Ampersat

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG / 2-Stick Shooter

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Ampersat (sometimes written as Ampers@t) is a Top-Down Action-RPG with 2-Stick Shooter elements released in 2022 on PC and Nintendo Switch, and ported to Xbox One in 2023. This game takes place in a world populated by ASCII characters (i.e., the stuff you can type using a standard QWERTY keyboard), with players controlling an @ character, wielding a magic-spewing wand or rod in one “hand”, and a melee weapon in the other.

The presentation in Ampersat is apparently intentionally primitive, using what may initially appear to be simple 2D pixel art visuals, but that actually has some simple 3D visuals, mostly to give the Top-Down gameplay some depth. This is backed by a synthesized soundtrack that’s not especially memorable but backs the action well enough.

When it comes to the gameplay, Ampersat is vaguely similar to games like Diablo, with action-focused gameplay supplemented by a healthy variety of options for outfitting your character in terms of equipment to find or buy and skill trees to upgrade. The game has multiple premade levels to explore with various secrets hidden within them, as well as an unlockable “well” that holds procedurally-generated levels. All of the elements are in place for a pretty satisfying Action-RPG here.

The problem is that all of the individual elements here have problems. The 2-Stick Shooter elements here are underwhelming and joyless, made worse by an overheat bar that demands that you pause every second or so and stop shooting. Melee attacks don’t really feel like they’re properly connecting with enemies, even as you cut down their health. And the progression of the RPG elements feels frustratingly slow.

This is still an interesting take on the genre, and there are even some clever ideas here, such as item descriptions in shops that gradually fill out as you rescue the letters that make up those descriptions. Overall, Ampersat is greater than the sum of its parts, but the low quality of those parts ensure that it will never truly be a great game overall. It’s still enjoyable for what it is, but it definitely feels like this game could have used more playtesting before release.

tl;dr – Ampersat is a Top-Down Action-RPG with 2-Stick Shooter elements set in a world populated by ASCII characters, with players controlling an @ character wielding a magic wand and a sword. There are some clever ideas here, but overall this game is brought down by the poor quality of the individual components – both the 2-Stick Shooter and melee combat elements aren’t fun, and the RPG mechanics progress too slowly. There’s still some fun to be had here, but it definitely feels like this game had more potential than this.

Grade: C+

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