cool game, would say its "cozy", game for me fells like you would play it when ur sick and wont leave your house, achievements giga easy, 16% on TA says everything. Game is just too easy
This is a great game for someone who wants intense bullet hell action without the daunting prospect of permadeath like in a roguelike thrown on top. It doesn't touch something like Enter the Gungeon in terms of difficulty, but it does offer a similar challenge in terms of dense bullet hell combat with the confidence that you're not going to lose much progress given there's always a save point close by. The only thing you lose when you die anyway is half the money you're holding but the save points double as teleporters that allow you to quickly teleport to a town and store your money so there isn't even really the fear of losing that, it all depends on how much you want to push your luck.
The environment and enemy variety was a big strength and is what kept me engaged right to the end and the decent amount of item variety encouraged me to explore every room.
I felt the progression was on point, I felt I was always challenged but not impossibly so, with your build dictating just how hard that challenge will be. There's also mini challenges in some rooms that are just dodging 3 rounds of attacks without getting hit. Some of these were brutal but worth doing in my opinion as not only do they give you badges (which give you passives) but hone your skills at dodging attacks. You'll definitely need every advantage you can get for the final boss in both skill and build.
The environment and enemy variety was a big strength and is what kept me engaged right to the end and the decent amount of item variety encouraged me to explore every room.
I felt the progression was on point, I felt I was always challenged but not impossibly so, with your build dictating just how hard that challenge will be. There's also mini challenges in some rooms that are just dodging 3 rounds of attacks without getting hit. Some of these were brutal but worth doing in my opinion as not only do they give you badges (which give you passives) but hone your skills at dodging attacks. You'll definitely need every advantage you can get for the final boss in both skill and build.
I just noticed I never ported this review from a couple years back to backloggd. As I guessed at the end, I did not remember much about the game! Anyway, on to the original review.
Archvale is what it says on the tin -- a bullet hell RPG. Basically, take some twin stick gameplay like Enter the Gungeon or Nuclear Throne and wrap it in 2D Zelda-esque room exploration, and that's your game.
The combat is solid. Enemy attack patterns are hectic but rarely feel unfair. There's enough variety in the weapons and build options -- achieved through weapon, armor, and Paper Mario style badge system -- to keep you entertained for the 10 hour runtime. I wasn't a fan of the badge shrines that required you to dodge increasingly difficult bullet patterns without getting hit. The ones late in the game are fairly difficult, but not required, so I just skipped them. I also didn't care much for the platforming portions in the dungeons, since the dodge feels just a bit finnicky on a controller, but they weren't so prevalent to really bother me.
I think the game missed the mark in terms of exploration. You're free to go to zones out of order, which made for some really fun runs of trying to survive long enough to get to a later game town and unlock powerful equipment early. Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of interaction with the environments. There are no hidden areas to look for or puzzles in the dungeons or even bits of lore scattered about, so you just kinda go from screen to screen killing (and very occasionally platforming).
The pixel art and music are well enough done, though nothing was particularly memorable.
All in all, Archvale was an experience I was happy enough to have. I probably won't remember much about it in a year, but it was an enjoyable enough 10 hours.
Archvale is what it says on the tin -- a bullet hell RPG. Basically, take some twin stick gameplay like Enter the Gungeon or Nuclear Throne and wrap it in 2D Zelda-esque room exploration, and that's your game.
The combat is solid. Enemy attack patterns are hectic but rarely feel unfair. There's enough variety in the weapons and build options -- achieved through weapon, armor, and Paper Mario style badge system -- to keep you entertained for the 10 hour runtime. I wasn't a fan of the badge shrines that required you to dodge increasingly difficult bullet patterns without getting hit. The ones late in the game are fairly difficult, but not required, so I just skipped them. I also didn't care much for the platforming portions in the dungeons, since the dodge feels just a bit finnicky on a controller, but they weren't so prevalent to really bother me.
I think the game missed the mark in terms of exploration. You're free to go to zones out of order, which made for some really fun runs of trying to survive long enough to get to a later game town and unlock powerful equipment early. Unfortunately, there's not much in the way of interaction with the environments. There are no hidden areas to look for or puzzles in the dungeons or even bits of lore scattered about, so you just kinda go from screen to screen killing (and very occasionally platforming).
The pixel art and music are well enough done, though nothing was particularly memorable.
All in all, Archvale was an experience I was happy enough to have. I probably won't remember much about it in a year, but it was an enjoyable enough 10 hours.