Olija is a dark, haunting action game without all the stress

There are plenty of great 2D action games about exploring dark, mysterious worlds. Think Hollow Knight , __Dead Cells, or anything inspired by Castlevania. Aside from similar themes, these games have something else in common: they’re almost always incredibly hard. Olija goes in a different direction. It still takes place in a world full of terrors to fight and secrets to uncover, and it features fast-paced action with lots of interesting weapons. But it’s also much more approachable. I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s satisfying without being frustrating. You get the same haunting vibe without all of the stress.

In Olija, you play as a man named Faraday whose ship crashes in an incredibly cursed part of the world called Terraphage. He has...