Aeterna Noctis asks a lot of your hands. The 2021 Metroidvania from Spanish studio Aeternum Game Studios is a 2D hand-drawn action platformer built around combat that keeps you tense and platform sections that test your skill. It came out in December 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S, and it later reached PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You play the King of Darkness across 16 connected areas.
Trailer, via Aeternum Game Studios.
Chaos Casts the Curse
The setup is cosmic and cruel. Unnumbered years ago, the supreme god Chaos made the Universe and the world of Aeterna, filled it with races and creatures, and appointed rulers to govern them. The rulers turned on their Creator and split their subjects into two warring groups. War, death and hatred followed.
Chaos answered with a curse. He named the rebel leaders King of Darkness and Queen of Light and condemned them to fight each other until the end of time. Death would not free them. The Gift of Immortality means that when one kills the other, both are reborn with their powers restored, and the war starts again.
A King and Queen Who Cannot Stay Dead
The story follows that pair of monarchs, cursed to kill each other forever. A revelation sets off a chain of events that gives them a chance to break the curse — and to find love while doing it. The King of Darkness is the main protagonist and the father of the Grey Soul. The Queen of Light leads the forces of light, loves the King, and is the mother of the Grey Soul.
The supporting cast is large and strange:
- Chronicler, an elderly being who records the world’s history in his library
- Oracle, a mysterious figure who helps the King on his journey
- Lord Drake VI, an archaeologist and adventurer who sells Maps and Potions
- The Collector, who lives in the graveyard and trades the bestiary for rare specimens
- B-69, a robot who runs a train that warps through space and serves as fast travel
- The Emperor, an optional boss who killed three gods before the Oracle sealed his powers
- Celestial Dragon, a dragon from outer space disguised as a human
Sixteen Connected Areas
Aeterna Noctis is a Metroidvania in the side-view tradition: a map of connected regions, abilities that open old doors, and a difficulty curve that assumes you will die and come back. The hand-drawn art gives the 16 areas a consistent look, and the platforming is the part that will sort players into two camps.
That platforming is the game’s identity and its biggest risk. Precision sections that demand exact timing are thrilling when they land and punishing when they do not. Aeterna Noctis leans hard into the punishing side. If you want a Metroidvania that respects your patience, this one will test it instead.
Combat on the Edge of Your Seat
Combat is the other half of the pitch, and the game promises it will keep you on the edge of your seat. The King fights through a world of hostile creatures and rulers, with the Emperor standing as an optional boss for players who go looking. He killed three gods before the Oracle sealed his powers, which tells you what the fight is worth.
Optional content is where Aeterna Noctis shows its ambition. The Collector hands over the bestiary so you can document every monster. Lord Drake VI sells maps and potions that make the sprawl manageable. B-69’s space-warping train connects distant areas. The Celestial Dragon hides as a human and, once you find his side quest, sends you chasing him to random parts of the world.
The Bestiary and the Map Seller
The collectible layer is not filler. Documenting monsters in the bestiary gives the 16 areas a second purpose beyond reaching the next door, and the maps and potions from Lord Drake VI turn a hostile map into one you can plan around. The train from B-69 does the same work for travel that the maps do for navigation.
The Celestial Dragon side quest is the odd one out. Chasing a disguised dragon to random parts of the world is a joke about how much ground the game covers, and it is a good one. The Emperor is the opposite: a sealed power and a fight you can skip entirely.
What the 7.8 Means
Aeterna Noctis holds a 7.8 out of 10 critic aggregate across five outlets. That number is fair, and it is also a little generous to the game’s best ideas and a little hard on its worst ones.
The curse story is the strongest thing here. Two immortals condemned to kill each other forever, reborn every time one wins, is a clean premise that gives the combat a reason to exist beyond reflexes. The Queen of Light is not a boss to defeat and forget; she is the other half of the same sentence. The Grey Soul, the child of both, turns that premise into a family.
The supporting cast is thinner. The Chronicler, the Oracle and Lord Drake VI are functions as much as characters — a library, a hint, a shop. That is normal for the genre, but it means the emotional weight rests entirely on the King and Queen, and the game knows it.
The platforming is where Aeterna Noctis will lose people. Hard is not the problem. Hard without a steady hand on the checkpoint and ability curve is. The 16 connected areas are a lot of ground to cover when a single mistimed jump sends you back, and the game rarely apologizes for it.
Our Score
Aeterna Noctis is a good Metroidvania with a great premise and a mean streak. The hand-drawn world, the immortality curse and the King and Queen at its center are worth the 16 areas. The platforming is the toll you pay to see them.
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