Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - Hier 04:38

Maid of Salvation – Review

If you’re reading this review, chances are the main reason you clicked on it was the accompanying key art. With good reason too, as the visual of a scantily-clad anime maid brandishing both a sword and a firearm speaks to the imagination, even if it’s not very subtle about wanting to appeal to the male gaze. This isn’t the latest entry in the Pretty Girls series, however, or one of those more questionable titles we’ve looked at, like Neko Secret Room or Giant Wishes. So what kind of game is hiding behind the purple eyes and bare thighs of this maiden? Let’s dive in. Story The titular maid in our story is Shizuka. She’s sent on a divine mission to Purgatory by a mysterious figure known as the Sanctuary’s Overseer. Purgatory has been overrun by monsters, and it is now up to Shizuka to deal with these fiends. As she gradually makes her way through the afterlife, Shizuka begins discovering that neither her mission, nor the world itself is what it initially seemed. Her journey starts to reveal unsettling truths: this isn’t a story of Good vs. Evil, but one that is about moral gray areas instead. At least, that is what Maid of Salvation’s narrative sets out to do, but the story doesn’t quite stick the landing. The dialogue comes across as heavy-handed and overly dramatic, undermining the intended emotional impact and making Shizuka’s mission of duty, sacrifice, and identity fall flat. Fortunately, Maid of Salvation isn’t a game that puts a lot of emphasis on its story, with the main focus being on gameplay. Graphics Don’t be fooled by Maid of Salvation’s striking key art, as it doesn’t quite reflect the in-game visuals. What you’re getting here are top-down visuals that emphasise clarity and atmosphere rather than visual complexity, at least in the Switch version. Character models are clean, crisp, and readable, but do come across as simple and dated. Maid of Salvation’s art direction leans heavily on lighting effects and colour contrast to create mood, especially in its purgatory-themed environments of ruins, caverns, and decaying structures. Combat visual effects, such as explosions and weapon slashes, help give attacks a sense of weight and impact. The lack of detail is outweighed by the game’s performance, however. Maid of Salvation runs remarkably smooth on the Switch, maintaining a stable 60 FPS frame rate, which really helps with the fast-paced action and makes even the slightly jagged textures palatable. Sound Much of Maid of Salvation’s atmosphere comes from the game’s music. The soundtrack makes good use of dark, menacing themes that complement the Purgatory setting rather than overpowering it. It fits both the game’s tone and action, especially during major fights such as boss encounters. Audio design also plays a functional and helpful role in gameplay. Sound cues help reinforce the rhythm and timing of combat. In a game that emphasises both precision and reaction, this is important, and while we wouldn’t liken Maid of Salvation to a straight-up rhythm game, your ears are still important tools on your path to victory. The one area where Maid of Salvation’s soundscape falls short is in how it doesn’t have any voice acting. Gameplay Everything we’ve discussed so far about Maid of Salvation exists mostly to support the gameplay, which is the game’s main raison d’etre. What you’re getting here is a fast-paced top-down ARPG that blends metroidvania-style exploration with light Souls-like elements. The core gameplay loop sees you take control of Shizuka as you explore labyrinthian, interconnected areas filled with both enemies and secrets. Character progression and customizability play a huge role here, and are supported by robust leveling and skill systems. These tie into not just Shizuka’s combat prowess but in exploration as well. While the game requires a good amount of backtracking, this never feels like pointless padding, as new abilities can open up new roads and hidden areas, rewarding curiosity. Hidden areas often reward you with more options so that you can tailor Shizuka’s fighting to your preferred playstyle. Combat is at the heart of Maid of Salvation, with the gameplay emphasising deliberate fighting using melee weapons and firearms, as well as defensive mechanics like dodging and parrying. Positioning, timing, and reading attack patterns take priority over mindless button-mashing, although actions like dodging and dashing require you to keep an eye on your stamina meter. A particularly nice touch is that if you can backstab enemies, you’ll do bonus damage and sometimes are able to stun your targets. Within its genre, Maid of Salvation sits somewhere in the middle when it comes to combat difficulty. It’s a challenging game, but nowhere near the toughest of what ARPGs have to offer. Regular enemies are fairly easy to overcome, whereas bosses feel like tests of skill rather than exercises in punishment. While Maid of Salvation isn’t the biggest ARPG out there, it is still fairly sizable, especially keeping its €14.79 price tag in mind. It took us around 15 hours to complete the game, and that was at a relatively relaxed pace, sniffing out secrets where we could. Boss fight enthusiasts have around 20 of those to look forward to, although we’d say that the real appeal lies in that exploration and those map-clearing mechanics. Maid of Salvation doesn’t reïnvent the ARPG genre, but to be fair, it doesn’t intend to do so either. Instead, it offers a solid, if slightly uninspired, take on a gameplay formula that has proven its merit countless times in the past. Conclusion Sometimes less is more. Maid of Salvation gets the obligatory stuff, like story and visuals, out of the way as quickly and cleanly as possible so that it can focus on the one thing that matters; gameplay. This is the kind of game that isn’t going to set anyone’s world on fire, nor will it linger with them for months after the credits roll. But during that window when you’re playing it, and are getting immersed in exploring Purgatory or facing one boss fight after another, you’ll find yourself genuinely having fun with the game, and that’s all that matters here.