Don’t touch that remote! All new, all Saturday morning long! It’s MythForce! Developed by Beamdog and published by Aspyr, MythForce is a rogue-like action FPS game where you play as one of the legendary MythForce, a band of heroes dead set on stopping the evil vampire lord Deadalaus and save the land. Enter your Saturday morning cartoon and play as one of the four main cast, Victoria the knight, Maggie the mage, Rico the rogue, and Hawkins the hunter, as you maneuver through deadly and dangerous floors filled with ferocious foes. Hack and slash your way through the hordes in order to obtain stronger and more powerful upgrades and equipment. But be careful, as one death is a game-over and you’ll need to start from the very beginning.
The game’s first and main selling point is its graphics, which are straight out of a cartoon. Cel-shaded characters are offset by a beautifully hand-crafted environment that sells the game’s cartoon aesthetic extremely well. The world feels like a hand-painted background you’d find out of a classic show like He-Man. The care and passion that the developers have for this game clearly shows, and it helps the game immensely.
The game’s combat also has a lot of depth and care put into it. Each of the four playable characters each feel unique, yet easy to learn and play. My favorite personally was Hawkins, as I love any character with a bow and arrow. The way combat works is actually really unique too, as the player needs to manage an energy bar that is depleted whenever the player uses an attack as well as dodges, or uses special abilities. Speaking of abilities, each player has access to abilities that can help maneuver around the map, deal damage to enemies, or to corral enemies so teammates can focus them for coordinated attacks. With Hawkins as an example, he can turn ethereal where he is immune to damage and enemy aggro for a short duration so he can retreat and attack from a further distance, as well as a corruption shot that pierces enemies. He also can shoot an arrow that pulls enemies in before exploding, and his ultimate ability amplifies his firing speed and strength.
MythForce also contains a ton of loot that the player can use to upgrade themselves even further. For starters, the player can find armor to amplify their energy recharging rates or defenses. This works in tandem with the perks scattered across the floors. These perks help modify the way you play into a more efficient, more enjoyable experience. My personal favorite was a perk that gave a percentage damage boost for each defeated enemy, but would reset if I took damage. With that perk, I was encouraged to play more carefully, utilizing more of my abilities, and selecting perks and armors that worked in tandem with that perk.
And while the game’s gameplay and graphics were stellar, there were some issues that arose which hindered the gameplay experience as a whole. The biggest issue was the game’s performance, which hitched and staggered repeatedly just through the intro cutscene. When in the game, there were moments of high performance with periods of frame-drops mixed in. The game, even though the graphical demands are rather low, struggled to run on my high-power PC, which is a dangerous omen for the game’s release. The only other issue was the game’s struggle with enemy balancing. For the purpose of this preview, the game was played on Normal to get an average sense of the game’s difficulty. However, normal is more around easy, and I would guess easy is the game’s “very easy.” The enemy variety is low, with the beginning floor just consisting of two different enemy types, that being skeletons and mushroom monsters. While there are ranged and melee variants of these enemies as well as traps in the level, the game felt a bit bare in what enemies you needed to fight, and I couldn’t imagine it being that fun with co-op at that difficulty. Fortunately, this issue is resolved through the fact that there are mythic difficulties, which increase enemy difficulty as well as include random enemy modifiers that help spice up the gameplay. So with that considered, the game’s enemy variety and difficulty are relieved slightly.
All in all, MythForce is a fantastic action game that anyone can pick up and play with little to no instruction. The graphics are incredibly detailed and pull the player into an 80’s cartoon, and the game’s combat and exploration are rewarding and engaging. While the game struggles with performance issues and enemy variety, they are more than made up for by the game’s replay value and engaging gameplay. If anyone is looking for a new hack-and-slash adventure, MythForce is the one to get.
For more information, and to wishlist the game, go to Steam.
Related: Reviews by Matthew White
An avid gamer, Matthew is also an aspiring game developer. Because of this, Matthew knows not only what makes a game great, but also the hard work and artistry required to craft such a phenomenal experience.
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