Developer: Milkstone Studios
Publisher: Milkstone Studios, SOEDESCO
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: Xbox One
Ziggurat – Review
It has been since the mid nineties that games such as Quake, Hexen, Duke Nukem and Doom had their heydays as they were truly the best shooters out there, even if they were hard as nails. These games were simply action packed, brutal and a lot of fun for young (which weren’t allowed to play them) and old. It has actually been a while since a FPS game came out, with a rather simple concept, namely good old fashioned action, carnage and fun. Even though Ziggurat appeared on Steam ‘way back’ in 2014, it has now finally received a physical edition, for PC and consoles and we were lucky enough to dive into this roguelite adventure on Xbox One. Polish those wands, you’re in for a magical adventure, which may involve trampling hordes of monsters.
Story
No fancy storyline or epic movies to show you what is going on, but a simple underlying plot, namely you’re a wizard Harry! All wizards will have to go through a gruesome trial in the ziggurat, but most never make it out alive or at least not in one piece. You’re one of those who is going to perform the trial and that’s that. In all honesty, it would have been nice to have a little more content, but this game shines thanks to its simple yet rewarding gameplay mechanics.
Graphics
Even though Ziggurat will not strain your console at any given time during one of your many playthroughs, the game does look rather appealing, thanks to its comic book-like appearance, its decent diversity of monsters and the soft color palette. The atmosphere is properly set due to the dimmed lighting and the rather deserted feeling the halls you roam around in give you, albeit with a decent amount of clutter and obstacles, making things never feel that void.
Even though there’s a big giant range of characters to unlock, you’ll only see your chosen protagonist’s hands, thus there is not that much to say about the actual characters, but your foes however prove to be diverse enough, even though a bit more models would have been nice. Seeing the game is all about replay value, some enemies might get old faster than you’d like, but those sentiments aside, the cast of enemies looks rather appealing yet not that scary.
Sound
The music in Ziggurat tends to drop to the background, making it hardly noticeable, as you’ll constantly hear the rumbling sounds of your magic weapons, the death cries of your opponents and their attacks. Things are kept rather standard and simple, but due to the constant danger you’re in, you’ll have other things to worry about other than the proper tunes for fighting monsters.
Gameplay
Ziggurat is a FPS roguelite game, which means you’ll go through the typical lather, rinse, repeat, with more than enough monster slaying, leveling, and unlocking characters as you go. As the game has randomized floors, you’ll find yourself experiencing a new adventure each time you start a new game, albeit with very similar encounters.
Truth be told, Ziggurat is a very simple game when it comes to the objective and the mechanics. You’ll simply have to pick a character, and you’ll be dumped inside the ziggurat, in which you’ll have to clear five floors of enemies and floor-bosses in order to complete your trial as a wizard. Each character will have a basic wand which is linked to your normal mana pool, which drains after usage but also recharges quite promptly when not using your basic or secondary attack. Other than that, your wizard can also equip three other weapons (randomly spread throughout the different floors), linked to other mana meters, which drain but don’t charge automatically. This means those weapons are often a lot stronger than your basic wand, thus you’ll have to use them a bit more wisely. Of course, when killing foes, there will be mana drops, in the colors of those meters, thus you’ll be able to recharge them this way.
Throughout your journey in the hellish tower, you’ll gain experience and when leveling up you’ll be allowed to choose a perk, which will boost your abilities. These perks are offered to you in random orders, thus each playthrough will feel different. If you’re lucky, you’ll also encounter shrines, which will ask you to sacrifice some health, mana or sometimes even nothing (be weary of this one though) in order to gain a perk, item or other boosts as well.
As the game is a roguelite game, you’ll make some kind of progress, compared to the normal roguelike genre. You’ll unlock new possible perks, weapons and characters the more you play the game. Each of these future possibilities will make your trip a tad easier, especially if you wish to start tackling the tower on higher difficulties.
Seeing this title boomed on PC, it was one of our main concerns if the controls would live up to the original fluent PC controls. Truth be told, this game plays ‘fluent-as-fuck’. You’ll notice that this game feels as if it was made for consoles only. The only thing that feels a bit off at times is trying to hit the flying enemies that are out for your guts.
All of this means that the game actually does not have that much content, but the replay value is off the charts. You’ll enjoy multiple playthroughs in order to unlock everything and it’s actually fun to see the (slight) diversity between perks, weapons and of course the new wizards that join your ‘team’.
Conclusion
Ziggurat is a rather simplistic FPS roguelite game, but what it does, it does quite superbly. The controls feel fluent, the visuals are pleasing and not overly grim but above all the gameplay is solid and it keeps inviting you back for more. Watch out Harry Potter, it seems this wizarding world is a lot more brutal.
Ziggurat - Review,
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