Billed as a union between Soulslikes and Tetris, Loot River delivers this intriguing mixture with model. Each second swings between slick puzzle-solving and clean motion. Gamers ought to count on to repeatedly die in Loot River’s darkly atmospheric ranges, with every dying setting you again to sq. one. Nonetheless, the thrilling gameplay and rippling pixel artwork make it exhausting to withstand yet one more run.
I start on a raft; a pitiful mattress and discarded junk are scattered round me. I do know I’m within the Sunken Village, a miserable-looking place with rotting wooden decks floating atop murky waters, however not a lot else. The tone and cryptic story scream Darkish Souls, particularly after I discover a notice: “That is no kingdom; it’s a tomb.”
Getting from place to position, regardless of the extent, requires me to shift round multi-shaped platforms with the best joystick whereas controlling my character with the left. Navigating by slim corridors and platform-choked arenas makes me continuously swap from one form to the subsequent simply to seek out my approach by. I used to be apprehensive this may be unwieldy, however after a number of moments of getting adjusted to the controls, it feels instinctual and supplies a way of accomplishment exterior of fight. The flowing pixelated waves following in my wake additionally give the world a splendidly dynamic really feel.
The procedurally generated, block-sliding labyrinths are by no means the identical twice, and the designers additionally do an amazing job at making certain that every stage supplies a singular problem. Tiered platforms or traps that set fireplace to my raft add deeper, and generally pressing, layers to the traversal’s problem-solving design. I’m usually caught off-guard by enemies with surprising talents, just like the insidious monsters that lock a platform in place till killed.
The weird motion mechanic lends itself nicely to the fight. I usually cost up an assault, pull up subsequent to an enemy’s raft, and unleash a crushing blow earlier than gliding away untouched or utilizing a magic spell to go briefly invisible. In addition to this, parrying is my go-to technique. Getting the timing proper opens up my opponents to a devastating counterattack which makes me momentarily impervious. It’s unimaginable how highly effective touchdown that good assault feels.
Loot River’s heart-pounding fight and traversal-by-puzzle design are constructed on a roguelike basis. I battle my approach by inventive and distinctive areas till an adversary lastly will get the higher of me. Then the method begins throughout on the first stage, with most of my hard-won upgrades misplaced. Development doesn’t work like a Souls sport, and ditching that expectation early on helped me higher benefit from the expertise.
It’s tempting to equate Information, an in-game forex generally dropped by defeated opponents, to Souls from the sport’s inspiration. However whereas I might spend the useful resource to completely unlock higher gear from particular distributors, I couldn’t use it to improve my stats. Leveling relies upon fully on the variety of enemies defeated in a run, and usually each stat drops again to beginning ranges upon dying. Additionally, simply because I unlocked a brand new weapon or armor possibility with my Information didn’t imply I at all times had entry to it. There are some methods to affect what varieties of drugs I might have at first of a run, however getting hard-hitting weapons or stat-boosting equipment principally got here all the way down to what loot monsters dropped or what I might discover in chests. It may be a brutal and irritating cycle, however it is usually so satisfying to discover a game-changing merchandise early on or completely tailor my stats to that run’s wants. Even with this method’s hurdles, I at all times received sucked again into the fray.
It’s not all doom and wrestle, nevertheless. Efficiently clearing a stage or succumbing to an inevitable dying introduced me again to a tranquil hub referred to as the Sanctuary. The intense atmosphere boasts chirping birds, a therapeutic monument, useful NPCs, and pettable chickens (which I visited between each mission for good luck). My quest, timeless state, and talent to shift the world beneath my ft are all linked to the relic on this peaceable zone’s heart. Whereas just a little ambiguous, the narrative is thought-provoking. The characters sure to this miraculous and ominous object ask me to contemplate the worth of its energy, whilst I fortunately take benefit of it to proceed the looping gameplay.
It took me just a little over six hours to get my first victory display screen, however that wasn’t the top of the sport. Unlocking all the pieces, uncovering secrets and techniques, and piecing collectively the lore are all part of the virtually inexhaustible expertise. It may be acutely irritating to fall sufferer to a first-level foe after almost making it to the final boss within the earlier run, however the sport is tough to place down. Loot River reimagines a few of its inspirations’ greatest components, providing gamers an opportunity to sail cleverly by every atmosphere, develop highly effective sufficient to slice up once-impossible threats, and unravel a narrative that neatly weaves into its gameplay.
