La-Mulana

La-Mulana is an explorable platformer / metroidvania, or, as described by the authors "Archaeological Ruin Exploration Action Game" with hardcore difficulty of platforming action and puzzles.

The protagonist is Lemeza Kosugi, an archaeologist who returns to his study after a lecture at a university to discover an envelope with no return address. It is by his father, who disappeared a long time ago and now claims to have found the hidden land of La Mulana. Lemeza sets off to follow his trail and to investigate the land himself.

Although the game mechanics are fairly simple, the game is very large in scope. The character moves between different non-scrolling screens that form broad maps. Lemeza can jump and use his whip to attack enemies. When returning to a previous screen, all enemies have respawned. There is a large focus on puzzle solving by pressing switches, moving blocks and using a hand scanner and other tools to decipher messages. During the game additional weapons can be acquired such as a mace, a knife, an axe, shurikens, a pistol and many more. At all times Lemeza can wield a single main weapon and a secondary tool.