Roar of Revenge – Review
Developer SEEP is well known for its timeless arcade games that are a blast from the past. Most of these titles, such as Abduction Bit, Aventure Bit, Swords & Bones, and others, are guaranteed to give you a short burst of nostalgia but are mostly completed in only a short sitting. Therefore it is great to finally get a game that is built with the classic SEEP formula, but offers a longer playtime thanks to its larger story and save system.
Story
Our story starts with Leomhann, the man-lion who has been discriminated and mistreated from the day he was born. Due to this abuse, his lust for revenge grew, and now that he is all grown he wants to use his immense power to destroy and conquer the whole kingdom of Arxaz. Leomhann’s rage against humanity is ruthless, as he destroyed your town, leaving you as the only survivor. Things become even worse when Leomhann gains full control over every inhabitant of the Kingdom of Arxaz.
You play as Keel, who is out for revenge after his town is destroyed. His uncle informs him that his brother is kidnapped and that you might be able to save him. You will have to go on a quest to find the four relics scattered in Arxaz to give you enough power to defeat Leomhann and return peace to the fallen kingdom.
The story is nicely brought and doesn’t get stretched out, making sure this is a proper arcade experience. The hunt for the relics is interesting, and each place visited counts towards your overall progression and pushes you forward on your impossible adventure.
Graphics
SEEP is best known for its homage to old arcade games. This is immediately noticeable when booting up the game and having to squint your eyes trying to read the bright white text of the story. Visually the game emulates the old CRT screens perfectly with its aspect ratio and limited capabilities of 80s hardware. The character movement animations are basic but fit perfectly in the retro aesthetic. There are different biomes present and each of them is easily distinguishable thanks to the different use in assets and colors.
Sound
Just like the graphics, the sounds will take you back almost 40 years to the past. The Midi soundtrack sounds like those awesome days at the arcade and the high-pitched bleeps sound as if they are coming from what seems to be an old sound card.
Gameplay
Roar of Revenge is an arcade adventure game where you must find all four relics to fight the evil that is endangering the inhabitants of the kingdom. As Keel, a strong and brave warrior, you will have to go on an adventure and earn the right to wield the relics in your fight with Leomhann. At the start of your adventure, you will only have your sword, and while it will make short work of most enemies, this alone won’t be enough to reach your goal. The first item that you’ll need to find is the winged sandals, these give you the ability to jump. Therefore the first level is pretty linear and you won’t need to worry about platforming. Once you get this relic, the game gets increasingly difficult with more varied enemies and platforming action.
It is here when checkpoints start popping up. These bonfire-inspired locations save your progress and refill your resources (health, and at a later point in the game, magic). Thanks to these checkpoints you can exit the game and come back at a later moment. Because the game is longer than other SEEP titles, this is a welcome feature, especially considering you’ll also die a lot. The game isn’t easy by far and you’ll soon notice trial and error gameplay portions, so you’ll have to learn patterns and enemy placement to get through the more difficult parts. Your adventure continues as you grab the Zeus Bracelets, so you can use magic to attack your enemies. After collecting these two essential items, the game really gets started and you set forth collecting the remaining relics.
Controlling the game itself is pretty easy, as it can be played with the directional controls and two buttons, giving you the authentic arcade vibe. The character reacts nicely to your input and missing your jump feels more like a user error than the game failing. Sometimes it does get a bit frustrating as the difficulty level does have its spikes and not all hitboxes are on point.
Conclusion
Roar of Revenge is another nice arcade game by SEEP. It feels as if this game was carefully crafted in the 1980s arcade era, and both the graphics, sound, and gameplay enhance this feeling further. With a lengthier story, this one feels a bit more fleshed out than other SEEP titles and thanks to the checkpoint system, you can always exit the game and continue later. We were only slightly let down by the irregular difficulty spikes that hampered the fun from time to time.
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