ScourgeBringer

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

ScourgeBringer is an Action-Platformer with Roguelike elements that puts you in the role of a sword- and gun-wielding woman entering a humanity-destroying spire and fighting through hordes of its enemies to try and uncover its secrets and perhaps take it down. This game was released on multiple platforms in 2020, including Nintendo Switch.

ScourgeBringer uses an appealing pixel art art style for its visuals, with particularly good animation for its central heroine. This is backed by an energetic rock-inspired soundtrack that works well enough to highlight the intense action of the game, but isn’t especially memorable in its own right.

However, what ScourgeBringer really emphasizes more than anything is its intense, fast-paced action. Moving around your character and slicing through enemies in ScourgeBringer feels immensely satisfying, with players literally flinging themselves around an enemy-filled room to slice enemies, powering up a gun and letting loose a barrage before repeating the process. While this game is certainly a Platformer, that’s almost a suggestion, as players have a double-jump, an unlimited number of air dashes (which recharge your double-jump no less), sword slices suspend you in mid-air… basically, gravity is only a consideration when you stop flinging yourself at enemies.

Despite how joyful the core action here is, I do have a few problems with it. Firstly, the way air dashes work often makes you feel out-of-control to the point where there were times I could swear the game sent me off in directions I didn’t intend, seemingly auto-targeting enemies when my intention was to make a quick escape from an attack rather than hurtling myself back into the fray. This led to me taking damage far too often from attacks I made an effort to avoid, but apparently the game didn’t want to allow me to do so.

Enemies also sometimes feel a bit like damage sponges, which can cut down on how fun this combat is otherwise. Also, honestly, the gunplay here feels like an afterthought – you’re limited in your ability to shoot, and the bullets themselves don’t feel especially powerful, and aiming using the standard controls feels awkward. Players can opt to change the control scheme to be more like a two-stick shooter, but this would only serve to take your thumbs away from buttons you’re using for movement, and the game itself recommends against changing the default control scheme.

Despite my frustrations with the controls and other issues, I still think ScourgeBringer is an absolute blast of a fast-paced, intense Action-Platformer. Expect to die often, and to frequently curse the game for not doing what you wanted your character to do… and then jump right back into the fray to get at more of the game’s excellent action. This is a flawed game, but it is nevertheless well worth playing.

tl;dr – ScourgeBringer is an Action-Platformer with Roguelike elements that has you fighting through hordes of enemies in fast-paced combat with a sword and gun. The combat here is the star of the show, making it extremely fun to slice your way through enemies, though the gunplay is a bit of an afterthought, and at times the high-speed action makes you feel a bit too out-of-control. Expect to die a lot, and occasionally die because the game had you charging into action when you were trying to dodge away from it. However, despite its flaws, this game is still a blast to play.

Grade: B+

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