Review: Bring The Death In SCOURGEBRINGER

Here comes another game in the long list of roguelikes for me to review. Scourgebringer may have similarities in gameplay, style, and progression as many other 2D Platformers, but its high quality and refinement of these aspects make this an amazing game.

Scourgebringer is a tough game. Between the adaptive difficulty and the variety of enemies to kill, this game will challenge just about anyone at any skill level. The game doesn’t change the formula of roguelikes at all, starting with practically nothing and fight your way through bosses with the upgrades you find along the way. I was impressed with the enemies. There were a lot of different monsters, behaviors, and aggression levels. Even after killing the same enemies over and over again, the combat and their attacks made each encounter feel intense. The bosses in Scourgebringer are merciless. They aren’t terrible innovative in their move sets or design, but they feel fresh enough to keep a player entertained.

One of the best aspects of this game is its combat. Players primarily will use their character’s sword and dashes to kill enemies. Floating in the air slashing enemies, dashing back and forth and stunning enemies is extremely satisfying. But inside combat is one of few issues of the game. While attacking and moving around the map, I found myself being hit by enemies without knowing where or why I was hit. The enemies’ movements and attacks aren’t telegraphed well enough at a close range to be able to dodge or reflect when they attack. This is a very minor issue and it may just be a matter of approaching enemies instead of reacting to them. But for how smooth and aggressive everything is in the game, I wish there was a better way to deal with them up close and personal.

The last thing to address is the longer progression out of the runs. There is an upgrade tree that adds extra moves, gives special bonuses, or provides extra boosts at the beginning of any given run. I found the upgrades to be fairly significant and almost a little too easy to obtain. I’m not complaining about having help, but some hardcore fans may complain about how relatively easy it is to unlock all the upgrades in the tree.

Scourgebringer is an incredible roguelike game. Strong progression, excellent music (I didn’t mention it before, but the tracks are killer), engaging combat, and silky smooth performance all combine into a seriously great game. Yes, some progress may be a bit easy and some enemies can get in some cheap shots, but overall, this is one of the best roguelikes I’ve ever played.