Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Xenon Valkyrie+
Developer: Diabolical Mind, Cowcat
Publisher: Cowcat
Genre: RPG, action adventure, roguelike
Number of Players: 1 player
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 01 Jan 2019
Price: $9.99
Also Available On: Steam, PS4, PSV, XB1
Can’t go wrong with retro. And this is why most indie games go for the 8- or 16-bit look, because they age well, aside from the fact that they are easy to create. There a lots of such games in the Nintendo eShop, and one of these is this game, Xenon Valkyrie+. It’s a port of a game that came out a couple of years ago, and like many other ports, it finds a new home on the Nintendo Switch.
Xenon Valkyrie+ is a roguelike game set in a distant future where a moon is threatened by a witch and you have to play as one of three available characters: a girl who have grenades, a girl who have the ability to scan the map for loots, and a boy that looks like a cricket that can do super jumps. These characters can use many types of guns and swords to kill different kinds of enemies. Killing enemies give you experience points. Also, each level is littered with treasure chests that contain weapons and coins. Some require keys to open, which you can earn from mini-bosses.
The main goal in every level is to reach a portal that takes you to the next one. In-between levels are safe havens where you can buy items and spend experience points to upgrade your attributes such as health, strength, defense, etc. The more you level up, the higher your chance get in surviving the next level.
Each level is procedurally-generated, so it’s different on each playthrough. And also, when you die, you lose everything (except of Teamerites, stones that you earn from defeating bosses, which persists though different playthroughs and can be used to buy legendary weapons) and you start from scratch again at the very first level. The game is quite short but the difficulty ramps up early on, so you will have to endure plenty of deaths before being skilled enough to conquer bosses in the game, which appear at the end of every 2 levels. These bosses, including the final one are not particularly hard to beat, but you have to memorize their attack patterns.
The game is quite clichéd, but thanks to its retro-inspired pixel art aesthetics and oh-so-catchy chiptune soundtrack, this game looks and sounds like a game from the 80s-early 90s. If that’s not enough, you can also toggle the in-game filters to make it look like you’re playing it using a CRT TV or a GameBoy, among many others. Unfortunately, playing it handheld is not as good as playing it on a TV screen. Everything looks small, and sometimes, it’s even hard to distinguish your character from enemies because of the aesthetics used.
Overall, Xenon Valkyrie+ is a decent game, but quite forgettable. But I guess, for its price point, you get what you pay for. There are other much better games in the eShop at the same price range, but if you are a fan of retro-inspired games and don’t mind playing quick runs on the go just like how it is done in the ancient times of gaming, this game can be a good choice.
REPLAY VALUE: Medium
PROS
- Excellent retro-inspired pixel art aesthetics
- Awesome chiptune soundtrack
- Very good level design
- High variety of weapons to use
- Different kinds of enemies to beat
- Frantic boss fights
CONS
- Bland story
- Very short length but padded with high difficulty spikes
- Legendary weapons bought with Teamerites do not become readily available to you, but they become available to be unlocked in treasure chests
RATING: 3.5/5 retro bits and beats
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