Loot River saves itself from being an unwieldy stew of genres by offering players sharp action and light puzzle navigation. Sliding around these deadly waters could have been clumsy but proves enthralling.
Loot River is one of the first games of its type that I’ve played in quite awhile. A few days ago`when writing a prior review, the difference between a roguelike and roguelite eluded me. Anymore, the blanket term for either has glided its way into becoming increasingly defined as Soulslike.
Nuance is a tricky beast when applying definition. A sickly-sweet romance with laughs used to just be a rom-com. Add in the right network and cheese factor and you’ve got a Hallmark Movie. White dudes don’t just rap anymore. Churn a bunch of words together at a monotonous tone and there’s mumblecore.
Video games, so often derided for their lack of artistic quality, have similar microcosms allowing them to be plucked and placed in varying schools of thought. As the years have gone by, I use the “like” and “lite” interchangeably with my rogues. The check-boxes of randomization and post-death progression seem to be the biggest sticking points. Across the dozens of roguelites I seem to have played, according to the internet they are also roguelikes… maybe?
But Loot River, regardless of its genre, is unlike anything most of us have ever played.
The game’s blend of Tetris is its calling card, the thing making it distinct from other entities that also employ similar elements. However, Loot River‘s biggest sticking point may be its unbridled difficulty that is often laid bare at the mercy of randomization. But for such a strange, unique combination, exceptions should be made.
One of my absolute adored qualities in a game is its progression system. What is going to keep me invested in carrying on? Narratives have new story revelations. Looters promise a deadlier new toy. Hell, a battle pass promises a new cosmetic. And yes, it can all be very addicting and all-consuming for the right player; that player who is often me. A roguelite asks players to push through the pain, slicing themselves on the razor’s edge to the promise of a boon or unlock granting +5 permanent health or 0.1% crit hit chance, with hopes of higher values the more time and currency invested.
Loot River does no so such things. And at first I scratched my head.
As players strike down more and more enemies, they are rewarded with skill points to apply to their character. Familiar stats like strength and dexterity can gain a number to somewhat tangibly express a growth past the starting point. It feels good to slap those one or two points on the thing players think they need most in that particular moment. Over the course of a run, players will encounter new equipment. But it won’t always be better than what is already acquired. Or, simply, it offers an alternative to the current loadout.
Do I take a piece increasing my defense or one that allows me to dodge twice or step through enemies? A weapon dropped from a chest may simply be a type you don’t want or doesn’t include fancy bonuses that luck deemed worthy. Progress in the middle of a current run in Loot River is not always rewarded. It can be frustrating and it can be deadly.
Yet that sliding scale of chance encounter with the demon of random offers its own kind of excitement. More so, it forces the player to often rely on raw skill more than usual. Similar to a Souls game, weapons feel inherently tied to stats and a player may wish to keep weapons reliant on strength versus dexterity depending on how they’ve spent a run investing. Modifiers also exist, changing the state of a biome or how enemies affect the player character. But all of these benefits can and will be wiped out upon death.
Knowledge is the game’s primary currency but its value is fleeting. Stockpiling Knowledge is a fool’s errand because it is all lost upon death. Instead, Loot River asks players to spend their knowledge purchasing items when returning to the Sanctuary hub between new areas. Or, Knowledge can be spent to permanently unlock a small but valuable equipment tree. Upon first unlock, players can keep that item. After death and on each subsequent run, those items unlocked through Knowledge become added to the game’s loot pool, providing a modicum of transparency on what to expect.
This dividing line in Loot River may likely determine if this will be your type of “rogue” game, pushing it into the territory of “like” over “lite”.
Loot River is punishing. And often it is merely because the player is proverbially dunked on by the game’s random nature. A stockpile of bad timing, deadly enemies, and tight corridors often stacks the odds against the player in such a way that death feels almost guaranteed.
