Platforms: PC/PS4/XB1/Switch | Hours Played: 8 | Release Date: 5th July 2016 | Price Purchased: £7.50
I felt like I'm the only one who hadn't played this game yet. Well two years later and I snagged it in the latest steam sale for £7.50 and I gotta say it was totally worth the asking price. Hell it's even worth the full price tag it'd normally be! While the game is basically just a glorified boss rush of sorts the developers do so much with this simple framework that I couldn't help but keep playing this in bursts constantly throughout the week after coming home from work. The combat is where the game really excels, It's like this big grab bag of all of my favourite mechanics from character action and arcade games slapped into one tight precise package. Over the course of fighting the 10 bosses in the main campaign you get a good grasp on mechanics varying from twin stick shooting, a souls-esque parrying system that allows you to remain stationary while blocking damage from incoming melee attacks and countering them, a dodge system very similar to various character action games that allow you to dodge incoming projectiles, wave attacks and rapid lung attacks. Add in the ability to charge both your gun and melee attacks and you've got a fair amount of depth for a combat system that looks deceptively simple at first glance. Speaking of the bosses I have to say that none of them came off as lazy or uninspired, they were all a blast to fight against and learn their attack/patterns and behaviors. Once you've got the dodging and parrying down of every boss in the game it's really satisfying to effortlessly whittle down a boss in one sitting that was previous giving you trouble with when you first encountered them. Hell there's even some awesome bullet-hell type projectile and beam dodging towards the end of most of the boss encounters as well for those of you into schmups!
Personal standouts for me had to be "The Hand" which was a refreshing boss fight that focused almost primarily on melee combat and wave attack dodging, "The Line" was a nice methodical fight that didn't so much revolve around constant quick reactions and intense combat than trying to figure out how to get at the boss while wearing down the walls and defenses around him during his various phases, and "The Beat" was a really neat little platforming focused fight that put emphasis on forward momentum and dodging projectiles hurtling towards you, a really interesting chase sequence of sorts. Visually I think this game is fucking stunning. While it's not technically impressive it has this lovely style that just really appeals to me. Flat shading, colours, great using of lighting and depth of field that all comes together to form a treat for the eyes. The music is also really kick-ass. A fantastic mix of lovingly composed Synthwave, Darkwave, EDM and tons of other sub-genres that sort of give the game a sense of rhythm alongside the combat, each and every track is perfectly suited to each boss and arenas you fight them in and gets you really pumped up as well! So top marks on the presentation side of things!
One of the biggest gripes for me though comes from playing through the game for the very first time. There's these long drawn-out walking sequences that give you a kind of preview of the environment each individual boss inhabits and a preview of the arena you fight them in as well. While I can understand why the developers included these parts, to allow players to wind down and relax after a particularly stressful or drudging fight and to hear a bit of narration about the main characters situation and why he's fighting these "Jailers" I would've really liked the option to be able to skip some of these walking sections much like you could skip the pre-fight boss cutscenes by holding down a button. The option to have the game auto-walk through these sections without any direct input goes some way to alleviating this problem a little but it doesn't eliminate it. The boss rush mode unlocked after beating the game thankfully remedies this...eventually....
So yeah, overall I fucking love this game and kind of regret not buying it when it was fresh in every-bodies mind. If you're the type of person who's loves Treasure's boss-focused arcadey games this should be right up your alley. It seems to be going on sale more and more often these days as well so why not give it a shot. So glad I did! Probably would've made my 2016 GOTY list if I had played it that year...
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