Archvale was my first bullet hell. And oh boy, what a wild ride it was.
The premise is simple. You are a child with the ability to kill the undying, and you must reassemble the Arch. Fight your way through rooms of enemies, dungeons, and bosses to eventually reach your objective. You get three classes of weapon to choose from, though I stuck to magic almost exclusively.
Here are the pros:
- The game is honestly pretty accessible to people who haven't played a bullet hell before. (like me!)
- The world is vibrant, with unique enemies in each area and different vibes throughout.
- Upgrades are not unbearably grindy to get. If you clean each room out of useful resources on your way through areas, by the time you reach the town of the area, you'll have enough to upgrade your armour and buy health upgrades and badges.
- The soundtrack is great - most of the area themes absolutely slap.
The cons:
- The trials. Most of the trials are fine. They're not too hard, you can dodge the orbs easy enough. Then you get to some that just spit tons of them at you with no rhyme or reason and before you know it, you've touched one and have to start over. These were easily the most exasperating part of the game for me, and I'm not usually someone who has to step away from my system in frustration.
My overall opinion of Archvale is that it's a solid little bullet hell, well-designed for the most part, with a few balance issues here and there. 4/5 stars.
The premise is simple. You are a child with the ability to kill the undying, and you must reassemble the Arch. Fight your way through rooms of enemies, dungeons, and bosses to eventually reach your objective. You get three classes of weapon to choose from, though I stuck to magic almost exclusively.
Here are the pros:
- The game is honestly pretty accessible to people who haven't played a bullet hell before. (like me!)
- The world is vibrant, with unique enemies in each area and different vibes throughout.
- Upgrades are not unbearably grindy to get. If you clean each room out of useful resources on your way through areas, by the time you reach the town of the area, you'll have enough to upgrade your armour and buy health upgrades and badges.
- The soundtrack is great - most of the area themes absolutely slap.
The cons:
- The trials. Most of the trials are fine. They're not too hard, you can dodge the orbs easy enough. Then you get to some that just spit tons of them at you with no rhyme or reason and before you know it, you've touched one and have to start over. These were easily the most exasperating part of the game for me, and I'm not usually someone who has to step away from my system in frustration.
My overall opinion of Archvale is that it's a solid little bullet hell, well-designed for the most part, with a few balance issues here and there. 4/5 stars.