive if you are willing to spend the clarity to do so, otherwise you must approach it and begin attacking.

Weapon length matters in this fight since the body of the creature protrudes out enough that hitting the orb without taking damage by colliding with the body is hard with something as small as the dagger.

The migrant essentially only has two attacks. For one, it can strike one of its legs into the ground and send it shooting out of the ground at the very spot the player is standing. The only way for the migrant to move is to send its head flying across the room in a circular motion, it protects itself by forming two projectiles around itself and firing them at the player as it moves away. At this point it could emerge just about anywhere in the immediate area, even right where the player is standing so it is important to try and defeat the monster as fast as possible. Later fights with the Migrant also introduce some other enemies into the mix to make the fight a bit more difficult to deal with.

Marrow OST - Entombed

https://youtu.be/XmVZD8Xme4Q

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Mass

"What devilry?! I am at my wit's end! No matter what we try, those which succumb to the sickness have an insatiable thirst and will to remain. We have buried them, locked them away, chopped them and even burned them to no avail. Perhaps in this pursuit of the secrets held within the deep we have neglected this saddening display of the will of man to circumvent his very death. Some have formed hulking masses, twisted perversions, melted into a husk of dead flesh and bone, writhing in the darkened corners. They are harmless though, unless approached, best leave them where they stand, cemented in the ground, waiting for a second death."

Mass is a simple enemy type encountered a number of times during the game under varying circumstances. It does not move or chase you, it will not curse you and it doesn't pack the hardest punch in terms of damage (though it is still substantial). However it is impassable, and they do guard a number of important places and are often assisted in this task by other enemies making them a little more complicated than they may seem at first glance.

Their main and only attack is to swipe at you with their one big arm. In order to damage them they must be struck in the head. The length of your weapon makes all the difference in these encounters, assuming you have beaten back any assisting enemies striking the head and avoiding the claw attack should be quite easy, but, do look up from time to time.

Echo Enemies

The Echo realm contains one very distinct enemy type, and in this state, most other enemies become invisible and harmless, however there are few enemies that retain their damaging qualities even inside the Echo realm.

Some of the harmless threats in the echo realm will turn invisible after you have viewed the echo light, but not all. Even inside the echo realm certain enemies will see you and attack you but can't do damage, though you won't know this until after the enemies have already struck. In addition, there are enemies, like the Mass, which will remain a threat even inside the altered perceptive state that is the Echo realm. The Mass in particular is a nuisance because it cannot be passed by or avoided, and since you cannot attack in your echo form, the creature must be defeated in the realm of normal perception.

As a side note, non-echo enemies which remain active in the Echo realm also deal different damage percentages in their echo state.

Marrow OST - Into the Breach

https://youtu.be/sWffRj_fiQ0

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Boss profile

The Imprisoned Seer

"Blinded, maimed, buried and surrounded by the fleshy mound created by the soiled bodies of the Marrow cancer. His eyes have been taken to the fringes, guarded by those dear sweet Emissaries. That shameful crime I helped produce is caught in the deepest place it could be brought, now haunted over by those few selfless minds left behind. This should be enough, but it won't be. Instead I must bury all of it, tower the earth above this valley and envelop all beneath a mountain of dirt. Will it be enough? Men are prone to dig. My hope that the terror of Frederic's wake will be enough to ward off any curiosity, before any travel further below. Curiosity has ruled me, and now may have doomed us all, if my measures are not enough to silence these beacons."

The Imprisoned Seer is a an optional boss at the end of an optional section of Marrow and possess the final weapon (Tendril), a very powerful weapon which is needed in order to get the game's true ending.

The road to the Seer requires a careful eye and a good memory of your previous surroundings. It isn't enough to simply reach his cabin, the entrance to the Seer's prison isn't so easily broken in to. In order to open the path to the Seer the player must collect a number of the Seer's eyes, hidden in secret rooms around the game world, and protected by a set of mini-bosses. Finding these locations is where your memory and instincts have to be sharp.

The boss hangs from the ceiling and fires projectiles at the player. Each projectile spawns with a random colour. Use the orb to destroy the ones which spawn from his hands and reflect those which come from his head, that is the only way to damage the boss. Striking the boss with your weapon will damage you so be cautious about engaging the other enemies in the room during the fight. Two of the "Taken" enemies will continuously spawn during the fight, in addition to the enemies which spawn from the Seer's dripping blood. Managing the other enemies and timing your attacks are the keys to winning this fight, which can be a bit of an endurance match given how difficult he is to damage.

In Echo mode, this boss fight plays out a bit differently. Since you can't distinguish colours in Echo mode the Seer's projectiles will always spawn in a state that can be reflected only with a weapon strike. It seems like a small change but the challenge is ramped up significantly due to the position of the attack and the precision needed to hit it. Interestingly enough, due to this change the boss doesn't technically require the Luminous Orb to defeat.