System: Change
Launch date: January 18, 2024
Developer: Snoozy Kazoo
Writer: Graffiti Video games
It’s not fairly often that you just discover a sport that can actively encourage you to commit crimes, with most that even provide the possibility of doing so attaching an appropriate punishment: putting a bounty in your head in order that authorities will assault you on website, altering your identify to “THIEF” so that everybody is aware of your true nature, and even outright killing you if you happen to return to the scene of the crime in future. Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution sees the titular hero returning to commit additional crimes after his profitable tax evasion, this time within the type of a roguelite expertise that, regardless of its flaws, is as delightfully charming and nonsensical as its predecessor.
Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution loosely picks up the place Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion left off, and sees Turnip becoming a member of the Pickled Gang to undertake a heist on the Botanical Financial institution, which got here into existence within the aftermath of a civil conflict straight attributable to Turnip’s shenanigans within the earlier sport. For returning followers of that sport, there’s a unfastened narrative right here to comply with, however the connection to the earlier sport is primarily within the recurring NPCs, and the story feels extra like a contrived excuse to dive again into the financial institution one thing to concentrate to: this, in fact, is the entire level, and the dialogue is witty, humorous, and sometimes makes completely no sense in any respect.
In contrast to its motion journey predecessor, Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution is roguelite. You’ll spend your time diving into the titular financial institution, a big and pretty linear dungeon stuffed with treasures, enemies, and pleasant NPCs. The financial institution is split into ten smaller areas, and plenty of of those shall be inaccessible from the start: so as to go deeper into the financial institution you’ll want keycards, which might be acquired by defeating a boss. Within the nook of the display screen you’ll see a timer, and as soon as this runs out you’ll be extra aggressively pursued by the financial institution safety, who will rappel down from the ceiling en masse till you both go away the financial institution or die. You possibly can keep away from them and proceed to discover if you want, however after a short time longer the proprietor of the financial institution, Smelly, will flood the place with poison gasoline to power the difficulty.
Though the financial institution itself is just not randomized, you’ll be able to take elevators at numerous factors into randomized rooms that include particular NPCs or treasures, which may also help to interrupt up the monotony of exploring the identical place again and again. You’ll nearly definitely have to make this the main focus of your run nevertheless, because the timer can solely be prolonged as much as six minutes, and though the financial institution is kind of small, this brief size of time doesn’t actually let you discover. For higher or worse Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution was clearly designed to be performed in brief bursts and though this may be irritating at occasions, it’s largely supported by the construction of the financial institution, with key playing cards letting you journey between areas extra readily when you’ve opened the way in which the primary time. The unchanging nature of the financial institution lets you be taught the structure over time and optimize your time, which is a change of tempo from roguelites that decide to randomize ranges and focus extra on exploration.
As you progress you’ll purchase cash from enemies, treasures you could find, and NPCs you can fairly actually shake down. Cash might be spent again at your hideout on upgrades to issues similar to well being, weapon harm, and the period of time you’ll be able to spend with out being harassed by safety within the financial institution. Surprisingly, I discovered that the price of these upgrades wasn’t fairly as steep as they seemed to be at first look. Though you gained’t be capable to carry a lot money, the treasures you’ll discover alongside the way in which are infinitely extra beneficial, and it’s simple to rack up tens of 1000’s in a single run this fashion. In comparison with related roguelike titles, the pacing of Turnip Boy feels mercifully extra balanced on this regard, permitting you to extend your survivability at a steadier price and making every run into the financial institution extra significant.
Fight within the sport performs out like a twin-stick shooter, and controls are fluid and responsive, permitting for some fast-paced and satisfying (if often weird) encounters to punctuate exploration. You’re given all kinds of various bodily and projectile weapons, out of your normal weapons and swords to magic wands and boomerangs. Every has their very own cooldown interval and vary, and though rarer weapons are extra highly effective, I discovered that the beginning weapons I might select between had been sometimes sufficient to hold me by way of most encounters. Sadly you can not begin with weapons dropped by enemies, which looks like a unnecessary restriction, though you’ll be able to retailer them in a weapons locker for later use, and so long as you don’t die or swap them out, you’ll be able to take them again to your base and choose up the place you left off with them outfitted. Weapons dropped by enemies will also be used to fund weapon analysis, which is able to unlock totally different beginning weapons that can at all times be accessible, which means that you just gained’t at all times have to start out with the identical handgun and sword every time.
