I play a lot of different game genres. From action-adventure, platformer, racing etc. you name it. But there is one genre that appeals to me more and more each day, bullet hells. With the rise of pixel-art style games came the rise of indie games. Some bad some absolutely amazing. Let’s see where the skill-based bullet hell Archvale fits in.
Like we have seen with many bullet hell games, the story takes the background and the gameplay the foreground. There are some story elements mixed between the combat every now and then but nothing groundbreaking, the gameplay is what steals the show.
Enter the Gungeon X Cadence of Hyrule
Archvale looks and plays like a love-child of Enter the Gungeon and Cadence of Hyrule (Legend of Zelda x Crypt of the Necrodancer) with its own unique charm. It features the bullet hell elements of Enter the Gungeon and the adventure and RPG elements of Cadence of Hyrule. Explore the world defeating a host of enemies across diverse environments and classic-inspired dungeons. Master the art of bullet hell combat that requires precision and speed to succeed. Gather resources needed to complete your journey. Archvale features local multiplayer. Something that is not present in a lot of games these days.
Smooth & straightforward controls
Archvale can be played with a mouse and keyboard as well as a controller. Both ways control incredibly well so it comes down to personal preference. You can switch between them on the fly so try and see which you prefer. Buttons can also be remapped to suit your preference.
The game controls like a (twin-stick) shooter. With the left stick/ AWSD controlling the movement of your character while the right stick/ mouse controls the direction, you aim your weapon. This system is not new or unique but is definitely the best way to control these types of games.
You have a limited amount of dashes that recharge over time. These can be used to avoid bullets or cross gaps. To slay your enemies you attack with the weapon you have selected. Each weapon you can obtain have stats and different attacks. These stats are displayed in your inventory. Here you can also equip items and weapons that you gathered on your journey. You can also heal yourself in a pinch by drinking from your healing flask. This however takes some time so plan ahead when using it.
Play your way
Every enemy you defeat can drop gold and/or material. Gold can be used to buy upgrade your weapons or buy new ones. Materials can be used to craft new weapons or armour. Materials can also be obtained by breaking structures across the world like ore deposits.
There are over 200 weapons and armor pieces to craft using items gathered from the environment and from slaying enemies. Choose a weapon of your liking and find one that suits your playstyle and slay away.
There are special trails to complete that will reward you with badges when you beat them. This adds some nice variety to the game. Badges let you augment your character and create a build that suits your playstyle.
Areas that need work
There are a couple of things that bothered me throughout the game. However, keep in mind that I played a pre-release version so these will hopefully be fixed before release.
One of the things I don’t like is how the dialogue and other interactions are handled. When in dialogue/interacting the screen will zoom in on the world and the dialogue, presumably to make it easier to see/read. For me the zoom made the letters harder to read but also the world itself looks more rough and pixelated.
I also dislike the constant stream of enemies you have to defeat. All enemies need to be defeated in an area in order to progress or even backtrack. This gets quite tedious after a while. It would be nice if the areas you already defeated either didn’t spawn again or would not lock you in the area so you can pass by instead of fighting.
The game runs really smooth and outside a few visual glitches that occurred, I experienced no problems.
Conclusion
Archvale is a really solid bullet hell that is a bit reminiscent of Enter the Gungeon and Cadence of Hyrule but with its own charm. Like with most bullet hell games, the story takes the background and the gameplay the foreground. This is however no problem with its fun and addictive gameplay. For the low price of €15 (as listed on the Nintendo Eshop as of writing this review) you can’t go wrong.
