There isn’t any scarcity of horrible issues buried deep underground, however, in Historic Weapon Holly, you get to be the worst of them. This roguelike from Purchase, one of many studios behind the Octopath Traveler sequence, places you in charge of a strong robotic that seeks revenge on the people that buried it for 1000’s of years. Reaching the floor and killing all people will take a bit longer than you’d count on, although.
At first look, Historic Weapon Holly is a serviceable, enjoyable, action-packed roguelite. The sport consists of ten ranges to play via, each growing in issue. Holly begins with a primary ranged assault and the power to open up pits within the ground for enemies to fall into. These might be closed as much as immediately kill most enemies, notably when you’ve upgraded your assault energy via the sport’s model of a sphere grid. It’s an fascinating mechanic and the fight is chaotic sufficient to maintain you for a number of hours, however the recreation’s lack of depth makes it really feel repetitive lengthy earlier than Holly reaches the floor.
To clear every ground, Holly should discover and destroy the enemy Gates whereas defending her Altar from the approaching Slayers which were despatched to cease her. Destroy all of the Gates and Slayers and he or she’ll advance to the subsequent ground. In the event that they handle to kill her or destroy her Altar, then she goes again to the earlier ground. As a result of this can be a roguelite, all of the upgrades you’ve bought stay however you’ll lose any assets you’ve collected and never spent.
The truth that you solely go down one ground while you die makes the sport a lot simpler but it surely additionally provides a way that that is all one single run in Holly’s relentless pursuit of the floor. It additionally means you don’t must waste your time on simpler flooring when you’ve upgraded your skills, which is a pleasant contact.
The issue is that a lot of the flooring really feel too related to one another. Whereas there are a handful of recent monsters launched alongside the way in which, the identical primary enemies are current all through – they only take extra hits to kill on greater flooring. The structure of every degree is simply too related as nicely, that means there isn’t visible marker to your progress. An additional environmental hazard or a brand new mechanic to think about on later flooring would have achieved wonders for Historic Weapon Holly’s general gameplay.
Whereas the idea is enjoyable and fascinating, the plot takes a particular backseat to the precise gameplay right here. There aren’t any massive cutscenes or surprising reveals as you progress as much as the floor. The sport duties you with gathering every of Holly’s recollections which were locked away in treasure chests on every ground, however even doing so doesn’t provide any new perception into her motivation or the world round her. The one factor it does is give your skills a slight improve every time. Helpful however nothing that wasn’t achieved by the sport’s ability tree.
Every of Holly’s stats might be upgraded utilizing the gadgets dropped by enemies as you struggle your method via the degrees. Some new skills get unlocked, akin to having the ability to float rapidly via dungeons or being alerted when Slayers are nearing your Altar, however the primary technique for the sport by no means actually modifications. You’ll rely closely in your primary assaults for many enemies and your burial skill for Slayers. There’s a slight steadiness situation right here – we completed upgrading each sphere on the ability tree earlier than we bought midway to the highest, which made the ultimate half of the sport much less participating.
In all, Historic Weapon Holly would in all probability be thought-about a bit simple in comparison with most roguelike/lites, which might be each a mark in opposition to it and in its favour. The Slayers moved slowly sufficient that they by no means threatened our Altar regardless of how lengthy we spent away from it, and as soon as we upgraded our assault powers the essential enemies by no means triggered us an excessive amount of hassle. As a result of all of the supplies you might want to improve your skills might be discovered on each ground, you possibly can rapidly change into overpowered by spending a little bit of time grinding on decrease ranges the place the enemies pose much less of a risk.
All of this isn’t to say that Historic Weapon Holly is a foul recreation. In case you simply need a easy roguelite that focuses on motion and fight, you’ll in all probability get 10 to fifteen hours of enjoyment right here. Nevertheless, there isn’t something right here that may make the sport stand out among the many slew of different examples on the Change. It’s too secure and predictable. We have been left wanting a bit extra.
We solely encountered one bug throughout our time with Historic Weapon Holly. After we moved the Change from handheld mode to docked mode, we bumped into extreme body fee points. These have been unhealthy sufficient to make the sport almost unplayable till we closed the software program and loaded it again up once more. This fastened the difficulty, which made it extra of an inconvenience than the rest.
Historic Weapon Holly can finest be described as serviceable – it isn’t unhealthy by any stretch and we discovered ourselves having fun with it for many of our time taking part in it. Nevertheless, it performs its formulation too straight and doesn’t do sufficient with both its protagonist or its setting to face out among the many different extra bold video games on the Change. It wants a contact of humour or a way of stress to it. One thing to present it extra character and persona. We loved the fight and gameplay, however we discovered Historic Weapon Holly frustratingly forgettable.
Conclusion
Roguelite followers will in all probability be cut up on Historic Weapon Holly. Its fight is enjoyable and gives problem for some time, although it doesn’t have the depth or persona to make it a really nice entry within the style. Every part simply feels too secure and predictable for our liking. It simply wanted one thing – a story hook or a extra distinctive mechanic, to make us need to see humanity perish.