Developer: Archmage Labs
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable
Rrp: £4.99 (Steam)
This is yet another Vampire Survivors ‘clone’ however, unlike most of the clones out there this one does something a bit differently. This game comes in two parts first you perform a ‘micro-run’ where you avoid getting hit by enemies while simultaneously try to kill them with an automatically attacking weapon. “What is a micro-run?” You may be asking, a micro-run is when you are thrust into a run and it only lasts a few moments. In this case, the longest was 60 seconds. So, apart from the micro-run, far so standard, right? Enemies die, they drop money and the runs over… that’s where the second part of the game comes in.
Between each micro-run you are faced with a Resident Evil style attaché case system along with a store to its side. The money dropped by the enemies is used within the store to purchase items that go into the case and any weapons you put in there are now equipped by your character. However, there’s only so much space within the case so you need to be careful what you put in. Gaining levels by killing enemies will increase the amount of space you have in your case but you still need to be careful. To top it all off, some weapons and items have adjacency bonuses, meaning that placing next to other suitable items will trigger an effect. For example; the mages staff attacks do more damage if they are next to items that increase the ‘magic power’ stat, the more of those items that are adjacent to the staff the more damage it deals. It’s safe to say you’ll spend most of your time here that in the actual combat phase.
This game has a wealth of classes to play as (12 in total) but only 3 are available when you first start to play. Along with that each class has 3 subclasses (that need to be unlocked) that change the very way those classes are played.
For such a simple game I’ve really enjoyed this, just don’t go into it expecting a story of any kind because there really isn’t one. Hell, at the time of writing there isn’t even a bestiary to look at. But mechanically this game is rock solid, lots of fun, especially given its price tag.
