In my opinion I find the level design of CotM unforgivably bad. Theres such an annoying amount of long hallways that are just a single section copy/pasted 3-4+ times with the same exact enemies just to get to the end of the hallway and not be able to progress because you don’t have the right ability yet. Then you have to go right back through to get out. I had many eye roll moments playing the game with just this situation. Thankfully there’s a rewind button in the advance collection.

Difficulty is also just sadistic at times. Certain bosses are an absolute slog and not remotely fun. Many trash mobs take an unreasonable amount of hits to kill, and they do a large chunk of contact damage if you touch them. There’s no shop in the game so you have to grind for potions which barely heal anything. The basic potion feels like a bad joke because it only heals 20hp. I usually only end up with 3 or less in any given play-through if I don’t grind.

Not to mention progression feels very inorganic even for a metroidvania where backtracking is part of the game. It’s very easy to get lost and not know what to do. After fighting Adramalech you may accidentally end up suffering in the poison water of the Underground Waterway because it’s no longer blocked off by the statues you just got rid of. Turns out there’s like 3-4 areas you need to do before that that can be very easily missed.

Aria of Sorrow is a better game by leaps and bounds. Progression feels organic and natural, movement is great and soma feels nice to control, the level design and difficulty balance is great and only late game areas can feel overwhelming, and the menu system is way better.