Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior
MSRP $25.00
“Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior’s time-bending combat hook is so smart, you’ll want to show it to everyone you know.”
Pros
Ingenious time-bending hook
Clever enemies
Just sufficient exploration
Time challenges are a blast
Cons
Dull story
Great concept stretched skinny
Too few area twists
As I slash my method via Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior, creating copies of myself to take down arenas stuffed with enemies, I understand that the indie title would possibly simply be the final word energy fantasy. Who hasn’t wished that they may clone themselves simply to get extra finished in a day?
That query transforms into an ingenious gameplay loop within the debut title from Sand Door Studio. The mythological journey fuses hack-and-slash fight with a novel cloning hook that turns an in any other case primary top-down motion recreation right into a tactical puzzler. Though that million-dollar concept is stretched skinny over an extended and boring story, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is the type of modern title that’s positive to remind you why the unbiased gaming scene is so thrilling.
Army of me
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior has gamers controlling the titular Lysfanga, who units out on an journey to avoid wasting the dominion of Antala from a vaguely nefarious villain. Storytelling isn’t precisely a powerful go well with right here; it’s a lore-heavy story stuffed with correct nouns that every one blur collectively over a mythology-heavy, eight hours. I can really feel the DNA of franchises like Prince of Persia right here, however Sand Door spends a bit an excessive amount of time meticulously establishing each element of its time-bending fantasy world with out saying a lot about it.
It’s the type of system that’s positive to wow first-time gamers.
Its extra substantial attraction lies in its one-of-a-kind fight twist. Every time Lysfanga enters an area, she solely has a brief period of time the place she will be able to attempt to kill each enemy (Raxes, as they’re referred to as) within the room. It’s practically inconceivable, however that’s the place time shenanigans ingeniously come into play. Lysfanga can create clones of herself, dubbed Remnants. Every time the clock runs out, gamers management a brand new Remnant who strikes via the room in tandem with all earlier clones. With cautious planning and execution, I can filter out a room stuffed with 20 Raxes in a single loop.
Similar to jaw-dropping indies like Viewfinder, it’s the type of system that’s positive to wow first-time gamers. Standard motion encounters flip into full-on puzzles as I attempt to plan out the right route so I can defeat each enemy as quick as attainable. Perhaps I’ll use one life clearing out each Raxes on the appropriate, whereas utilizing my subsequent one to hit a beefy enemy within the center with a rechargeable final assault. Each area is its personal little logic downside as I solely have a restricted quantity of clones I can use in every.
Quantic Dream
Sand Door has numerous enjoyable desirous about how that concept can alter fight. One widespread enemy carries a large protect that’s arduous to get round. To defeat it, I have to distract it from the entrance on one run after which use a second Remnant to slash it from behind whereas it’s centered on my clone. To take down one other enemy kind, I have to kill two linked Raxes on the identical second. That requires cautious planning as I work in tandem with my earlier runs. Ideas like that give Lysfanga the type of wildly artistic motion hook that’s value testing.
What I particularly love about it’s the way it capabilities inside an in any other case bland story. Lysfanga is a lone hero taking the burden of a kingdom on her again. It’s one other inconceivable job that one individual merely can’t do alone. The Remnant system well reinforces that concept by turning her right into a temporally gifted military of 1. It’s solely once I see a dozen Remnants working across the display screen, effectively wiping out a horde of monsters with dance-like synchronization, that I actually perceive how a lot video games ask of their heroes. How can somebody like Zagreus presumably be anticipated to take out lots of of demons in a single go? Lysfanga nearly acts as a intelligent deconstruction of that concept.
Stretched skinny
Though the fight hook is outstanding, it’s stretched skinny over a surprisingly sturdy journey. Lysfanga takes gamers via three acts over its eight-hour run, whereas exploring a number of collectible-filled biomes. Sand Door hits the appropriate steadiness of motion and exploration right here, peppering in simply sufficient hidden treasures with out ever distracting too lengthy from the fight arenas. Each fight area additionally has a selected time to beat, which presents some nice incentive to attempt battles once more and concoct the right run. Every bit of additional content material right here is as fastidiously thought-about as Lysfanga herself when plotting out an area recreation plan.
Arena twists are fw and much between …
The indie struggles extra in making an attempt to maintain the successful time loop concept recent all through. The core fight is slightly one-note, as I’m largely spamming two buttons to belt out repetitive combos. Lysfanga will get three weapons by the top of the journey, however none of them really feel terribly distinct from each other. They all roughly really feel equal in energy and vary, even a barely weaker chakram that’s meant to assist skinny out dense enemy herds.
Arena twists are few and much between too, which is a disgrace as a result of there are some robust concepts right here. Some arenas function two units of coloured doorways. Moving via one locks that coloration and opens up the opposite set. That requires some cautious planning on my half, as every Remnant I ship out will flip that door and doubtlessly mess up my path. A few robust concepts, like introducing enemies that should be killed with a selected weapon, come within the very remaining arenas. There’s not a lot time for Sand Door to compound its twists like a fantastic puzzle recreation usually would.
Quantic Dream
I chalk up numerous Lysfanga’s quirks to a really promising first-time studio getting slightly overeager. There’s one other world on the market the place this releases as a brief motion recreation that hits the identical candy spot that writer Devolver Digital’s catalog usually nails. I can’t fault a studio for aiming for the sky and delivering one thing greater than a fantastic proof of idea, although maybe a small workforce this new must clone itself to nail such an formidable debut.
Those critiques really feel small within the grand scheme of a formidable indie although, like one meandering Remnant shifting out of step amongst a dozen expert warriors. Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is the type of recent concept that really shakes up a stale style. I don’t anticipate one thing as new as this to be good on its first outing; I wish to see builders study from these concepts and put their very own spin on them. Excellent video games come from iterative cooperation. I salute Lysfanga for being the primary soldier on the road, main the cost.
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior was reviewed on PC and Steam Deck.