Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Grimvalor
Developer: Direlight Oy
Publisher: Direlight
Genre: Metroidvania, Hack n’ slash, Platformer, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: 07, April 2020
Price: $12.99
Also Available On: Android, iOS
Grimvalor is another metroidvania game ported to the Nintendo Switch. It was originally released on iOS last year and since I barely play games on my phone, I have kind of forgotten that phones are now powerful enough to run full-featured games. At first glance, the game’s mobile origin is not apparent because it looks good on Switch, especially the background graphics. The graphical style and lighting and effects of the background are really awesome. But then the character design is pretty bland and lacks details, so when I found out that it was first released on a mobile platform, I was like “ok, that explains it.” I’m not sure if the background graphics got remade for the console version, they probably were, but maybe the devs forgot the apply the same amount of artisitc finesse on the characters. Despite that, the game , in general, is quite enjoyable to play. I have mentioned it before that I like metroidvania games, so this game, being as good as it is, is another addition to my list.
This game is quite different from the other metroidvania games that I have played on the Switch before because it is more inspired by Castlevania, the second half of the metroidvania portmanteau. The last Castlevania game that I played that closely resembles the artstyle and feel of this game is Castlevania: Lord of Shadows – Mirror of Fate on the 3DS. I really enjoyed that game, and probably that contributes a lot to how much I enjoyed Grimvalor.
In this game, you play as a nameless knight out to rid the world of evil. Typical story. Your hero can be either male or female, which you can set at the start of the game. You start with a basic sword and as you progress into the game, you gain more XP, relics, and soul shards that would allow you to level up and buy new weapons, armors, and upgrades to make your character stronger and more powerful. You also get to acquire various trinkets that aid you with additional abilities, such as additional power-ups to attacks, additional mana regeneration, etc. As you progress into the game, you will meet a few NPCs who will provide you a few clues on where you have to go next. There is also an NPC that will sell you upgrades that will aid you in your quest.
The game is divided into 5 acts, each with multiple interconnected areas. To test your strength and power, you will battle against a good multitude of enemies on every area. Some of these areas have their own mini-bosses, referred to as Hunters (which would ominously make themselves known with the notification that you are being hunted with matching ominous music and would send out waves upon waves of enemies at you until you you kill it) and Slayers (which usually guard new skill or upgrades). Enemies scale up in HP and power themselves as you progress into the game, so when a wave of enemies come slashing at your at the same time, it helps to be a level or two higher than they are. To attack your enemies, you have the ability to perform light and heavy attacks, and dash to dodge incoming attacks. At the end of each act, you will be required to battle a boss, referred to as Guardians, with differing attack moves and tenacity. These baddies are bigger, badder, and hit harder. Good thing is enemies telegraph their moves quite well and it won’t take you a long time to anticipate their next move. You may die a few times and may be required to grind a bit to become stronger, but eventually, you will vanquish them, and this opens the next act. By the way, there is a fast travel sysem on this game, so you can go back to past areas if you need to get all the treasures available. Some of these treasures are hidden in secret sections of some areas which could only be accessed if you throroughly explore every nook and cranny. As far as I know, there is no additional unlockable bonus for getting 100% of the collectibles, but if you are a compltionist, they are there to scratch your itch.
Overall, Grimvalor is a good game, though probably leaning towards the not-so-remarkable/bland variety. It does make good use of its inspirations, but it doesn’t really have anything extraordiinary to make it standout from the rest of other metroidvania games out there, especially on the Nintendo Switch. By the way, the game Is FREE on mobile phones, which makes it really hard to recommend on Nintendo’s hybrid console. But if you are a fan of the genre and you think that you just have to play them all and you want to play them on the go with physical buttons, go give this game a chance. It looks and sounds good and you will have a good time playing it despite of its shortcomings.
