Nintendo Switch – Heart & Slash #148

I guess this is what will happen once we develop a solid AI robot…

2018011618035800-0703D4E517C08BD931FFDAF4B71E02F1

Heart and Slash – Nintendo Switch – Released: 12/22/17 – $14.99

Short Review (Review copy provided by BadLand Games)

Note: This review was a while in the making not because it is a tough game or something to toss but because on the Switch it had a lot of issues. For me it kept crashing so I informed the developer that I wanted to wait until more patches came out. I feel as though now was the right time to cover this game after some patches… it is safe to say everything on my end works great. The final patch came out in mid April so I wanted to give the game another go! I am happy to say this is the game I wanted it to be in December. End Note!

Heart and Slash is a solid rogue-like beat em up with a change I wish more developers would do as well. Each time you die you will come back with all your upgrades so even though you have to start over you are now stronger than before. The story is pretty different as robots took over the planet and wiped out all the humans. 100 years after humans are wiped out, a new robot is created that wants to change the world by killing off the other robots. Since everything is randomly dropped and stages are randomly created it is hard to say what you may run into but my favorite thing are the bosses. So far my favorite is one that is basically General Grievous from Star Wars with his four arms and lightsabers. After all this time I am glad to give this game an 9 out of 10, my only real issue is the first stage’s camera seeming to bump into walls but this is likely due to the cramped areas. So docking it a point for that and for how long people had to deal with a broken game.

I really like this icon and it sticks out compared to other icons:

2018011615345800-57B4628D2267231D57E0FC1078C0596D

Story

The opening cutscene shows a world that has been overrun by rogue robots. After the robots have completely gotten rid of the humans they rule over the world. The factory that produces robots makes a robot that doesn’t like what is going on. After 100 years this is the first time a robot wants to fight back and you control him to take down the other robots.

Gameplay

Heart and Slash is a rogue like game at its core so even though there are next to none in this style it is rough. You will die but not die as often as other games. The brawler genre is an interesting take on it because most want to do top down shooters or platformers. So as you defeat enemies you will gain parts and these are used to make new items, upgrades or heal up. I found myself mainly healing up with parts since I would find a weapon I like and not give it up right away. The bosses are interesting since most are pretty obviously on how to take down but you will need to wait it out a bit to see patterns. Normal enemies on the other hand are pretty predictable but there are so many of them. My biggest issue always came with tanks or enemies that soaked up a lot of damage.

Personal Experience

As I said in the short review I put a lot of time into this game before the patches even came. I liked it then but would have given it like a 6 out of 10 because of how often I was crashing. I have no issues giving a game that is running poorly a bad rating because it doesn’t work well. Games should come in working order or at least good enough that it doesn’t happen a ton. Maybe reviewers will give a game a great score, I buy the game, and find out it has severe issues even though people gave them near perfect scores. I have no idea how reviewers can give good scores to broken games… you can easily update the scores once patches are out. With that said I still love playing the game and even more so now that crashes are next to zero. Took a long time but well worth the effort to produce a solid game.

Final Thoughts

This game was a bit rough around the edges originally but it is nice to see developers be on top of things. I loved running around through this game multiple times just because of the brawler style. Beat em ups are one of my favorite genres so this was right at home. I would give this game a 9 out of 10, for excellent use of Kickstarter funds to produce an amazing game, beautifully designed areas, but does have some awkward camera angles and a rocky release. I remember seeing this Kickstarter but didn’t support it due to lack of console support but it is amazing to see that in less than 2 years it was able to make the jump from PC to the latest console.

My Gameplay Footage: (Pre-patches but had no issues)

Trailer:

End Credits

Jeez this feels like it took forever to patch but glad it did. Originally I was going to have this review out by early Jan but kept crashing which hurt since I found it to be a fun game. I can’t handle broken releases though. I already tore Mummy Demastered for the same issues. It is the worst to enjoy a game then run into massive issues down the line. Heart and Slash felt somewhat rushed to meet the indie hype train the Switch was and currently going through. I would have love to give this game a good score originally but was going to dock it several points due to the crashes.