Review: Xenon Valkyrie + (PS Vita).
Xenon Valkyrie + is another independent, hybrid title for retro style enthusiasts, and also in sci-fi climates. This time we will go to the moon of a certain planet to beat the witch from space.
At first glance, the title is an interesting mixture of several genres: action, platformer, roguelike and RPG, with a slightly present anime and science fiction atmosphere. It originally came out on Steam and now, with some bug fixes, hit the PS Vita.
My interest in the production was aroused by the hope of a simple, rather interesting story, but unfortunately it was not crazy. On one planet, an ancient evil has awakened and is taking its toll on its inhabitants who do not want to sit passively. Into the heart of darkness, that is to the moon, they send three heroes – two girls Eloen and Renna, and a cricket-like mutant named Nue. Their task is to reach the moon witch and tear the heart rotten by the darkness from her breasts. For a turkey production, the plot seemed intriguing and promising, but the creators wasted the potential of the entire story. In any case, if someone is looking for interesting plot threads in the game, they will not find them here, even despite the sci-fi halo. The only advantage is the presence of a dozen or so endings, but probably not many daredevils will want to check them all.
The gameplay itself is also a standard for fans of croissants or metroidvanic titles, i.e. we chop or shoot enemies and jump from platform to platform, although there are some interesting variations. First of all, it’s about a randomly generated world, so the fun is a bit different each time. In addition, the game offers a destructible environment, so we can easily break through to seemingly inaccessible places by planting bombs or grenades.
We are also happy with the ability of our heroes to cling to / bounce off the walls, which, combined with the aforementioned skill, allows you to design the route yourself to a large extent. However, you have to take into account the high, sometimes overly annoying difficulty level, because the game does not forgive mistakes. On the other hand, there are no major differences between the available characters, which is a pity – since we can change them, it would be useful to give them some unique skills. Additionally, their melee weapons have too short a range, which can be painfully felt in fights with giant bosses. By the way, the title is also a full-blooded RPG with character development, making the game more accessible.
When it comes to the visuals, we are again in contact with graphics straight from the eight-bit production era, although the style of the environment, despite the pixels, is quite detailed. It also has a techno-cosmic atmosphere, so turkey fans shouldn’t complain about it. If, however, pixelosis stung too much in the eye, the developers went to our hand by implementing the image filtering option, slightly improving the quality of the graphics. Unfortunately, the good impression presented by the slightly anime-styled binding and giant bosses is spoiled by one thing – tiny sprites of characters, hardly visible on Vita’s small screen. It reduces the fun of playing, and yet there was nothing to prevent them from being bigger.
Collecting the pros and cons, Xenon Valkyrie + turned out to be a rather average game, although with some interesting solutions. Male lovers looking for a challenge may find something for themselves here, but for other players the title is of little value, especially on PS Vicie.
The code for review was provided by the game publisher.
