Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 28/Feb 00:01

Ravenswatch (Switch) – Review

Publisher NACON is perhaps best known for hyperrealistic simulation games and sports titles like the WRC games or Train Life, but their catalogue also contains a varied selection of indie games. One of their more recent releases is Passtech Games’ Ravenswatch, a roguelike game that we took a look at when it debuted on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The game has now made the jump to the Switch as well, which seemed like a good opportunity to revisit it. Story You should already be at least somewhat familiar with Ravenswatch’s cast, as they hail from famous fairy tales and other stories. Characters like Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper, and Beowulf find themselves in Reverie, the land of dreams. Or at least, it would be the land of dreams if it hadn’t been corrupted by the Nightmare. This sinister force has shrouded Reverie in darkness and transformed its inhabitants into monstrous versions of themselves. Even our heroes aren’t safe from the influence of the Nightmare, as they’ve taken on a different form as well. However, they are still able to fight against the Nightmare’s corruption… for now. With time running out, they form the Ravenswatch, ready to cleanse Reverie of the Nightmare once and for all. Ravenswatch doesn’t necessarily follow a traditional narrative structure, and there is no real in-game story apart from having to defeat the Nightmare. However, each of the game’s protagonists has a fully fleshed-out backstory that you unlock by upgrading them, explaining just how they ended up in their twisted form. This also ties into several gameplay elements, including the abilities they possess. Graphics With its striking comic book-like art style and dark color palette, Ravenswatch definitely has a distinct visual identity. From an aesthetic perspective, we really enjoy what the game has to offer visually, but in practice, we have a few gripes. First and foremost, the game’s text is ridiculously tiny, to the point that it is barely legible in the Switch’s handheld mode. We also felt like things were zoomed out a tad too much, making it difficult to make out what was going on. This isn’t as much of an issue when playing the game in docked mode, but if you’re a Switch Lite owner, beware. The hand-drawn visuals aren’t too taxing on the Switch, and the game’s overall performance is good. Sound We were pleasantly surprised by how much voice work there was included in Ravenswatch. Most of that is limited to narration, as there is no in-game voice acting apart from the expected grunts and yelps. However, both the opening movie and the bits of lore that are unlocked by playing are accompanied by different narrators. Ravenswatch’s soundtrack fits with the game’s twisted fairytale aesthetic, with plenty of dark motives and chilling violins. We should note that on the Switch version at least, there are some instances of the game’s audio glitching out occasionally. We’ve experienced stuttering and even audio dropping entirely. These instances were rare, but even then, they’re worth mentioning as this happening just once is too much. Gameplay We’ve played quite a few roguelike games in recent years, so we feel confident saying that Ravenswatch strays away from the norm somewhat. It’s a top-down action game with a heavy focus on combat, which may not sound like anything special. The kicker is in how character-driven everything is, from the time limit to character progression. Each run plays out over the course of nine in-game days, provided you can survive that long. When your time is up before you beat a run, the Nightmare has fully corrupted your chosen character. A run comprises three stages of three in-game days. That translates to roughly 20 minutes per stage. It’s a tight limit, giving you just enough room to track down some hidden treasure or talk to NPCs to grab bonus XP but not enough time to explore the entirety of a map. That also means there is a constant sense of time pressure, motivating you to keep pushing through. Each stage is bookended by a boss battle, with the Nightmare waiting for you at the end of the final day. Of course, getting there is easier said than done. Given just how tough some of the enemies are, you can expect to fail a lot, especially early on or when you decide to switch to a different character. Being a roguelike, Ravenswatch does provide you with long-term progression by rewarding you with experience points at the end of a run. This in turn increases your character rank, unlocking new abilities as well as drip-feeding you more of a character’s backstory, further tying progress to the game’s narrative. As we mentioned in our recap of Ravenswatch’s story, the heroes we’ve come to know and love from familiar stories have taken on unfamiliar forms. This bleeds into their playstyles as well. Little Red Riding Hood, or Scarlet as she’s called here, is a werewolf, for example, which provides a narrative twist that still ties into the original story. Initially, you can choose between four characters, with five more becoming available as you continue playing. Each playable character offers a unique experience too, encouraging players to tackle previously played maps in different ways. As is typical for the roguelike genre, Ravenswatch can be brutally punishing, but we never felt like the game was being unfairly difficult. The learning curve feels just right, and motivates you to try another run rather than wanting to quit once you bite the dust. Should things prove to be too difficult, you can hop online and team up with another player. Ravenswatch even supports cross-platform play. This does highlight one glaring issue and that is that the game is missing a local co-op mode. The top-down gameplay would be perfectly suited for couch co-op, so here’s hoping this is added in a future update. Even then, Ravenswatch does offer a surprisingly comprehensive package for its €29.99 price of entry. There are cosmetic DLC packs available as well, but picking up all of these would add around €18 to the package, which doesn’t seem worth it. While Ravenswatch doesn’t bring anything particularly new or outstanding to the table in terms of mechanics, it’s well-balanced and the way the narrative elements are interwoven into the gameplay adds some uniqueness to the overall experience. Conclusion There are a handful of rough edges to be found in Ravenswatch, particularly with the game’s audiovisual presentation, but as a whole, there is a lot to like here. The roguelike combat provides plenty of challenge without feeling unfair. With a wide variety of characters and playstyles, there are also plenty of reasons to keep revisiting Ravenswatch. It’s a shame that the multiplayer mode is limited to online only, though, as this is a game that would really benefit from couch co-op. Overall though, Ravenswatch is a highly enjoyable roguelike, and fans of the genre won’t regret picking this one up.