I've never met a Castleroid I didn't like.
Valdis Story is actually two games in one. I'll start with the integrated graphics version because it's very short and not fun.In Valdis Story: Integrated Graphics, you play as someone whose brain has been ruined by drugs and now all you do is hallucinate wildly against a black background. After about 30 seconds you die. I don't know if it's supposed to be an art game or what, but I can't really recommend it.
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This game is terrible. |
If you've played a Castleroid or Metroidvania or whatever you prefer to call them, this review will be very short. This game is a Castleroid. If you like Castleroids, you'll like this game. If you haven't played such a game, not only are you missing out on some of the best games ever made but now you have to read this whole review. Nice going.
In Valdis Story: Abyssal City you play as either Wyatt, the badass swordsman with nothing to lose, or Reina, the monk who is a monk. There are two more characters, Gilda and Vladyn, to be released at a later date. I played both Reina and Wyatt up to the same point, albeit on different difficulty settings, and they both play very fluidly. Reina is much faster and more combo-oriented than Wyatt, but even at lower difficulties she does a lot less damage. As the "Advanced" character, Reina has the capacity for stunlocking enemies for quite a while as long as you keep firing off your many different attacks. Wyatt, on the other hand, is more of your "kill most enemies in one combo" character. I found Reina to be better against bosses while Wyatt is better against normal enemies, so each character has their own niche.
The actual gameplay is really nice. Like in Dust: An Elysian Tail, a game you have no excuse for not owning, you traverse a semi-nonlinear world, gaining new abilities that let you access new areas and smiting evil with massive combos. For example, the first ability you get is the ability to cancel whatever you're doing and return to an idle state. You can use it to chain attacks together, escape danger, or use it in midair to shoot downwards. That last one allows you to activate pressure plates you couldn't before, granting you passage to new and exciting locations. It's a tried and true formula that basically everyone loves. I don't know why there aren't more games like this.
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Looks familiar, but I'm not complaining. |
How about the graphics? They're good. Really good, in fact. They're not quite up to Castlevania standards, but this game was chiefly made by two people, so come on. Again like in Dust, everything is hand drawn in a smooth, non-faux-retro style. Faux retro is good sometimes, but games like this really benefit from graphics that have their own style, and these really do. The music and sound effects also get a special mention for being high quality. Most things about the game are quite professional-looking, though it's definitely apparent that the game was made by a small team. I can't really point to any specific examples. Maybe the fact that the game is a glitchy mess if you have integrated graphics.
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Look at this monster! |
I should probably put some criticisms here so I don't end up like a GameFAQs "reviewer" who gives every game either a 10/10 or a 0/99999. Well, the writing's not super. Wyatt especially just talks like some generic anime character. I like the overall story, what with the angels vs demons and all that crap, but the way it's delivered is hackneyed at times. On the other hand, it's largely fine, so it's not like you're going to be bleeding out of your eyes while playing. It's a minor detraction. The angels are all obsessed with cleansing the world of darkness, the demons are just kind of there to be evil, and the humans are caught in the middle. No surprises here. I hear tell of a shocking plot twist though.
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No you |
Current price: $15
Verdict: Worth it
The game is about ten hours long for one playthrough and with more characters coming later the replayability is wicked high. It really is like DLC or something for one of the DS Castlevanias, and at fifteen bucks you really can't go wrong. I got mine at a flea market - I mean, the Steam sale - for $3.74, which almost feels unfair considering the amount of work that was put into this game and how fun it is.
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