Roguelike with a lot under the hood

The success of the roguelike genre in recent years has resulted in an influx of new blood into the genre, with sometimes mixed results. Most gamers can agree on the criteria that make a “good” roguelike – satisfying progression, interesting immediate play balanced by meaningful permanent upgrades, and addictive qualities that lend themselves to “just one more run” – but the real “secret sauce” is mixing these elements together is something reserved for the best games in the ever-growing subgenre. It's a mix that Passtech Games probably nailed in their initial take on roguelike action Curse of the Dead Godsand once again gets a crack at the genre Ravenswatch. Aside from a few minor gripes regarding game balance, Ravenswatch ends up being one of this year's stronger roguelikes, now freed from PC exclusivity.

Originally released into Early Access on PC in April 2023, Ravenswatch enjoyed a mostly positive reception on Steam, culminating in the game's 1.0 release in September of this year. With nearly 18 months spent brewing during EA's tenure (complete with tons of updates and new characters) and a successful PC launch, Ravenswatch now coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in what appears to be its best yet, a unique and diverse cast of heroes will set everyone on an exciting adventure through the dreamlike realm of Reverie. Although it may not reach the heights of its most obvious inspiration Hades (or currently in early access Hades 2), Ravenswatch is a worthwhile co-op roguelike with an impressive fairytale setting.

Ravenswatch's strongest asset is its cast of playable characters

The best roguelikes at least have a small story that serves as a framework for their main gameplay loop, and Ravenswatch there is no other. The Dream Realm of Reverie (a place where the world's fictional characters reside, similar to the realm of Morpheus from Neil Gaiman's seminal Sandman) became infected with Lovecraftian monsters known as “Nightmares”. As these Nightmares begin to reshape and mold Reveria into their own hellscape, the powers-that-be summon the titular Ravenswatch—the mightiest heroes from all of the worlds of fiction who act as the last bastion between Reveria's survival and utter destruction. by the hand of nightmares.

It's a compelling setup that gives Passtech Games free reign to run wild with creativity in creating playable heroes and their kits, and boy does it. Players start with a strong lineup of 4 heroes available; Scarlet (an interesting game about Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf in one), Beowulf, Snow Queen and Pied Piper. Each of these heroes function differently in combat and have their own unique rhythm and flow to how players trigger different abilities and powers (much like Diablo), alongside attacks and dashes while juggling cooldowns. This starting lineup further opens up to include 5 additional heroes each making their way into the game Ravenswatch over the past 18 months. Unlocking heroes is fairly simple (finishing the first chapter with a different hero in most cases) and trying them all out to see which best suits your playstyle is part of the fun, especially when even the ones that don't “click” have some obvious merit.

However, regardless of which hero players choose to run, each character has the same basic set of abilities. In addition to the standard attack, there are 4 actions available in battle that can be used regularly: Defensive Move, Special, Strength and Trait. Each of these abilities have different buffs and enhancements that players can obtain either by leveling up or by purchasing them from Sandman using RavenswatchCurrency, Dream Shards. What's nice about that Ravenswatchand what helps to distinguish it from Curse of the Dead Godsis that all heroes can keep their upgrades for the duration of the run, meaning that players who are skilled enough (or lucky enough) to make it to the third and final stage and challenge the boss will be significantly stronger than on start of the game. stage 1.

True instant playability Ravenswatch it's about defeating enemies and upgrading heroes, but each hero has a unique set of abilities Ravenswatch a staggering amount of replayability. But of course, not all heroes are created equal, and players are sure to find their favorites and stick with them. One of the obvious highlights is Scarlet, whose transformation into the Big Bad Wolf during the night part RavenswatchThe day/night cycle offers a whole new set of capabilities. Another is Sun Wukong, whose ability to switch between literal Yin and Yang by boosting defense or offense has incredible potential for buffing the hero and debuffing enemies if players are lucky with the game's RNG.

all to say Ravenswatch offers players plenty of reasons to come back again and again. While it may seem like you've got the game figured out and landed on a hero whose kit suits your playstyle perfectly, it's impressive how Passtech Games manages to make each of the other heroes constantly surprise you. That Ravenswatch playable in both solo and co-op, it just adds to the permutations of what's possible in a run, especially as players start to discover some of the ways certain hero sets complement each other.

Satisfying progression and power curve smooth over Ravenswatch balance

That's a good thing Ravenswatch offers players plenty of exciting and fresh ways to approach each run, as the game struggles somewhat in terms of balance and difficulty. Roguelikes are meant to be difficult because the whole point of the genre is to play, die, get a little stronger, play again, die again, repeat ad nauseam. Unfortunately, RavenswatchThe ease of co-op play is one of the things that throws it off balance.

Whether playing in co-op or solo, players in Ravenswatch have access to a shared supply of 6 Raven Feathers that can facilitate resurrections if necessary. It's almost unheard of for a roguelike to allow players to progress after death, so it's a welcome surprise to see the Raven Feather mechanic carry over from co-op to single-player. But the ability to resurrect 6 times during a run comes at a cost. The inclusion of Raven Feathers has the effect of balancing the game so that enemies are too much of a damage sponge, able to withstand a lot of hits, to take advantage of the player's ability to resurrect. And while you might assume this would mean the game is more focused on co-op play, it's actually worse when you team up with others. Enemies are more numerous and have more health, meaning players will essentially run into the same balancing issues that only get worse when playing in a group.

It's not that noticeable in normal play, but the Nightmare boss enemies that close each stage are where they are Ravenswatchbalance becomes incredibly problematic. Especially in solo play, it's not uncommon for a run to be completely derailed by one bad attempt at a boss, either through an unfortunate series of rolls or careless mistakes. Fortunately, the impressive number of unlockable upgrades adds an enticing meta-progression that builds towards players becoming more and more survivable. Ravenswatch's many threats, although this development can be incremental at times.

Variety is the spice of life in Ravenswatch

There are 9 playable heroes Ravenswatcheach with 10 or more unlockable talents that add to the pool of potential upgrades with each subsequent run. Combine that with over 50 different magical items (each with varying degrees of rarity) that players can pick up during their run, and the potential for consumables to give you game-changing bonuses, and Ravenswatch comes on the scene as one of the more playable action roguelikes to come out this year. The variety and power of his fight is undoubtedly what he carries Ravenswatchand this is most likely the reason why players will keep coming back to the title.

I spent about 25 hours playing
Ravenswatch
on PlayStation 5 for this review. In that time, I've managed to unlock every playable hero and get them to 4th place, despite never actually being able to beat the final boss. I still have over a dozen magical items to unlock, as well as several talents for each hero that have yet to be discovered. I could easily play the game for another 25 hours and still not unlock everything, which goes to show how much replay value it has
Ravenswatch
wraps in its runtime environment.

They may not have the same narrative power as games Hades (despite having a compelling setup) but Ravenswatch he focuses his attention on the fight. It's true that instant playability and an impressively large pool of upgrades and run modifiers is what made Passtech the ultimate roguelike, Curse of the Dead Godssuch a surprise hit among fans of the genre. Ravenswatch it only improves upon this formula while continuing Passtech's signature style of beautiful cel-shaded visuals and eye-catching animations. It may still need to iron out some wrinkles in terms of balance and difficulty, but otherwise Ravenswatch is a strong action roguelike and a worthy entry into an increasingly crowded genre.