Once upon a time there is a world of video games that is very different from the one we continually find ourselves experiencing, made up of abominable difficulties, limited means and a fundamentally different culture from today. Valfaris looks back with an infinite style and personality and, strengthened by an abominable passion for the aesthetics of Warhammer 40K and that of the most truculent and dangling heavy metal, tries to bring to the screen a run and gun like not seen for a long time, trying to override the usual styles of independent play from a visual point of view.
The title is a kind of spiritual sequel to Slain: Back From Hell, previous game designer title Andrew Gilmour (who defines himself as the son of metal and Warhammer… we hadn't gone far) and tries to wisely mix the contra world with that of two-dimensional action as the first dear Castlevania, in a can rot which is incredibly effective.
The title can also boast of what is a soundtrack with controfiocchi, made by Curt Victor Bryant (guitarist of the metal band Celtic Frost, not the least of the fools) and has in his DNA an indefinable amount of love for the gaming of yesteryear without carrying around certain roughnesses. With the current means Valfaris manages to deliver to the player a gaming experience that is anything but antiquated and climbs forcefully on the list of the best independent games of this two thousand and nineteen.
Let's see why together.
Of blood, metal and gruesome monsters.
The fortress of Valfaris it suddenly disappeared from the star charts and suddenly reappeared, only after a long time, within the orbit of what is a dying star. What was once a bastion of beauty is now reduced to a pile of rubble infested with space insects and crap of various kinds. Therion, once a profound connoisseur of Valfaris, he will return home fully armed to try to discover the truth behind his tragic fate, in order to challenge the forces that have so radically changed the place that he could once call his home.
In doing so, our brave big man will find himself having to carry out unspeakable massacres, cutting down the unwanted guests who have taken possession of the lands he once could have called home with shots of plasma guns, shotguns and other misfortunes. These havoc of blood and guts will be done by ours Therion and from his arsenal with a strength and impetuosity worthy of an ultra-technological barbarian. As expected from such an incipit Valfaris it is a video game that does not particularly focus on the narrative sector but unloads all the weight of the experience on the playful sector, on the gameplay. For the plot in the devastating flow of Valfaris space is reduced: between one boss and another or during some movements it will be possible to observe some text boxes and little else; Therion will spend the vast majority of her time with the trigger pulled mowing down opponents and monstrosities rather than thinking about his sense of pain.
From a purely playful point of view Valfaris is a side scrolling shooter like the good old man Contra di Konami, with improvements here and there to revitalize gameplay with a thirty-year career on its shoulders. Da Contra stands out for its level design, more convoluted and linked to titles such as Turrican or Castlevania (although here the combat is mainly at a distance) and for its freshness, thanks to a very intelligent armament and a fundamental mechanism: that of energy and of the parry.
While dodging droves of howling bullets and jumping deadly traps, perhaps attached to the belly of an alien scolopendra, Valfaris will allow the player to use tre different types of weapons and a particular shield which, if pulled out at the right time, will allow bounce enemy bullets. This shield, just like one of the three weapons above, for each bullet absorbed or returned to the sender will consume one of the two resources in the player's hand: energy. Fortunately for us, to recover energy, we will be able to collect particular orbs scattered around the levels or go to fight all our opponents with sword, through swords, broadswords, axes and other amenities of this kind.
The most powerful weapons in our arsenal Therion, in fact, they will be foraged by the blue bar at the top left of the screen, the one you typically see video games we understand as energy. This will give the title a his own rhythm, made up of a protagonist who will be constantly giving swords left and right in order to recover what is necessary for the implementation of the massacre; this rhythm, fortunately, is also aided by one practically perfect structural solidity with a control system reduced to the bone and with responsiveness at the highest levels.
The actions that ours Therion can accomplish are few: we have three different types of fire, a button for jumping and one for aiming while still but that's enough to deliver to the player an effective and thunderous gameplay, able to keep the adrenaline rate always sky high thanks to the aforementioned responsiveness and to great variety of on-screen situations. To further flavor the gameplay, making everything a dish from which it is difficult to break away, comes the development system with which the game continues to add meat to the fire by balancing risks and rewards. This balancing, as in any self-respecting video game, is done through the presence of saves and / or checkpoints.
Valfaris owns a checkpoint system based on the presence of altars that can be activated using idols of the resurrection; accumulating idols (not activating the checkpoints) we will find a Therion with more life points and more energy on our hands, giving us a substantially stronger character. This choice allows the player to adapt the title at his skill level, effectively delivering in the hands of those who play un highly effective difficulty selection system. The checkpoints also serve to modify the arsenal of our character, giving us the possibility to find the perfect combination against the threats that we will face. The arsenal is very colorful and able to adapt to many situations with laser pistols, very violent shotguns, flamethrowers and other amenities typical of titles of the genre.
How beautiful are the colors of Valfaris.
Valfaris is fun to play substantiallya, we had all come to this point a bit; what could leave you in doubt is the value of the technical sectoror but trust me, after about twenty seconds in the game you are probably already surfing the net in search of themed merchandise. Valfaris is a kind of huge pixelated picture in motion, who uses a certain type of low poly art with a very rare skill to set up a vibrant world, with colories that skillfully juggle between acid registers and reassuring glances.
The illustrations, the imagery and the game world seem to come from that whole line of sword and sorcery art to which authors such as Boris Vallejo o Frank Frazetta and will leave the player speechless more than once.
The fantasy imagery high fantasy is reworked, reso more raw e more sanguine; a dose of science fiction and a dose of pulp have been added to it, all to enhance the mature soul of the title. This idyll ends with a bang, through a colonna sonora composed of exceptional instrumental metal tracks. This soundtrack features high-value metal songs, with virtually unforgettable melodies and distortions that slice through the screens to hurt the player's hearing systems; all those who grew up dreaming of a game set to music in the most heavy metal way possible have found bread for their teeth.
Vibrant colors, vivid and fascinating imagery, absolutely on-the-piece music and devastating gameplay. Valfaris presents itself to the player with a truly formidable solidity and fun for a video game with thirty-year-old ideas. Where the shack creaks is in the content sector, with only one not particularly replayable campaign that will end up later five or six hours of blasphemy and massacres; the most skilled players will be able to take home the final after just a couple of hours and will hardly have other reasons to return to the title of Steel Mantis, for which no DLC or post-launch content has yet been announced.
Valfaris is beautiful to look at and a lot of fun to play. A title that sprays metal from every pore and that will immediately enter the hearts of fans thanks to an artistic sector from hands in hair, with very detailed, charismatic and original settings. Musically speaking, the soundtrack, created by Curt Victor Braynt, alone could be worth the price of the ticket. If we add to all this a fun gameplay like few other things, with the right depth and the right adaptability we are faced with a very clear situation: Valfaris is one of those video games to be played during 2019, whatever the cost.
