Drifting Lands Review

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Release Date: June 5, 2017
Developer: Alkemi
Platform: PC, MAC
Price: $18.99

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Whenever my parents would take me to see a movie as a child, I almost always bolted to the row of arcade games lining the perimeter of the lobby. The cacophony of beeps and buzzers, the bright lights, and the allure of achieving the high score on a towering arcade console were intoxicating. I tried every game at least once, but the one I always returned to was Raiden Fighters, a top-down shoot em' up where you control a fighter plane and collect power-ups in your quest to destroy enemy planes, tanks, and ships.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and that same wonder I felt playing Raiden Fighters as a child was rediscovered with Drifting Lands, the most recent game by Alkemi, a small independent French gaming studio. Drifting Lands is cut from a different cloth than the older Raiden Fighters, but they both share the same core principle — that it's very satisfying to blow up waves upon waves of baddies. 

Drifting Lands combines the gameplay of a traditional horizontal shooter with some RPG elements like different skills, classes of ships, and plenty of loot to collect and upgrade. As the captain of your ship, you have countless options to customize your flying death machine. Want to be a glass cannon? Pick a ship class with high attack and low defense, invest in offensive-minded skills, and spend your in-game currency on the biggest and baddest weapon you can afford. Are you like me and struggle to avoid oncoming projectiles? Perhaps invest in a defensive ship with more armor and some shield and health-based skills.  The world of Drifting Lands is your oyster, and the game leaves plenty of room for — or perhaps more accurately, encourages — experimentation. 

As you progress throughout the game's 100 levels, each of which gets progressively harder, you collect more money which you can spend on ship and part upgrades. This is where a bulk of the RPG elements come into play. You'll spend a fair amount of time sifting through the shop comparing and contrasting potential parts and weapons for your ship. Is it worthwhile to sacrifice 10 armor for 1.5% attack speed and additional 1% critical strike chance? Decisions like this are commonplace in games like Diablo, and they're very much present here. I found myself getting sucked into theorizing how to best optimize my ship instead of playing the randomly-generated levels themselves. The same thing happened to me when I played Diablo, Path of Exile, and Skyrim, but such is the nature of games that give you so many options! 

The game has a lot going for it from an artistic standpoint, as well. The art team for Alkeli deserves a lot of credit for the look and feel of Drifting Lands. The landing screen for the game has a gritty watercolor painting vibe to it, likely meant to reflect the derelict game world our characters live within. However, the levels themselves come to life with a beautiful combination of 2D and 3D character models and animations. Enemies fly into the foreground and retreat into the background, ships catch fire and explode, and the projectiles filling the screen aren't overwhelming. It's a really good balance for a game with so much happening at once. 

Similarly, I found the soundtrack to be pretty pleasant overall. The game doesn't have a ton of music tracks, but there's enough variation to where you won't get tired of the songs you hear. The in-game music is upbeat and definitely calls back to the old-school arcade vibe I mentioned earlier. As the action picks up, so does the music. It's a small touch that really helps build the atmosphere of the game. 

One of my few knocks on the game is the potential for grinding, which has become commonplace for RPGs across the board. At a certain point, you're likely going to find yourself replaying levels to get more cash so you can buy a particular upgrade or ship. Though, to Alkeli's credit, the randomly-generated levels to break up this tediousness by throwing new situations at you every time you replay a level. It doesn't completely alleviate the frustration of grinding for items, but it does make it more tolerable.

Another disappointing aspect of the game is the lack of multiplayer. While the game does feature online leaderboards so players can compare their high scores to others around the world, it would have been cool to team up with a friend and tag-team a level. It's not a must-have feature, but it does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity. 

Overall, Drifting Lands is a thoroughly pleasant experience for those of us who miss the glory days of the shoot em' up genre. The added RPG-like customization really beefs up what can sometimes be a shallow style of game. With beautiful art, music, and tight gameplay, you'd be wise to give Drifting Lands a shot.

 

Pros: 

• Character models and animations are gorgeously blended with 2D and 3D elements
• Tons of customization options for your ship
• RPG-style loot system adds depth and replayability
• Randomly-generated levels keep the game fresh during each playthrough
• The difficulty curve is fair, rewarding players who are genuinely good at dodging bullets or getting the most out of their items

Cons:

• Players might find themselves forced to grind for in-game currency to purchase item upgrades
• Lack of multiplayer is disappointing

Many thanks to Alkemi for sending us a review copy of Drifting Lands! 

Renowned Explorers + More to Explore Expansion Pack Review

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Release Date: September 2, 2015 (Original game), May 31, 2016 (More to Explore Expansion)
Developer: Abbey Games
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux
Price: $20.00

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Renowned Explorers is a fascinating blend of genres that comes together in a stylish, yet challenging experience. While the experience overall can sometimes be challenging and repetitive, sometimes bordering on frustrating, the payoff is a varied narrative that offers a range of story endings and lore backgrounds that really flesh out the universe and give it some character. If you are willing to work through the learning curve, this game offers something to love for the wannabe explorer and lovers of strategy games. 

