Developer: DiXidiasoft LTD
Publisher: DiXidiasoft LTD
Platforms: PC
The Steampunk League – Preview
The occult and the scientific go hand in hand in The Steampunk League, a game that has been greenlit on Steam and of which we’ve tested the Alpha build. With a lot of things still to be added, the Steampunk League hints at a fun game.
The Steampunk League will give you the possibility to play as one of 4 characters. In this build, however, there was only the possibility to try out two of the heroes, either Lovecraft or Tesla. The other two characters are Lovelace and Poe. Every hero/heroin has their own set of weapons and skills.
For every hero there must be a villain, and so the heroes are up against a group of four antagonists: Rasputin, Edison, Conan Doyle, and Saint Germain. They want to conquer the world and it’s up to you to stop them. There isn’t really any room to elaborate on the story as there were only two levels in this build and they didn’t really explain the motives of either party.
The cartoonish visuals fit the theme perfectly and the scenery is beautiful. The official site of The Steampunk League promises scenery from all over the world, so this might become something really interesting to look at. Upon closer inspection, the artwork that accompanies the dialogue clips with the text and some information gets lost this way.
The conversations were text based, but the characters all have their unique voice, whether this means the text will be voiced remains to be seen, but the voices are intriguing and it would be a nice touch to the story telling. The music changes when you encounter resistance and becomes more upbeat, however if you concentrate on the music a little more, you’ll notice that it mellows out instead of enticing the player for the fight he or she is currently delivering.
Gameplay wise, The Steampunk League is interesting. The build provided came without a tutorial or the means to change the controls. The game was locked into the settings of a controller so when playing on a keyboard, things got a little messy. When the keys were uncovered the game proved to be more enjoyable. Lovecraft and Tesla play completely differently and both have their own merits and demerits. Lovecraft is more of a close combat character, whilst Tesla will stun enemies and shoot them down from afar.
The two levels let you play around with your chosen hero. You have to take down enemies you come across with either your main or secondary weapon. The maps were rather linear, so there was no chance to get lost. The platforming was a little difficult because the controls were rather sensitive. The full game is to boast a crafting element, where you upgrade your weapons and become more powerful.
Apart from the two levels from the story mode, there were also four arenas in which you can defeat waves of enemies with your chosen character. Doing so will give you points for you to rank up on the leaderboards. Every arena is different, and not every hero is suited for every arena. Tesla is a great long distance fighter, but when the arena or the landscape of the game puts you close to enemies, it becomes more difficult to come out of the battle unscathed.
The build is all about your journey to New York, and lets you blow up a tower to convince a captain to let you onto his ship. The ship doesn’t make it and crashes into a rock and you are stranded. What follows next is a trip down some mines to make it to the other side. What was a small downer when playing this build was the frequent amount of black screens. The audio still plays, but you are locked out of your computer and thus a reboot is necessary. Seeing as this was an Alpha build, this hopefully won’t be an issue in the final game.
Conclusion
The Steampunk League looks like a promising top down platformer. A game to really look forward to if you are looking to swing around a tentacle or zap people with electricity. The full game will add crafting and two more characters. Though the alpha build has some hiccups, it’s still worth looking into if you want to see what happens when the occult meets the scientific.
The Steampunk League - Preview,
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