It is the week of Evil Dead as I come back at you with yet more deadite content! From the depths of hell itself comes Retrorealms Arcade from the always stalwart development team at Wayforward Technologies and passionate published Boss Team Games! Framed around a haunted arcade (the eponymous RetroRealms Arcade) – you have a choice between playing one of two amazing retro side scrollers – one based on Ash vs. Evil Dead, and one based on John Carpenter’s Halloween. The best thing about it is how variety you can squeeze from these two gruesome main choices.
I will delve into the attention to detail first, because I believe it will be the first thing to stand out to fans of the franchises. One of the coolest things is that you can choose between one of four main characters – Ash Williams and Kelly Maxwell from Ash vs. Evil Dead, and Michael Myers and Laurie Strode from the Halloween franchise, and play them in either arcade game. Effectively, this will alter the story of you vs. the evil overlord from another dimension. For example, when starting up Halloween as Ash, his comments show that it acts as an immediate follow up to the events of his campaign in the Evil Dead arcade machine. Going through the story four different times per arcade cabinet may sound repetitive, but it is these detailed changes that make it nothing short of a treat for fans of these franchises and their characters.
Gameplay wise, Wayforward are masters of the industry in making throwback side scrollers, and RetroRealms Arcade is no exception. Each character controls similarly, but differently in their own right, and each have unique adjustments to their move sets that enable you to get secrets others cannot. For example, Ash has a ground roll while Michael Myers has a shadow teleport, which enables him to reach certain areas that Ash cannot. On the other hand. Michael is big and bulky, moving just ever so slower than a more fluid character like Ash. This is again a huge deal because it makes each playthrough feel unique in their own regard. You can hack, slash, shoot, and use sub weapons like the Castlevania franchise, with each character having their own unique weapons and sub weapons to boot. The cherry on top is the eyeball of the overlord ability, which you activate to go into the dark realm version of the level you are on. While this can increase the challenge, it is necessary to traverse the levels or find hidden areas, and the extra enemies to slay may help you in a pinch when you are low on health and need a desperate pickup.
The secrets are fun to find, such as pages of the Necronomicon or jack-o-lanterns, as well as golden tickets to unlock museum displays in the arcade. There is also a TV area where you can watch a few behind the scenes interviews with the teams that displays the amount of passion put into the project. If I had any complaints, it may be the checkpoints being a bit brutal, especially when you have to recollect secret items. It will not be too difficult for more seasoned players, but a more casual fan may become frustrated at times.
Overall, Retrorealms Arcade is a love letter to fans of Evil Dead, Halloween, horror itself, and retro styled arcade games. The price is a bit up there compared to the usual amount for these types of games, however, you are paying for a lot of replayability and most likely the cost of the licenses themselves, which in this case, means a lot of quality. With both a Halloween pinball machine already being made by Spooky Pinball, and an Evil Dead machine announced last week, fans of these franchises can rejoice, as they are in the hands of developers who have a lot of passion for the source material and a lot of imagination.
Score: 9.5/10
RetroRealms Arcade is available for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Matt O’Toole
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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