The first thing that jumps off the page about this game is its unique gameplay. Before diving into the nitty-gritty, let me first outline the basic gameplay elements. The story is this — You play as a group of three explorers looking for gold, knowledge, and glory. There are more than 20 different characters to choose from, each of whom has different abilities and skill sets. Your traditional gaming archetypes are present here whether your team consists of tanks, glass cannon attackers, or well-balanced characters. What sets Renowned Explorers apart are the stats themselves. As players of traditional role-playing games, we are used to attack and defense stats. Renowned Explorers changes this mold by incorporating not only physical attack and defense, but speech power and defense as well. Still confused? Let me explain more about the basics of the game.

The objective of the game is to acquire renown, a currency of sorts that indicates the amount of valuable artifacts and treasures you've acquired during the campaign. Your main rival is an arrogant French treasure hunter named Rivaleux, who always seems to be standing in your way from finding the riches you seek. He and his cohorts attempt to prevent you from attaining the main treasure located on each map that grants plenty of renown. 

Traversing the overworld of a map is reminiscent of the old school Super Mario World games where you choose a new area to travel to via a top-down map littered with dots representing different levels. As you click on each dot, a new part of the story unfolds. Depending on what part of the map you choose to visit, you could experience curious villagers willing to help you in your quest, wild animals trying to attack and kill you, or survival challenges that can either reap fantastic rewards or spell disaster for your expedition. There's a ton to experience in Renowned Explorers, and it will take multiple playthroughs to experience everything this game has to offer. 

Encounters, or combat instances, are where things get interesting. Combat in Renowned Explorers can best be described as an elaborate game of rock-paper-scissors. There are three different modes of attack: Friendly, devious, and aggressive. By choosing to take on an encounter in a friendly manner, you will basically sweet talk your opponents into standing down from opposing you. Similarly, going the devious route will have you manipulating and tearing down your enemies emotionally. Finally, you can choose to go the tough-and-rumble route and fight things out physically, which boils down to you punching, stabbing, or shooting your opponents. 

Depending on the encounter, your approach to the situation will dictate the outcome. For example, some encounters warrant a gentler approach and could wind up yielding more rewards. On the other hand, trying to sweet talk a group of rabid wolves likely won't get you very far. But wait, there's more. Within each encounter are also six moods, each of which provides stat buffs or debuffs. Each move you make in an encounter will have an effect on the mood of your opponents. For example, if you choose to shoot an enemy that will make them angry. Making an enemy enraged will lower their armor. On the other hand, being friendly to an opponent might do more damage, but it will also increase their speech power. There's a lot to measure in each encounter, and how you choose to approach each scenario will ultimately change the rewards you receive. 

This leads me seamlessly to the negatives of Renowned Explorers.

I won't sugarcoat it — this game can be brutally challenging at times. Once you decide to play on anything other than the easiest difficulty, you will likely experience moments of the game that make you want to pull your hair out in frustration. While enemies and bosses do scale in difficulty, which includes better AI strategy and health/armor, it also includes the sheer number of enemies you will face in any given encounter. As I progressed in difficulty, the number of enemies I would face during encounters would grow significantly to the point I struggled to hold my own in basic fights. Now, to be honest, this could very well be my lack of skill at the game, but it does at times seem unrelentingly punishing at times, especially on lower-tier levels. It's one thing for a five-star encounter to be challenging. It's another for a two-star encounter to make me want to put a fist through my monitor because I'm squaring off in a three vs. 15 battle. 

Another issue I could see arising with Renowned Explorers is replayability. While the More to Explore expansion added a significant amount of content, including campfires that add more narratives and stat buffs to your characters, as well as levels, the base gameplay doesn't really differ too much. After two or three playthroughs of a particular map with different characters, some of the wonder and excitement disappears. Once you experience some of the highlightable moments of a level once, there's really not much that entices you to return for more. Sure, it's fun to experiment with different character loadouts and items, but how long can that really keep a player's interest? That wonder and desire to keep replaying maps was relatively short-lived for me. Perhaps other players will feel differently, but this is simply what I experienced. 

Renowned Explorers continues to come out with more expansion packs for the game, which improves the replayability of the game. At its core, the game is fun to play and provides an interesting twist on the traditional top-down strategy gameplay. I question the longevity of the game, but for those who find replaying levels to 100% a game rewarding, I encourage you to pick up Renowned Explorers and the More to Explore expansion. 

Pros:

• The artwork for the characters, worlds, and items are crisp and detailed
• The combat is unique and provides an interesting twist on the traditional top-down tactics mechanic
• The More to Explore expansion pack adds more maps and gameplay depth, which provides a deeper, more fun experience

Cons:

• The learning curve is pretty steep and can be absolutely brutal for new players on any difficulty other than beginner
• The game has the potential to get repetitious after playing through multiple campaigns

Many thanks to Abbey Games for sending us a review copy of Renowned Explorers: More to Explore!