Adventure of Samsara 1.0.14 — macOS

The Bat's Eye is the first upgrade you'll hunt for in Adventure of Samsara, and it sets the tone for the whole game. This 2D Metroidvania from Brazilian studio Ilex Games takes the spirit of the original Atari 2600 Adventure and pushes it in a fresh direction. You explore a pixel-art world, unlock new abilities, and double back to earlier areas with those upgrades. It's a familiar loop, but the references to the classic game give it personality.

If you like exploring at your own pace and feeling clever when you solve a path puzzle, you'll likely enjoy this one. The pixel art is clean, and the upgrades change how you move through the map, which keeps things interesting. But if you prefer a linear story or fast combat without backtracking, it may not hold your attention. It's a game for patient players who appreciate a nod to gaming history.

Hidden passage wall textures differ slightly

Adventure of Samsara has a few touches that don't announce themselves. The first time you find a hidden passage, you'll notice the wall texture is just slightly different from the surrounding blocks. It's not a glowing marker or a crack — just a subtle shift in pixel color that your eye learns to catch over time. Once you know to look for it, backtracking becomes more rewarding.

The map screen, when you pull it up, shows which rooms you've fully cleared and which still have secrets. This is useful if you're the type who wants to comb every area before moving on. The map doesn't tell you what you missed, only that something is there, so you still have to figure it out yourself.

Another small thing: when you unlock a new ability, the game briefly shows a short visual cue of where that ability might be useful on the current map. It's easy to miss if you're in a hurry, but if you pause and look, it can save you a lot of wandering.

A typical exploration session, start to finish

I start a session by checking the map for any rooms I marked earlier as unreachable. The game lets you place a small marker on the map screen, which helps when you find a ledge too high or a door that won't open yet. I usually have two or three of these markers spread across different biomes.

From the last save point, I head toward the nearest marker. The path takes me through a lava-themed area with enemies that burst from the ground. I've been through this room before, so I know their timing. I make it past without taking damage and reach the high ledge. This time, with the double jump I found earlier, I can reach it.

The room beyond contains a chest with a key item — a fragment of something I'll need later. The game doesn't explain what it does yet, but I've learned to trust that it will matter. I grab it, and the map updates to show the room is complete. I mark the next unexplored spot and save at the nearest shrine.

That whole loop — check map, travel, solve a puzzle, collect a piece, save — takes maybe twenty minutes. It's satisfying because each session feels like progress, even if I don't always know where the pieces will fit.

A full play session with Adventure of Samsara

I sit down for an evening session. The game loads quickly, and I'm back at the last save point in the Crystal Caverns. I have three upgrades so far: the Bat's Eye, the double jump, and a dash move. The dash lets me cross gaps that were too wide before, so I spend the first few minutes revisiting an early area to grab a health upgrade I couldn't reach earlier.

That health upgrade turns out to be necessary. The next boss I face has a pattern I need to learn: three ground slams followed by a charge. I die twice before I figure out the timing. The third attempt, I use the dash to get behind it during the charge and land several hits. It goes down, and I get a new ability that lets me break cracked walls.

Adventure of Samsara blends exploration with puzzles, ideal for players who enjoy thoughtful, atmospheric journeys. There's one near the entrance to the fire biome. I break it open and find a shortcut that connects two areas I thought were separate. That's the moment the world starts to feel connected in a way it didn't before. The session ends there, with the map looking a little more complete and the next path clear. It's not a dramatic finish, but it feels right for this kind of game.

• macOS version not specified
• Supports both ARM and 64-bit x86 architectures