Loop Hero

Genre: Roguelike / RPG / Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Loop Hero, released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch later that same year, is a difficult game to describe. It is a Roguelike RPG, but players don’t directly play the RPG elements of the game. Instead, the hero ventures out and fights monsters automatically, and players are tasked with using Management Simulation-style elements to create a balanced experience that will provide the hero with decent rewards, but not so much of a challenge that he’s killed in combat. This all takes place within a randomly-generated loop the hero walks through indefinitely, thus the game’s title.

At any time the hero trods around the loop, players can pause the action to have their knight equip a piece of equipment in his inventory, or use a card to place a piece of terrain that will help or hinder the hero. This terrain ranges from groves, graveyards and swamps that frequently fill with baddies that are tougher than the generic slimes that populate on the rest of the loop, bordering terrain like lanterns to make enemies in an area spawn less frequently and signal fires to make the hero move more swiftly, and scenery like mountains and fields that buff the hero’s health.

Both equipment and cards, as well as crafting resources used in-between runs, are primarily earned through battle, although they can also be bonuses for meeting other conditions. Crafting resources can be used back at a refugee camp to permanently increase the hero’s stats and grant access to new options. However, rarer crafting materials can only be obtained from more difficult enemies, requiring players to strike the balance mentioned earlier.

One of the clever things Loop Hero does is allow players to continue their run for as long as they think they can manage it. Players start at a campfire, and every time they return to the campfire and complete one circuit of the loop, they are healed a little and enemies become more difficult to fight. Players can quit any time they get to the campfire, bringing all their resources back to camp with them, or they can press their luck and see if they can manage another loop. If they have collected a particularly formidable set of equipment, players may not want to be so hasty to end their run and bank their equipment, but the more the hero presses on, the greater the danger he’ll face, and the more likely it will be for players to have to ditch most of their resources to flee to safety (or worse, get killed and lose even more of their stuff).

This risk/reward factor, the randomly-generated loops and equipment, and the variety the game’s random elements create for different runs makes this a very compelling experience, especially when you’re on a roll. However, it’s not without its frustrations. It’s not always clear what the best strategic placement for a piece of terrain is, nor does the game provide any sort of bestiary listing monsters so players can compare and contrast their stats and see the potential rewards for fighting them. What’s more, the build screen in between runs lists the required resources for each upgrade, but they are super-tiny on the Nintendo Switch screen, making it extremely hard to see.

It also bears mention that the gamepad controls on the Nintendo Switch are somewhat stiff, particularly when moving the on-screen cursor, and a few of the button assignments aren’t clear. These issues are resolved in handheld mode by some excellent touchscreen controls, although here you’ll have to contend even more with the tiny icon issue I mentioned before.

Finally, when it comes to the presentation, Loop Hero makes the interesting choice to go decidedly old-school, a contrast to the extremely unique gameplay. The visuals make use of pixel art 2D visuals on mostly black backgrounds, which isn’t especially visually compelling, but does a decent enough job of placing the focus on the gameplay. These visuals are backed by a synthesized soundtrack that isn’t memorable, but works well enough for the game.

In the end, while it’s not without its flaws, Loop Hero is still an extremely unique and compelling experience. If a game that fits somewhere in the cross-section or Roguelike, RPG, and Management Simulation seems like the sort of thing that would strike your fancy, you should absolutely give this game a try, there’s really nothing else like it. Even though it could have been improved with a few tweaks here and there, it’s still a blast to play.

tl;dr – Loop Hero is a game that combines elements of the Roguelike, RPG, and Management Simulation genres into unique gameplay that has players changing the terrain on an endless loop a hero walks along fighting monsters. There are areas where the game could have done with a few adjustments, but overall this is a highly compelling and wildly original game well worth playing.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Original, Best RPG, Best Strategy Game/Simulation, Best Misc. Game

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