Developer: Stingbot Games
Publisher: Stingbot Games, Doyoyo Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Keeper’s Toll – Preview
It’s only been a matter of days since we took a closer look at the underwhelming full release of Primal Survivors and it’s already time for the next Vampire Survivors clone. Well, that’s what we initially thought when we saw a few screenshots of Keeper’s Toll, that is. It eventually turned out that this title had a few tricks up its sleeve and it managed to become one of our favorite titles in the genre. Why is that, you say? Read on to find out.
First things first, Keeper’s Toll is currently still in Early Access, and it already feels so much more polished than titles such as the aforementioned Primal Survivors and Viking Survivors, another title we took a closer look at recently. Keeper’s Toll also offers more than a reskinned Vampire Survivors experience thanks to its class system that has some minor Diablo and Dark Souls influences. The presentation also shows these influences, as the game has a dark and broody atmosphere. The pixilated visuals look amazing, there is more than enough enemy variety, and the character class sprites look rather cool. There is a small hint of a story present in the current experience, but we don’t know if this will be further fleshed out in the full release. The sound design is also already on point, even though the music may loop a bit too fast for our taste.
The overall flow is what you’d expect of the genre. You pick a character and a stage you want to play, and then you start killing hordes of enemies. As you gain experience, you level up and unlock new skills and passive upgrades. Each class has its own unique skills and it’s a lot of fun trying all of them. There are a few that are melee-oriented fighters, while others focus on ranged attacks and AOE abilities. The more you play with said characters, the more global experience you get to power up your characters permanently. While each character needs to collect experience individually, you will also unlock skill points that give passive boosts to all characters. It’s a great system that gives the player global progress as well as individual progress for the characters, creating another incentive to try out all the different classes. That being said, after a while many of the runs will start to feel somewhat same-y. Every class is restricted to its class-specific skills and abilities, meaning there are no real overlapping abilities. Vendors, however, offer some other offensive abilities.
You’ll notice that the game offers quite a bit more than just mindlessly running around in the levels in order to survive. You’ll find original boss battles, optional objectives, vendors, and a few other things to do. It’s fun to explore the different environments, and the overall gameplay loop is simply very satisfying. We found ourselves diving into run after run to try out the different characters or to level up our favorite ones. At this point, Keeper’s Toll has roughly twenty hours worth of content if you decide to level all your characters. The experience is already very polished. We noticed no apparent hitbox issues and we also loved the fact that we could clearly see our skill cooldown during gameplay. In the pause menu, we could also find our exact stats and abilities as well.
Of course, it’s still clear that the game is in Early Access as small bugs rear their ugly head. The knockback animation is sometimes a bit bugged, where enemies seemingly teleport rather than be knocked back. We have also noticed some enemies and bosses spawning out of bounds, making it harder for us to hit them, and the controller support sometimes feels a bit off in the menus. We are quite certain, with how the developers are constantly updating their game, that these bugs will be gone when the game leaves its Early Access state.
Conclusion
Keeper’s Toll is a surprisingly fun entry in the Suvivors-like genre. The game manages to create its own identity and with the variety in classes, you’re already getting quite a bit of value for the 5 EUR price of admission. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll get treated to more than a mere clone. This is thanks to the broody atmosphere of Keeper’s Toll and the overall entertaining gameplay loop that challenges you to complete secondary objectives and try out different classes. If you’re looking for your new Vampire Survivors fix, this one might just be the game you’re looking for.
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