Because the game is lenient in other ways, it makes for a more digestible experience. Firstly, Loot River is not exhaustingly difficult. Once the mechanics and foreign difficulty are curbed ever so slightly, a run may take only an hour or so. Better yet, combat is appropriately responsive and moderately deep for what’s on hand.
Players have access to light, heavy, and charged attacks with every weapon. Potions can recover health but also donated to a vendor to be doubled upon the return journey to Sanctuary. Finally, a robust parry and block mechanic dilutes the ferocity of a number of enemies when it is finally mastered. Not only is the parry window generous, it can be enhanced by specific gear.
Hacking, slashing, and dashing through Loot River‘s bevy of fantastical foes is quick and responsive. And I genuinely find combat to be an unexpected strength. There’s a simple quality to dealing with opponents that allows mastery relatively quickly. It helps players hone their talent for the massive and inventive bosses to come.
I’m certain there will be players who don’t wish to overcome a difficulty curve that steadily flattens rather than declines based on progression. By explaining few things and giving players little quarter to improve run after run, Loot River might upset the traditional roguelite fan who can incrementally maximize output. But the game also offers an Easy Mode and a number of accessibility options to make it more friendly towards the curious rather than the devoted.
But what was that about Tetris?
Loot River‘s massive hook is that its gameplay and obtuse narrative take place on a series of literal rivers, bodies of water, and small chunks of land. The Tetris comparison comes from the fact that players have the ability to move these chunks of land around like they are tetrominoes. That’s because many of the pieces of land are blocks one would see in Tetris and can link them into other blocks of land.
As far as gimmicks go, Loot River nails this one. At first it looks a bit silly to swiftly sail across a spot of water to click it into place with another. It is also strange how the mind seems to want to complete these solid shapes like a kind of meta-puzzle that has no actual bearing on progress. But then it all gels together. The visuals of the water whizzing under the landmass. The slowly evolving complexity of manipulating platforms.
Navigating character movement, platform movement, combat, and enemy placement feels slightly unwieldy the first time you attempt to cleverly tackle a mass of enemies. But the second time you see a lumbering, hard-hitting knight or a mass of poison clumps, you will appreciate being able to swiftly close the distance, go for a jab, and then move the platform away.
Initially, most enemies can’t leave the platforms they are standing on, providing players the opportunity to literally play a game of chicken with attacks. As the game continues, enemies use spells to attack from a distance. Magic is used to freeze platforms in place until the user is killed. Enemies buff others from on high and the player must link a series of platforms together to reach a higher plane.
Navigating the titular river is rarely a pain once the logic is understood. At first I came across moments where I couldn’t discern where a platform had walls I couldn’t cross and how to link with others properly. Over time, those contained puzzles become another attribute to Loot River‘s complexity and cement its strength. The ability to shift around in combat so freely can shave off the difficulty in some encounters. Other times, players will literally block themselves into quite the pickle, desperately dodging away in hopes to live another few seconds.
Part of the success of Loot River should also be due to its visual presentation. Early on I mentally remarked that the game looked like a bird’s-eye view of a PlayStation 1 game. Take those blocky polygons that would oddly shift upon movement, zoom out a bit, and you’ve got Loot River. While it is in the same corral as many pixelated games, there is an undeniably unique element here that developer straka.studio nailed in spades.
Despite only finally getting around to Loot River because it has now debuted on PlayStation 5, I must say my patience is being rewarded. Not only do the load times and ability to access Daily Runs from the Home screen have obvious benefits, a map/level editor is a justifiably valuable reward. Available to all players, the ability to create meme levels or legit gauntlets can’t be denied when it comes to the complexity of Loot River and its genuine strengths. In fact, it will likely help grow the community and longevity for the game until an inevitable follow-up.
Loot River‘s strange, seemingly disparate elements fuse in a surprisingly elegant, razor-sharp roguelike. The unforgiving progression may deter a few but excellent combat creates its own tangible reward. While being able to literally shift the world around like a game of Tetris may be Loot River‘s defining, identifiable quality, its individuals pieces fall into place so seamlessly you won’t be thinking of any other game.
