An NES-style fight platformer that feels a bit of too acquainted.
It appears I’m on a little bit of an 8-bit kick nowadays, what with Jail Metropolis and Dungeons & Doomknights earlier and Lords of Exile at the moment. This can be a well-worn subgenre, and video games of this kind actually need to catch your consideration to realize an viewers. I can’t actually say that Lords of Exile does that, however it’s a enjoyable diversion. This can be a clear homage to NES fight platformers like Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden; fortunately a bit extra forgiving than both, but additionally much less memorable.
You play as a knight, Gabriel, out to destroy an evil warlord by eight levels of sidescrolling motion. He’s received a sword, varied subweapons, and–in a short time–a spirit companion who can…float alongside him and supply a ranged assault that isn’t as helpful as Gabriel’s subweapons. Fight is the secret in Lords of Exile, because the platforming is fairly fundamental, left-to-right stage development. The handfuls of enemies you’ll face fall fairly simply to your sword or projectile subweapons, and for those who’re ever down on well being, you should buy potions on the occasional ghostly merchandise store. Defeating enemies typically nets gold, and also you’ll not often be quick on funds.
Essentially the most thrilling components of this NES-like are the boss fights. Every degree ends with a reasonably chunky boss battle, that includes monsters with strongly telegraphed assault cycles. You’ll face people and monsters in equal measure, however as soon as you determine a boss’ assaults, you’ll uncover that they don’t deviate from the assault cycles in any respect. The primary boss, for instance, makes use of a sweeping hearth assault first, then a ghost-summoning assault, and finishes off with an vitality beam barrage. Survive all that, and she or he’ll return to the hearth sweep and the cycle continues.
Even the sport’s ultimate boss, who’s initially fairly laborious, shortly falls right into a predictable assault cycle you can simply counter. That’s considerably disappointing, however it additionally makes Lords of Exile fairly straightforward general. Gabriel’s skills are enhanced with each defeated boss, like having a longer-reaching blade, gaining extra subweapon assaults (from 20 to 30), that type of factor. He ultimately positive factors a type of “earthquake stomp” however I by no means discovered a motive to make use of it.
His spirit companion, initially a ghostly samurai, may be referred to as upon as soon as a meter prices. Holding down the assault button briefly earlier than releasing causes the samurai to ship out a projectile assault. This assault can hit enemies, however its main use is to destroy purple blocks, which isn’t tremendous thrilling. Gabriel ultimately positive factors a second spirit, an armor knight, who can hookshot you throughout gaps, and this isn’t significantly better. Typically, the spirit companions really feel like wasted potential.
There may be one massive drawback I wish to deliver consideration to: you’ll spend an excellent period of time climbing on partitions (a bit like Jail Metropolis), together with one boss the place you’re climbing a wall the entire time. Taking injury whereas climbing knocks you off the wall and kills you–each time. This makes that one boss combat extraordinarily irritating–it might in any other case be fairly straightforward–however there are a few choke factors throughout the ultimate degree which are exhausting due to this. I don’t like conserving observe of a dozen potential assaults whereas climbing or having to do issues in a really particular order to progress. Dying from taking a success off the climbing wall makes it a lot worse.
I’ll say that Lords of Exile does nail the look of an NES traditional, bringing to thoughts the Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon duology. The music is a excessive level, with catchy, toe-tapping chiptunes.
Beating the sport unlocks three issues–a speedrun mode, during which your time is continually tracked, a boss rush, and a second character, Lyria. Lyria, a kunoichi, doesn’t have entry to the spirit companions, however she is quicker and her major assault is a projectile. She shortly positive factors the power to destroy purple blocks on her personal, which renders Gabriel’s samurai spirit pointless. I discovered taking part in as Lyria extra gratifying, however your mileage might range.
Lords of Exile is a comparatively enjoyable, however not significantly noteworthy, NES-like. If you happen to’re itching for some old-school Castlevania gameplay, you’ll most likely discover one thing to love right here, however for the remainder of you, there are extra strong choices on the market.