REPLAY VALUE: High
PROS
CONS
Grimvalor is another metroidvania game ported to the Nintendo Switch. It was originally released on iOS last year and since I barely play games on my phone, I have kind of forgotten that phones are now powerful enough to run full-featured games. At first glance, the game’s mobile origin is not apparent because it looks good on Switch, especially the background graphics. The graphical style and lighting and effects of the background are really awesome. But then the character design is pretty bland and lacks details, so when I found out that it was first released on a mobile platform, I was like “ok, that explains it.” I’m not sure if the background graphics got remade for the console version, they probably were, but maybe the devs forgot the apply the same amount of artisitc finesse on the characters. Despite that, the game , in general, is quite enjoyable to play. I have mentioned it before that I like metroidvania games, so this game, being as good as it is, is another addition to my list.
This game is quite different from the other metroidvania games that I have played on the Switch before because it is more inspired by Castlevania, the second half of the metroidvania portmanteau. The last Castlevania game that I played that closely resembles the artstyle and feel of this game is Castlevania: Lord of Shadows – Mirror of Fate on the 3DS. I really enjoyed that game, and probably that contributes a lot to how much I enjoyed Grimvalor.
In this game, you play as a nameless knight out to rid the world of evil. Typical story. Your hero can be either male or female, which you can set at the start of the game. You start with a basic sword and as you progress into the game, you gain more XP, relics, and soul shards that would allow you to level up and buy new weapons, armors, and upgrades to make your character stronger and more powerful. You also get to acquire various trinkets that aid you with additional abilities, such as additional power-ups to attacks, additional mana regeneration, etc. As you progress into the game, you will meet a few NPCs who will provide you a few clues on where you have to go next. There is also an NPC that will sell you upgrades that will aid you in your quest.
The game is divided into 5 acts, each with multiple interconnected areas. To test your strength and power, you will battle against a good multitude of enemies on every area. Some of these areas have their own mini-bosses, referred to as Hunters (which would ominously make themselves known with the notification that you are being hunted with matching ominous music and would send out waves upon waves of enemies at you until you you kill it) and Slayers (which usually guard new skill or upgrades). Enemies scale up in HP and power themselves as you progress into the game, so when a wave of enemies come slashing at your at the same time, it helps to be a level or two higher than they are. To attack your enemies, you have the ability to perform light and heavy attacks, and dash to dodge incoming attacks. At the end of each act, you will be required to battle a boss, referred to as Guardians, with differing attack moves and tenacity. These baddies are bigger, badder, and hit harder. Good thing is enemies telegraph their moves quite well and it won’t take you a long time to anticipate their next move. You may die a few times and may be required to grind a bit to become stronger, but eventually, you will vanquish them, and this opens the next act. By the way, there is a fast travel sysem on this game, so you can go back to past areas if you need to get all the treasures available. Some of these treasures are hidden in secret sections of some areas which could only be accessed if you throroughly explore every nook and cranny. As far as I know, there is no additional unlockable bonus for getting 100% of the collectibles, but if you are a compltionist, they are there to scratch your itch.
Overall, Grimvalor is a good game, though probably leaning towards the not-so-remarkable/bland variety. It does make good use of its inspirations, but it doesn’t really have anything extraordiinary to make it standout from the rest of other metroidvania games out there, especially on the Nintendo Switch. By the way, the game Is FREE on mobile phones, which makes it really hard to recommend on Nintendo’s hybrid console. But if you are a fan of the genre and you think that you just have to play them all and you want to play them on the go with physical buttons, go give this game a chance. It looks and sounds good and you will have a good time playing it despite of its shortcomings.
REPLAY VALUE: High
PROS
- Amazing artstyle used for the background: it makes the levels more expansive
- Very good use of lighting
- Excellent muscial score that really brings out the ambience of battling hordes of monsters while having to traverse dark dungeons
- Good combat mechanics
- You can press and hold the Y button to keep attacking (light attacks) so no need to mash buttons to perform multiple attacks
- Good level design, with a good number of secret areas to discover
- New Game+ mode is available upon beating the game once, which opens a harder difficulty
CONS
- Bland and predictable story
- Bland character design
- Floaty controls and floaty animation (the main character looks like floating on air all the time)
- Video capture is not supported, which sucks a bit since there are lots of moments in the game, especially during battles, that you would want to share online
RATING: 4/5 Soul shards for sword slashes
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