Developer: Today's Games
Publisher: Module16
Platform: Switch, PC
Tested on: PC
ReSetna – Review
Croatian indie studio Today’s Games may be a newcomer, but the team behind it certainly has an impressive background. Individual team members have worked on games like League of Legends, The Talos Principle, SCUM and Serious Sam. The studio has released its debut title, ReSetna, on PC and Switch, with PlayStation and Xbox versions planned for later this year. Given the track record that Today’s Games proudly boasts on their website, our expectations were high for the game. Does ReSetna live up to them?
Story
In ReSetna’s post-apocalyptic world, humanity has gone extinct, and the robots that now populate Earth are facing a similar fate. A virus is turning robots into mindless killing machines. The eponymous ReSetna is a robot that is trying to eradicate this virus. There isn’t a whole lot more to ReSetna’s story, at least not without players going out of their way to dig up minimal bits of lore from codexes. This isn’t a very narrative-driven game, and it’s up to players to decide how much they are willing to indulge in the barebones narrative.
Graphics
The post-apocalyptic setting of ReSetna is rendered across seven distinct biomes, allowing for a good amount of visual variety and textures. The 2.5D visuals are on the simpler side, but because the cast consists of robots, this isn’t something that distracts. That said, none of the character designs are particularly memorable, not even the bosses or ReSetna herself. As far as performance goes, ReSetna is a bit of a mixed bag. While we didn’t experience any issues with lag or stutter, there were instances where textures were blurry or muddy instead.
Sound
Sound effects do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to creating ReSetna’s soundscape, with the metallic footsteps of our protagonist and the satisfying sounds of clashing weapons adding depth to the action. Voice acting is notably absent, though one could ask why robots would communicate with one another audibly. The atmospheric music fits the game’s overall sci-fi vibe, but it isn’t particularly memorable. One notable issue we had with the music is that the volume jumps up significantly during boss battles. It’s annoying enough that we had to adjust our audio whenever we ran into a boss, and then had to revert to the previous settings after the fight.
Gameplay
We’re certainly no strangers to Metroidvania games, as we’ve taken a look at plenty of them in recent years. We’re not at the point where the genre is oversaturated yet, but with so many contenders, an entry in the genre needs something unique to stand out from the crowd. In ReSetna’s case, that’s a challenge, as the game doesn’t have a hook or gimmick. Instead, this is an old-school, straightforward Metroidvania. The game makes a great first impression too, with responsive controls, snappy combat, and good enemy variety. In all honesty, had ReSetna completely nailed the execution of its back-to-basics gameplay, we’d have called its approach refreshing. However, the game misses its mark in some areas. ReSetna’s lack of a hook already makes it difficult for the gameplay to grab your attention, and the lack of polish makes it difficult to keep it.
To be fair, ReSetna still gets a lot of things right. There is a decent amount of variety across the seven biomes, both when it comes to the environments as well as the different enemy robots that ReSetna has to deal with. The signature sense of progress associated with obtaining new tools to overcome obstacles is certainly present here. While ReSetna’s means of traversing her surroundings starts out basic, soon enough, you’ll be double-jumping and air-dashing. Likewise, her combat prowess expands with shielding, parrying, and dodging, as well as new weapons and equipable passive skills. It’s nothing that you haven’t seen before, but ReSetna understands what makes a good Metroidvania tick. The game can be brutally difficult at times, especially when it comes to the lengthy boss battles, but this is by design, and the game doesn’t feel unfair or unbalanced.
The issues with the game lie with things that aren’t by design. There is quite a lot of jank here. You can get stuck in a level by dodging at the wrong place, for example. Hitboxes don’t always seem accurate. The interface for equipping skills isn’t very user-friendly. It’s a small subset of glitches and less-than-ideal design. Individually, each of these isn’t a big deal, but they do add up and harm the overall feeling of enjoyment. It’s not unreasonable to expect that these issues will be patched out over time. At the time of writing, though, there are so many other Metroidvania options out there that don’t ask you to deal with these rough edges. That makes it difficult to justify picking up ReSetna in its current state. It’s a shame, really, because when ReSetna picks up the pace and is good, then it’s really good. It’s not the longest Metroidvania either, with a runtime of around 15 to 20 hours, depending on whether or not you’re looking to find every secret. That’s a decent amount of playtime for the €19.50 RRP. If you can hold out for a patch or two, then that price tag seems more than fair.
Conclusion
As it stands, ReSetna isn’t a game that should be at the top of your list if you’re in the market for a new Metroidvania. It’s not that this is a bad game in and of itself. However, there are enough minor issues here to spoil the overall experience. This is a game to keep an eye on though, and maybe check back on in a month or two. We wouldn’t be surprised if the final kinks are ironed out just before the game’s debut on other consoles.
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