Welcome to Adventure Corner, a column where members of the RPGamer staff can give their thoughts, impressions, and pseudo-reviews for various adventure titles that don't come under our usual coverage. Adventure Corner is aimed at delivering opinions on a wide range of titles including visual novels, point-and-click adventures, investigative mysteries, and so forth.
In this edition of the column we take a look at Clockwork Ambrosia, a steampunk Metroidvania action game.
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Clockwork Ambrosia
Platform: PC (Steam)
Release Date: 05.13.2026
Publisher: OI Games
Developer: Realmsoft
Steam Page
Iris Nolastnamegiven, world traveler and steampunk airship enthusiast, has chosen as her next destination the skyscraper city of Altolis. Built upon an ancient bedrock of strange sediments and forgotten civilizations, this metropolis is a bright and shiny beacon of the future. Unfortunately for her, Iris has chosen the second worst possible moment to visit. The first worst possible moment would have been a few days prior, when all hell broke loose and entire segments of the city were trashed in the crossfire. Just what transpired is unknown at the start of the game, but mad machines and feral fauna run rampant through the city's towers, parks, and mines. The local populace is either disastrously dead or mysteriously missing, and the handful of holdouts in the mining base camp fear for the worst. It's not the vacation she wanted, but if Iris is ever going to catch a break, she's going to have to break whatever's got the island in its grip.
[caption id="attachment_192766" align="aligncenter" width="576"] This is certainly a mood.[/caption]
As Metroidvanias go, Clockwork Ambrosia succeeds on its setting and scenery more than its in-the-moment narrative, with only a few plot points to pull things along but a great deal of terrain to cover. The map is enormous, with varied biomes and abandoned facilities to blast through, all done in a colorful palette of sprite-based graphical design that seems targeted for 90s kids and retro vibes. The bosses range from small, fast, and furious all the way to much too large for comfort, and often with little quirks and tricks to learn so as to avoid getting smashed into next Tuesday by the next attack. All the while, an awesome selection of environmental tunes play in the background.
In true genre fashion, Iris gains access to skills and tools along the way to make crossing the map progressively easier as the game goes on. The island itself loops around, so going far enough to the right in some zones will take you to the opposite end of places on the left side of the map, and there are plenty of hidden nooks and crannies to explore. Also, plenty of enemies to explode.
[foogallery id="193557"]
Iris soon gains access to four main weapons: the high-tech pulse breaker, the armor-breaking missile launcher, the grenade launcher for indirect blasting, and a pair of revolvers that can ricochet bullets for tricky shots. All four work under varied in-game physics engine rules, and all can be modified with parts found across the island to further reduce the populations of rampaging robots, invasive insectoids, or other assorted things that get in her way. She will also collect an array of personal gear (goggles, gloves, boots, etc.) which can be mixed and matched for a variety of complementary effects, as well as upgraded with whatever mechanical or gristly bits she blasts off of the aforementioned menaces.
This game hews closer to the Metroid side of its genre ancestry in many ways. It's blasty-shooty for most of its twenty-hour playtime, and mobility aids are crucial to advancing through areas. Iris herself is a cipher; the most the player ever learns about her is her first name. There is little else in the way of RPG elements, but Clockwork Ambrosia doesn't need them. It's a solid action platformer with all the exploration and weapon modding needed to satisfy a modern adventurer.
But Iris? She's going to need a vacation away from this vacation by the time it's all over.
Disclosure: This article is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
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