Watcher Chronicles

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local, Local Wireless)

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Review:

Watcher Chronicles is a Metroidvania released in 2022 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. This game follows in the tradition of games like Ender Lilies, GrimValor, and Blasphemous by combining the Metroidvania genre with elements from Dark Souls.

Here’s the thing, though… GrimValor has much better combat than this game, Blasphemous has way more personality and better Metroidvania elements, and Ender Lilies has better… all of the above. By comparison, Watcher Chronicles’ combat, while serviceable, is clunky and not exactly inspired, its Metroidvania elements are weak, and its personality feels pretty generic.

However, there is one area where Watcher Chronicles builds its own niche among these other games, and that is that it supports 2-player co-op, which can not only add valuable firepower to help take down tougher enemies, but also give you the opportunity to diversify your characters with two different sets of equipment to better take on different types of enemies. What’s more, having a friend helping you out means that you can double-team enemies with combos to make it easier to interrupt their attacks. Of course, this also means you have to coordinate, and if one of the two of you dies, the other will have to find an opportunity to revive them without making themselves vulnerable to the same enemy’s attacks.

In fact, I would argue that co-op play is so essential to the success of Watcher Chronicles, that by comparison the single-player mode seems bland and pretty lacking. If you don’t have a friend to play this game with, you should probably be considering getting one of those games I mentioned above instead.

Speaking of bland, this game features 2D artwork for its characters and backgrounds, animated in the “paper doll” style, and… it’s fine, I guess, but completely forgettable. Likewise, these visuals are backed by an atmospheric soundtrack that works, but doesn’t really stand out in any way.

In the end, while I definitely think that Watcher Chronicles is lacking in multiple ways, I think that it nevertheless finds a comfortable niche within the “Soulslike Metroidvania” subgenre, and that niche is very specifically for players who want to play this pairing of genres in co-op with a friend. If that describes you, I think you’ll find this game to be well worth playing. However, if you’re looking for a game to play on your own, I’ve pointed out three superior options, so I recommend you go for those instead.

tl;dr – Watcher Chronicles is a Metroidvania with “Soulslike” elements that’s somewhat lacking in multiple areas, but still offers a worthwhile experience if you’re looking to play this pairing of genres with a friend in co-op. If that’s the case, I think you’ll find a pretty enjoyable experience here. However, if you’re looking to play solo, you have multiple better options on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B-

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