All dodge; no aim required.
Seraph
Developer: Dreadbit
Platform: PC
Blasting its way onto Early Access, Seraph is ready and eager for players to dive in and murder their way through the daemon masses. Frenetic and evolving gameplay with an almost rogue-like configuration make this a compelling arcade experience for all levels of skill.
Story-wise, things are looking a bit bleak. Everything is kept pretty vague in the beginning, but you soon find out you’re playing as some sort of fallen deity who has possessed a human host, but then was unfortunately captured and imprisoned. 10 years pass by and your clever angel-brain decides it’s a good idea to invite some daemons to shake things up a bit while you make your escape. Unfortunately for everyone, you’re stuck there until every last daemon is dead. I really like the bleak, morally grey character portrayals. Not knowing if your actions are actually helping the situation hits a curious nerve.
Story, however, takes a backseat to the main performer; combat! Seraph’s concept is based around the twin stick platformer model with a twist; you don’t have to aim. The focus is dodging enemy attacks and projectiles while madly blinking and backflipping across the screen. The targets of your selected weapon are chosen automatically, so it’s critical to focus on positioning yourself for maximum damage output. You also have access to some “miracles” which are abilities with cooldowns, a boomerang of light that does more damage on its return journey is one example.
There are multiple stages, across multiple locations. To exit a level you either have to defeat a number of boss monsters or destroy all the dimensional gates. As you murder the ever persistent monsters they drop crafting material and crystal shards for you to upgrade your gear and character in between floors. Most of these are small tweaks to stats and additions to the pool of weapons available in scattered chests.
Experience is accrued through picking up experience globes after an act of daemon murder, getting to them quickly is paramount as they soon degrade in value if left in the open air too long. After reaching a new level you can select from a number of character upgrades that slightly nudge your playstyle in a certain direction. For instance, some incentivize killing monsters in quick succession, whereas another may make blinking constantly a better choice.
A key aspect of Seraph is its dynamic difficulty that scales with your success or failures. The game progressively becomes harder the better you do while also increasing the number of drops from your fallen enemies. This paired with the focus on replayability and character growth make for an captivating action experience. However, the runs can take a long time (I clocked up 2 hours for 7 levels) and the intensity is hard to endure for such an extended stretch.
The enemy pool is added to as you reach new areas and offer significant difficulty when they are coming from all angles. That mixed with the sometimes frustrating player movement can often result in your untimely death. However do not despair, there are plenty more daemons to die.
