When I was but a wee lad all my games cost the same amount of money, and were bought from a local gaming shop of choice. As I hit my teens though I was introduced to the magic of Xbox Live Arcade, which was full of indie games with lower price tags and creative gameplay. I devoured these indies, and spent every last paper round penny on the points needed to buy them. Back in the noughties though there weren’t twenty top quality releases every single day, and because of this I played a lot of mystery platformers that provided varying levels of enjoyment. At a time when platformers were less plentiful though these scratched an itch regardless, and inevitably were played to completion by an awkward young Lyle. The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest is a game that I would’ve loved over a decade ago, but by 2026 standards it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
In Fletcher’s Quest you play as Fletcher Howie Jr, a struggling game developer trying to cope with burnout as his latest project comes to an end. The game opens with an appointment with a psychiatrist, and desperate to find a way through these tough times (and after some particularly cringe-inducing dialogue) our protagonist agrees to take part in some hypnotherapy. This goes wrong and you end up trapped inside your own messed up brain, and can only escape by jumping and shooting through various mental barriers. It’s a decent theme for a platform heavy Metroidvania, but I must admit I struggled with the wacky humour a little.
Once you’re let loose in the world, you’ll be presented with a whole host of single screen platforming challenges. The movement of Fletcher feels absolutely spot on, and this only improves as you progress through the game and unlock new abilities. With only the basic jump and single shot pistol initially though you’ll have to be very careful making your way around all the spikes and cannons, because our hero can only take two hits before he dies and is sent back to the last checkpoint.
You’re given free rein to explore the mind without a whole lot directing you, but especially for the first hour or so there’s only ever really a single path that makes sense to follow. Once you gain new skills though the game opens up a bit, and you’ll be ground pounding and double jumping your way to brave new worlds. The Metroidvania elements are still very light though, with very few collectibles and upgrades to find off the beaten path.
Combat in The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest generally just involves shooting bullets as quickly as possible with your horizontal shots, which is fun and even a little nostalgic. The variety of enemies felt pretty good at first too, as I rushed to take on flame launching wizards, charging little gnomes and walking tree stumps. When you move to a new themed area though don’t go expecting new exciting foes to blast, as for the most part all you’ll really find are a selection of palette swaps. It’s a bit of a shame really, because they’re fun enough to fight initially but end up feeling rather overused.
There are also boss fights in The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest, and these will likely be the most aggravating part of the game for most people. With multiple phases and screen filling attacks these massive foes are hard to beat, especially because you can only take two hits when fighting them. It’s beyond punishing and just doesn’t feel fun to die over and over when you barely get time to practice before you take the second hit. The game even makes fun of how bad this design decision is, which I found equal parts baffling and annoying.
The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest features some great platforming and entertaining shooting, but outside of the basics it lacks a bit of punch. If you just want a new game to jump your way through then it could well satiate your hunger, but repeating enemies, frustrating bosses and a lacklustre story hold it back a lot.
