Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Phantom Trigger
Developer: tinyBuild Games
Publisher: tinyBuild Games
Genre: Action Adventure, Hack n’ Slash
Number of Players: Up to 2 players
Release Date: Aug. 10, 2017
Price: $14.99
Also Available On: Steam
Phantom Trigger is an action adventure game that, at first glance, very much look like a clone of the highly-acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter. The protagonist almost shares the same look as the Drifter, with the same fast-dashing move. Maybe it can be considered a spiritual sequel of sorts, even if they were released only a couple of years apart.
The game starts with a cutscene of a man named Stan, who got diagnosed with cancer. One day, he fainted and while he’s at the hospital, the scene cuts abruptly into the actual game, where you now play as the Outsider in a world enveloped with neon-colored aesthetics and filled with monsters that you have to get rid of in order to advance further. Along the way, you will encounter different NPCs that will give you some guidance as you continue with your quest. The game also abruptly intercuts as you progress with scenes with Stan and it shows how his life develops with the predicament he is in. There are five levels to traverse, with each level ending with a boss fight. The game also has multiple endings, and the ending that you will get will depend on the decisions you make during the game. There is no way to revisit past levels, so if you feel hardcore and want to see all endings, you have to play the game from the beginning each time.
Stripping away the neon aesthetics, this game stands out on its own as a much harder game than the aforementioned Hyper Light Drifter, though not as good. The story is really just there as a backdrop to form a framework for the entire game, but the main factor is really the gameplay. The game features a Zelda-like gameplay wherein you have to traverse a level section by section, defeating enemies along the way. You have three weapons at your disposal (which you will unlock one by one at the beginning of the game): a whip that drags an enemy closer to you, an iced-based blade, and a pair of fire-based bear claws. Each weapon levels up independently: the more you use them, the faster they level up. New attacks combinations become available to you upon reaching certain weapon levels. These attack combinations make use of your weapons in tandem with one another to execute stronger attacks. But mastering these weapons is no easy feat. You will need precision timing and very good hand-and-eye coordination to quickly and efficiently execute combos and strike at enemies while they are at their most vulnerable. Most enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed to you, but it could be very hard to defend or attack if they are too many of them on the screen. Fail to act and react quickly means the table gets turned fast on you and before you know it, monsters are already ganging up on you and your health bar is almost gone. Yes, you will probably die a lot in this game, even at the normal difficulty. Fortunately, checkpoints are positioned at the start of every section, where you will respawn when you die. You will have to learn enemy attack patterns before a strong urge to rage quit overwhelms you.
Overall, Phantom Trigger is quite a good game, though I personally am not a big fan of it, but I give credit where credit is due. It’s too frustratingly hard for me, but I do appreciate its tight battle mechanics, the old school pixel art aesthetics in neon colors, and the minimalist electronic musical score. The intercutting between the real world and the Outsider’s world is interesting and is a unique narrative style. On the other hand, the game tends to get very repetitive, the enemy variety is low, and, again, the very sharp difficulty curve makes the game not as accessible as it could have been. Nonetheless, the game manages to stand on its own merit despite the Nintendo eShop being inundated by games with similar gameplay and feel. If you want to play a challenging game with a story that’s barely there and yet keeps you hooked throughout, Phantom Trigger is for you. So be always on your toes and get ready to dash and slash your way throughout a neon-colored world full of mystery.
REPLAY VALUE: High
PROS
- Cool neon-colored aesthetics and pixel art graphical style (very much reminiscent of Hyper Light Drifter)
- Minimalist electronic musical score
- Multiple endings
- Unique leveling up system, wherein the weapons are the ones that level up depending on the frequency of their use
- Many different attack combinations to unlock
- High degree of challenge even at normal difficulty which may appeal to fans of hack n’ slash games
- Ideal for short, on-the-go play sessions on the Switch
- Local multiplayer of up to players is supported, but the two players share only one health bar
CONS
- The sharp difficulty curve can make the game quite a chore to play
- The gameplay tends to become very repetitive
- Enemy variety is low
- Lack of in-game map
- Checkpoints are plenty, but cannot be used twice in succession, thus it may cause you to lose a good amount of progress if you die before reaching the next one
- Some enemies take hit very hard and requires precision timing to kill, which can be bothersome if there are many enemies present on the screen at the same time
- Enemies doesn’t often drop extra health when killed, making battles against group of enemies in succession very, very challenging especially if you are not very skilled
- There are a few framerate drops in the game
- Takes a long time for the game to load upon start up
RATING: 3.5/5 sword slashes and dashes
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