3000th Duel (Switch) Review
Release Date: February 19, 2020
Publisher/Developer: NEOPOPCORN Corp
Platform: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PC
Price: $14.99
3000th Duel is an indie take on the Metroidvania genre that attempts to infuse it with a Souls-like difficulty curve. As you play, your mysterious protagonist ventures around a map that slowly expands as you discover more abilities that allow you to jump higher and further or unlock doors to new areas. Much like the oft-heralded CastleVania: Symphony of the Night, perusing the map you will find mammoth bosses to take down. Memorizing patterns is key to victory. While some design decisions skate the line between difficulty and frustration, whilst other things are easy and may become tedious, 3000th Duel’s overall package is a delightful experience easily worth your time.
Presentation is a unique combination I can only describe as chibi-goth. Everything is dark but overall done with big heads, light comedy in conversation, and even in battle, with skeletons getting slammed into the ground with a huge overhead chop. It’s dark and gritty, yet light enough for me to feel comfortable playing in front of my kids.
As you develop your character, not only do you find the occasional weapon to upgrade your attack, you collect karma defeating enemies that you use to level your character at the appropriate shrines. If you are defeated, your collected karma is left at your last position. It’ll literally come back to bite you, honing in on you and doing damage to you until you break it. If you die before you get there, you lose your previous collected karma. Experience points level individual parts of your offense and defense, and a skill tree lets you unlock individual traits that aim toward your personal preferences and strengths.
Each area you visit holds a small variety of enemies with easily memorized attack patterns. Once you unlock the dash and being invincible during it, you’ll be dashing back and forth behind your attackers to get in a few more hits. You can equip multiple weapons and magic to swap between to maximize speed and power.
3000th Duel makes for an excellent Metroidvania, but adding the Souls-like feel would occasionally put a damper on my enjoyment. Bosses are made to be challenging, but at times I noted that they would turn around mid attack if I dashed too early. If you die, your leftover karma is locked in the room with them. Dying a long distance from a save point results in you having to go through the same area again, which can feel like a slog between enemies you have already mastered. At times the map felt like it doubled back on itself solely for the purpose of adding more time, with literal hallways back and forth in the same screen. It took a substantial amount of time before I unlocked a teleporter to get to the other side of the map. Adding all this up made me feel like despite the “open world” Metroidvania aspect, there seemed to be only one way to go to be productive, and if you weren’t strong enough, a particular loop to go through to level up to just do more. And while you can individually craft your character, eventually you will max out your character with all options, and end up with each crafting identical. In the first couple of unlockable sections of the “sphere grid” I had unlocked every possible thing before the next section became accessible.
Still, the indie feel and price set 3000th Duel solidly in a “recommend” category. At only $15, I’ve already gotten plenty of hours of gameplay out of the title without the backtracking and puzzle elements I’ve grown to love in the MV genre. It’s a neat game that is well presented, allowing it to be enjoyed by young and old alike. 3000th Duel is a wonderful slice of action that hearkens back to classic sidescrolling action games.
Pros:
-Great job blending Metroidvania with a Souls-like experience
-Levelling and progression let you power up before difficult bosses
-A wonderful combination of “chibi-goth” aesthetic
Cons:
-Can get repetitive, especially when slogging through an area after dying
-Bosses border between challenging and cheap, enemies between exciting and easy
-Doesn’t feel as open as a Metroidvania should be
Thanks to NEOPOPCORN Corp for providing a code for review!