As beforehand talked about, you’ll additionally encounter all kinds of NPCs as you discover the Botanical Financial institution, a lot of whom return from the earlier sport. Most have their very own weird private issues that they’ll ask you to assist with, which consist largely of fetch quests; discovering one other NPC to both take one thing from them (typically by power) or ship one thing being the most typical requests. Though the dialogue typically makes doing these well worth the effort, I felt that it was a missed alternative that the hats that had been the precise reward didn’t have any function past being only a beauty change to your look: a small enhance to one in all your stats, for instance, would have made the entire course of extra significant. There are a number of these sidequests scattered all through the financial institution, and regardless of the dearth of a extra satisfying reward, doing them felt like a pure a part of development. More often than not I might stumble throughout an NPC in a single space who needed me to work together with one other in an space that I used to be making an attempt to get to for the subsequent story-related goal. There are additionally a small variety of long-term aims you’ll be able to settle for, similar to destroying furnishings or killing plenty of a sort of enemy, though these are equally unrewarding.
Though its charming presentation is a degree in its favor, Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution lacks a number of the depth that you just’d discover in related roguelite titles that give them an added longevity. There are a complete of eight totally different upgrades (plus an official hat, in fact) that may be bought, and these can solely be boosted a handful of occasions. Weapon Analysis is equally restricted, and solely impacts the weapons you can begin with; their stats can’t be affected by additional particular person analysis or upgrades, and you can not improve weapons dropped by enemies. Outdoors of the massive variety of fetch quests supplied by the sport’s NPCs, there may be little or no to do when you’ve totally upgraded your stats and weapon analysis, which is more likely to occur lengthy earlier than you end the story assuming that you just don’t regulate the settings. This could additionally make the tip stretch of the sport really feel barely unbalanced, because it lasts for considerably longer than your common run by way of the financial institution, and there’s no option to get stronger to enhance your odds of surviving after getting exhausted the entire choices again at your base.
Sadly Turnip Boy can be let down fairly considerably by its efficiency, with notable body drops and slowdown when giant numbers of enemies are on display screen. As a result of it is a assured incidence when the timer runs down and enemies begin dropping from the ceiling to extra actively try to finish your rampage by way of the financial institution, it means you’ll rise up to 6 minutes of clean gameplay on the most earlier than the framerate makes the sport virtually unplayable, and this added downside additionally signifies that it’s very simple to die and lose most of what you’ve gathered. I additionally skilled related points when coming into rooms with laser safety lively and though shutting down the safety fastened the slowdown in these situations, it made navigating these rooms harder than it wanted to be. A patch has been promised by the builders, however till this arrives and resolves these points, it makes the sport an typically disagreeable, if not unplayable, expertise on the Change.
Turnip Boy provides an inexpensive variety of accessibility choices, with Intention Laser and Auto Intention serving to to make the twin-stick shooter controls extra manageable for people who want it, and a Injury modifier and God Mode for individuals who discover the roguelite mechanics unpalatable; I additionally discovered myself resorting to the latter on a couple of event when the framerate made taking part in the sport a wrestle. There are additionally coloration choices to stipulate enemies and interactable objects, which is a helpful characteristic for the latter particularly: regardless of the crisp pixel visuals, it may be tough to establish precisely what you’ll be able to work together with for a reward when a number of the atmosphere objects are destructible.
Every of the financial institution’s areas boasts its personal distinct visible aesthetic, and though the enemy selection is missing that is offset by some notably inventive and memorable boss encounters. The sport is usually explosive and colourful and though at occasions it may be tough to make out what’s going on in some areas on account of lighting or simply how busy the display screen is with particulars and weapon results, the general high quality right here is of an impressively excessive normal and completely enhances the wacky allure of the sport’s premise and dialogue.
The Verdict
Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution is an enthralling, baffling, and sometimes extremely entertaining roguelike that’s enjoyable in brief bursts and gives a satisfying expertise, even whether it is missing in depth at occasions. At time of writing it’s not a straightforward advice to make because of the efficiency points that render it virtually unplayable as quickly because the timer hits zero and also you’re confronted with greater than a few enemies at a time, however assuming these are fastened sooner or later, followers of the unique title or these searching for an easier roguelike expertise will discover a sport value their time right here.
Turnip Boy Robs a Financial institution copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this overview.