You may be discouraged and confused by the Mixed reviews and lower than expected scores and numbers.

To get that out of the way, this happens/ed because:
- Announcement of a NewGame+ on product page on release, when it wasn't actually available. Product page was updated weeks after player backlash, but NG+ still unavailable (promise on developers).
- Publisher providing a "default EULA/Privacy Policy" which included disturbing data collection and selling, which was eventually updated after player backlash.
- Pre-sale inclusion of Denuvo, eventually removed before release after player backlash.
- Game was being mis-flagged as malware by some antivirus, since fixed by the accusing software.
- Game breaking issues with save states, players losing many hours of progress. This was since fixed in patches.
- Achievements not unlocking weeks after release.
- High price point.

These were mostly fixed or are in the process of fixing. Now on to the game itself.

The game lives tremendously on its artistic design and actually does most of the carrying and heavy-lifting. Environments, colours, lighting, backgrounds, all beautiful. Character models for NPCs and enemies are so-so, but not in the way. Weapons and armors look great as well. Together with the art, the animations are smooth and make interaction with the game more pleasurous. To further wrap the present in candy, music is absolutely stellar and a truly fantastic job by the composer. Sound design and mixing is also great. Map design has many variations with all the biomes you can expect, forests, ice, caves, mines, castles, towns, sewers, etc., and they're all beautiful and rewarding to explore.

Being a "metroidvania", platforming and combat are central.

Platforming isn't great. The game takes some "souls-like" approach so everything is "slower", both for movement and combat, and the character is not especially agile. This makes platforming seem a bit off and a struggle for the character and, like most souls games, gravity is your greatest enemy and falling and traps will frequently mean your death.

Game offers half a dozen classes to choose. Names apart, there are warriors, rogues, clerics/paladins, wizards, sorcerers, druids. They provide essentially two play styles (melee and spells), but with some variation through talents. Each class has a deep tree to invest in, and a there is a quite interesting mechanic were trees are effectively placed adjacent to eachothers and some talents bridge between them, which means you can progress from a tree and eventually tap into its neighbour and continue from there, multiclassing. Adjacent trees will share attributes at the edges for a more natural integration.

Player can equip two weapon sets and two skill sets, with each skill set fitting 3 different ones. Every action takes the form of a skill. Basic attacks, special attacks, special moves, spells, all are skills.

Combat is not great for melee. Weapon movesets are very basic. The "light attack" skills provides for a single forward attack move (left and right swings) and a jump attack move. That's it. And even when choosing different weapons the moveset remains the same. All one handed maces, hammers and swords move the same way. There is also no run attack, no crouch attack, no up swing, no down swing, no dash attack. Just attack or jump. Additional "special" moves only come from extra skills (and not variations of the basic moveset).

Being so limited in attack options, and defensively only rolling, this can make melee a bit boring by constant roll and basic attack. One class has some additional dynamic by having a shield which can allow for parry or bashing.

Combat for magic class is much better. Spells provide for more variation in combat and are nice to use because graphically the vfx on spells are glorious. Each class has around half a dozen spells, and each class requires a specific relic to be able to cast spells of that class. Sadly, balancing is an issue, mage classes outpower melee ones quite significantly at the moment.

In terms of other metroidvania/rpg elements:

There exist your typical shops with items to buy or sell. Some main shops allow crafting (via materials purchased or found in the world) which provide for shop upgrades which will then allow better items to be purchased. Weapons or gear cannot be upgraded, but they can be enchanted for additional effects.

Mobs are plenty and varied and allow for a good obstacle and entertainment during map traversal and between boss fights. Bosses are quite good, they are well built in their patterns and moves, each have some interesting mechanic on their own to deal with. Sadly the unique good ones are not that many and there is a lot of repetition of mid/low tier bosses.

NPCs are, in general, uninteresting due to lack of depth, but they are all very, very well voice acted. The PC does not speak in dialogs but has some random remarks or comments when going around in the world which feels very immersive. Sadly, this is used a bit in the early game but quickly vanishes and becomes mostly mute.

