MythForce, by developer Beamdog and publisher Aspyr, may be on par with one of my favorite art styles for video games. The Saturday morning cartoon style of outlines and even story takes me back to a simpler time. Within MythForce, there are four characters to choose from with varying ability kits, difficulty levels, and unlockable outfits. In some ways this game plays in a linear fashion with natural progression across each level. In other ways, however, each level includes random drops for the character to craft a build much like one would during a rogue-like game. Using various pieces of armor to build benefits that range from increased health all the way to nearly double damage at the cost of health on hit. This led to some very fun levels where my character became a powerhouse but only had 3 hit points. Other times a build would lead to massive health pools but each enemy took too many hits to defeat. It all comes down to what the player wants.
Now, for the majority of my experience I played as Victoria with melee focused abilities. According to the game, this character is on the easier side to play. Considering how far I got with minimal upgrades during the first few levels, the difficulty assessment is fairly accurate. Though I look forward to trying the three other characters with time. One aspect that couldn’t be tested is the multiplayer connectivity and difficulty change. Each level has three unlockable difficulty tiers which would prove an enjoyable challenge with friends. Unfortunately for the multiplayer aspect, it appears to suffer greatly for choppy gameplay for anyone other than the host, as discovered through witnessing other’s gameplay. On the off chance that this version sees a future update fixing this issue, I will be the first in line to contact three friends to experience many hours in this game.
The idea behind MythForce is the recreation of old cartoons like He-Man, with the unique style. The artists and developers perfectly encapsulate that era within this game. If the experience ran only a small amount smoother, this would have earned a ten out of ten in my eyes. The play time feels rewarding. The upgrades impact each level. Unfortunately dying because the game lagged while in the final room of a level does leave one feeling worse for wear. Fortunately, MythForce succeeds where other indie games come up short. The gameplay proves enjoyable enough to look past these shortcomings as you bash skeletons, mushrooms, and enemies I didn’t even encounter. Additionally, the only difficulty I unlocked during this play period was Hard mode but the Mythic tiers 1-3 offer better rewards for progression. If someone comes across this review and still feels on the fence about MythForce, I say go for it. There is a lot to enjoy behind the simple idea of this game. Should that stability update ever come out as time goes on, well this could earn a cult classic title that I will certainly come back to time and time again.
Score – 8/10
For more on MythForce, visit www.MythForce.com, and follow along with the latest updates on Discord, Twitter and Facebook.
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