Let’s! Revolution! – Review

If you grew up in the ‘90s or early 2000s, chances are very high that you played Minesweeper at some point, even if you didn’t fully understand how it worked. Hopefully, you’ve grown up since then, or at least have an understanding of Minesweeper’s mechanics by now, because the core gameplay is back, with a vengeance! Today, we’re taking a look at Let’s! Revolution!, a rogue-like puzzle game that debuted on PC last year and now arrives on consoles. Developed by BUCK and published by Hawthorn Games, who just brought us Potions: A Curious Tale, did Let’s! Revolution! sweep us off our feet or is it not as revolutionary as its title would have you believe?

Story

Upon opening Let’s! Revolution!, you’re greeted by the game’s enigmatic narrator, who explains that the people have grown tired of the Rotten King’s tyrannical rule, and that it’s time for a new wind to blow through the kingdom. It’s up to a highly specialized band of revolutionaries to take down the King and his cronies. This premise is pretty much all there is to Let’s! Revolution!’s story, although each of the individual characters gets a short introduction as well as text blurbs detailing their victory or defeat bookending each run. We do feel that the story could have been fleshed out further, given the characterful presentation, but the cast doesn’t even have actual names, and just uses titles instead.

Graphics

With its pastel tones and cartoonish designs, Let’s Revolution! brings to mind popular cartoon shows of the late 2010s like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe, although with a bold twist. Let’s! Revolution! deliberately shies away from depicting its cast as picture-perfect heroes, instead opting for less conventional-looking characters. The narrator, for example, has wispy hairs on her upper lip, and The Shadow is a lanky old assassin past his prime. While these could be considered “flawed” characters in terms of art direction, these aesthetic character traits are never played for laughs in-game and are in fact never outright commented on.

Sound

We were surprised to find that Let’s! Revolution! was fully voice-acted…. sort of. Characters speak in a fictional language rather than English. This approach helps to solidify Let’s! Revolution!’s fictional kingdom as a foreign country, while allowing the cast to still convey emotions audibly. Accompanying the gibberish-sounding dialogue is a catchy and upbeat soundtrack befitting of the cartoon aesthetic. Rounding things out are crisp sound effects. While Let’s! Revolution!’s soundscape isn’t particularly outstanding, it’s more than adequate for what it needs to be.

Gameplay

What if Minesweeper was a rogue-like game? That’s the question that Let’s! Revolution! answers, and so anyone who grew up in the ’90s or early 2000s will feel instantly familiar with Let’s! Revolution!’s core mechanics. Taking control of one of the revolutionaries, you’re literally sweeping the grid-based levels as you seek out the Rotten King. Just like in Minesweeper, numbers hint at what’s hiding beneath surrounding squares, although there is a bit more gameplay depth here. You see, the numbers don’t necessarily indicate where there are mines (although there certainly CAN be) but where you’ll find road tiles instead. Most road tiles are harmless, and in fact, many even hide treasure or shopkeepers, but there’s always the risk of accidentally running into an enemy instead. At one of the ends of a road, the Rotten King is hiding, and the aim of each level is to seek him out. When you find him, he’ll make his escape to the next level, and you’ll need to chase him until you get to the final level, where he won’t be able to run anymore.

Before you get to that point, you’ll need to survive the maze-like levels, however. The six player characters aren’t pushovers, but neither are the King’s cronies, and more often than not you’re better off avoiding them altogether. You lose a hit point when you accidentally reveal a tile with an enemy on it, and all visible enemies on the map have a countdown clock underneath them. When this runs out, they’ll attack you, regardless of range, so you’ll have to strike them down before they can do this, or find the King and end the level. You’ll always know the number of enemies hiding on the map, as this is indicated on the left side of the screen, so as you start sweeping the map, you might figure out which tiles to avoid. Given that not every character is equally adept at fighting, you’ll need to strategize accordingly.

The different revolutionaries have unique skill sets that drastically alter how each of the randomly generated levels should be tackled. The Trooper, for example, is a beginner-friendly character that allows you to familiarise yourself with the game’s mechanics, but he is also slow. Meanwhile, The Shadow is a very fast character but he’s also a glass cannon that performs best when he can strike unseen. He benefits from flipping as few tiles as possible and Shadow players will want to try and find the King as quickly as possible. Opposite from this is The Oracle, who wants to flip as many non-road tiles as possible to gain bonuses. No matter which character you pick, however, you’ll still want to seek out shopkeepers, as the new attacks and items you can purchase from them really make a difference. The variety in playstyles, combined with the randomized nature, ensures that each run is unique, although just like in most rogue-likes, the success of a run is also very dependent on how lucky you get. Getting a powerful weapon from a shopkeeper early can make playing through Let’s! Revolution! a breeze, but if the RNG screws you over, you’ll feel that too.

Granted, a run doesn’t take very long and there is a sense of progress when it comes to player skill too. There are layers to Let’s! Revolution!’s gameplay, and the better you understand the finer mechanics, the more satisfying it becomes to fully clear levels and gain every possible character bonus, rather than just sniff out the King. Thanks to a whopping five New Game+ stages for each character, Let’s! Revolution! is able to constantly keep you on your toes, but if you’d rather play a more laid-back version of the game, there’s also an Easy Mode where you can familiarize yourself with the playstyle for each character. As if that wasn’t enough, there are bonus objectives to clear as well as daily challenges to entice you to return to the game. Don’t fret if you do miss a day, because these challenges don’t disappear, and you’re able to replay older challenges. You just need to check in regularly to download these.

It all adds up to a rather unique rogue-like that is as accessible to newcomers as it is challenging to fans of puzzle games and turn-based strategy alike. The €19.99 price point feels just right too, as you’re getting a lot of content here, but admittedly, this isn’t a very deep game in terms of mechanics. Instead, Let’s! Revolution! simply takes a good idea and pushes it to its logical limit. The game is perfectly suited for pick-up-and-play sessions, and we found ourselves in the classic “one more run” mindset more than once. We’ll be sure to return to Let’s! Revolution! over the coming months as we check in to download more daily challenges, but even if those weren’t a thing, there is plenty here to keep you occupied and returning to the game.

Conclusion

While we do feel like Let’s! Revolution! could have been fleshed out more when it comes to storytelling, that’s our only real issue with what is otherwise a great little game. Easy to learn but hard to master mechanics and a boatload of content make for the Minesweeper variant we didn’t know we needed in our lives. It’s not a particularly deep game, or one that will linger with you outside of actually playing it, but when you’re actively playing Let’s! Revolution!, it’s difficult not to become enthralled by the game.

SebastiaanRaats

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