Archvale

Well, lets take ourselves a look at Archvale. A bullet-hell roleplaying game with a lot to prove, you take control of an adventurer who must raise up their weapon and embark on a journey to right the wrongs from a time long past. You must defeat the forces of evil and reunite the fabled archvale with the rest of the world. If you think you are up for the task, stick around and keep reading.

Gameplay

This game is absolutely brilliant and I had a blast playing it. Very few games allow the players this muchj creative freedom when creating and designing their characters combat styles. As you progress through the game, you will find things called Badges, these items allow you to bestow powers and abilites on your character. They can be mix and matched to let you switch things up to a way that really suits you. Not many games permit this level of freedom and it’s a fantastic change of pace. That being said, this is a bullet-hell, which means you will have to master these abilities, craft weapons and armor from materials collected and explore the world to fix the problems that it is facing.

The gameplay itself handles like The Binding of Isaac, Shovel Knight and Wizard of Legend all rolled up into one brilliant package. If you like a game that really makes you work for your victories then this is without a doubt the game for you.

Story

There is a fantastic story in this game that surrounds an evil and cruel king who terrorized the world. The player must traverse this world and defeat the Undying, a faction of evil immortal beings whom the king created. There is a lot that stands between you and the mythic arch of Archvale, but these things cannot stop you forever. I found the lore in this game to be brilliantly written and very engaging. If you love a game that has a rich backstory for you to learn about through its completion, then this is without a doubt something that you’ll have a great time with.

Visuals

My goodness, the visuals of Archvale are absolutely stunning and definitely worthy of praise. A fantastic pixelated look, this manages to take a page out of the NieR: Automata handbook and makes the enemies attacks nice and colorful so they are easy for you to see. But just because they are easy to does not mean that they are easy to dodge, as these things come in their hundreds though the fights.

The character designs are great and the world is excellently realized in this unique and minimalist art style. There is something charmingly juvenile and cute about the way the characters are presented, and that makes for some great replay value, just to see what all the different skins and abilities are.

Pros

• Great visuals
• Excellent story
• Brilliant gameplay

Cons

• Can be rage inducing at times