Story is a weak point, it feels a superfluous filler very rapidly. MMORPG-quests appear and go without much to be said about them, just fetch or kill something. While the main quest has higher development, it becomes a series of chores with predictable outcomes that are not fascinating.

Summary:

While there are a series of limitations in combat for its lack of depth and platforming, it needs to be seen not like metroidvania-combat/traversal, but more of 2D-soulslike. In that sense it is slower and more methodic pace rather than fast and frenzy. Despite these combat design choices, Mandragora still manages to feel very pleasing to play for longer periods and invites you to return to its world frequently thanks to beautiful art, rich landscapes, smooth animations, intricate level design, involving music, and especially its exploration that rewards your curiosity.

I made out with an Avatar and struck a faustian deal with a Tim Curry impression. Oh and the cat is also Faust.

Flip the map upside down so we can play it again.

Alright, I finally finished the whole game! What can I say:

1. I really loved it! Haven’t had this much fun with a metroidvania in a while. For me, it’s right up there with Hollow Knight and Blasphemous.
2. really don’t get the complaints about the game’s difficulty. Personally, it wasn’t easy for me at all. Sure, maybe I’m not a hardcore gamer anymore — I’m an adult with a job — but I did beat Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and Celeste. And here, the difficulty felt just right. I spent about 5 days just trying to beat that first necromancer (the spider boss) — it was pure hell. Surprisingly, the other bosses weren’t nearly as bad. The final battle took me about three days. Not super hard, but very tense — lots to keep track of.
3. My wife and I were absolutely blown away by how everything is drawn! Everything is hand-crafted, the sea moves, flags wave, there’s not a single copy-paste — every tower, every staircase is slightly different and uniquely detailed! Pure bliss, you can see how much love and effort the devs poured into it.
4.The map is huge! We were constantly amazed at how new things kept opening up — and it just never stopped! Each area looks very distinct and has its own gimmicks.

There were a few confusing things though:
1. The main one — I finished the whole game, the entire map is uncovered, all areas marked 100%, I checked every door — they’re all open. But I didn’t get the achievement for full map completion. What’s worse — it says I discovered only 99 out of 106 enemies in the bestiary! How did I miss seven types of enemies after fully clearing the game and the map?
2. Also, I didn’t get what the “Faelduun Map” was about — I found it, gave it to the merchant, but it did nothing. He said he marked something, but I didn’t see any changes. Maybe I’m just dumb.
3. The upgrade system for merchants wasn’t very balanced either. I managed to max out all of them except Ulfar — got him to level 17, I think. The system’s dumb — you have to buy a ton of useless junk to level them up. And without that junk, you can’t unlock the next upgrade tier with the useful stuff. Didn’t like that.
4. They also overloaded the gear system — too many stats, and every piece of gear barely connects with what you’re currently using. It’s hard to tell if you need something or not.
5. Food was totally pointless. Restoring 1 HP per second for 2 minutes? How is that useful? The devs clearly tried to make it complex and nuanced but went too far. The cook was a total fail — I never used any of his “masterpieces.”
6. And stamina… man, that system’s just broken. Even at level 90, wearing all the best stamina-boosting gear and using stamina runes, I still couldn’t take down some enemies on a full bar. Like, what? I get it if you’re fighting a mob, but a single alchemist (whatever their actual name was)? I start swinging, my screen goes GREEN from exhaustion, and I can’t even dodge away. Again — I had ALL the best stamina stuff, and still couldn’t “breathe through” some enemies. It runs out way too fast — that was super annoying.
7. Also, those giant axes spinning back and forth that instantly kill you — they should go. That’s “difficulty for difficulty’s sake,” and I think it’s overkill. But that’s subjective, of course.

Everything else — pure joy! The music, the story, not too much dialogue, amazing visuals, great atmosphere. In some areas, it was genuinely scary to move forward.