Calturin

Genre: Top-Down Action

Players: 1

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Review:

Calturin is a Top-Down Action game with some light RPG elements released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2022. In this game, players take the role of the titular Calturin, a mage who has been resurrected by a necromancer, and who is now being compelled to do the man’s bidding, which involves stepping through portals, surviving various traps and obstacles, and slaying various monsters.

One of the most prominent parts of the presentation in Calturin is the voice of the necromancer, alternately soothing and threatening, and clearly only just holding back his glee at whatever fiendish scheme he’s really up to. Despite his claims of benevolence, it’s clear that he’s untrustworthy, but you’re given little choice since he purportedly has the power to end your life as easily as he returned it to you.

The rest of the presentation is passable but nothing special. Backgrounds and characters are depicted using 2D pixel art visuals that look decent but not especially noteworthy or memorable, and this is backed by a soundtrack so subdued that it will disappear behind the videogamey sounds of the enemy’s attacks and your grunts as you take damage.

The gameplay in Calturin plays a bit like a Two-Stick Shooter if you didn’t have the second stick, with defensive abilities on a cooldown that are vaguely like something you might find in a Diablo game. These defensive abilities are absolutely vital here, though – you will often be overwhelmed by enemy projectiles, and your only hope to survive them will be to make proper use of your defensive abilities.

Unfortunately, Calturin feels unnecessarily constrained by a lot of unnecessary frustrations. Players can make use of a shield move that defends against all damage, but this unfortunately also leaves you immobile and unable to attack, meaning its only utility is if you need to survive an otherwise unavoidable attack. I noticed the abilities sometimes weren’t nearly as responsive as a game as fast-paced as this would seem to require. And the fact that this isn’t a Two-Stick Shooter and forces you to move and aim with the same analog stick is yet another needlessly frustrating element here.

To its credit, Calturin does have some interesting bosses and challenges, but there are definitely a lot of unforced errors here that make this a less-enjoyable experience than it could have been, and while it’s a decent Top-Down Action game, it can’t hold a candle to other games that it seems to evoke, such as the Diablo series.Given its relatively low $6 price tag, you may find this game worth a try, but you have better options for a game like this on the eShop.

tl;dr – Calturin is a Top-Down Action game that has players controlling a mage who has been resurrected by a necromancer, and who must obey the necromancer’s command to work their way through dangerous traps and deadly enemies. There is some clever boss design and puzzle design here, but the game is just as often frustrating due to some poor design choices that limit your abilities. The result is a game that’s decent, but doesn’t hold up to other similar games.

Grade: C+

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