A rougelike that tries
A pixel art action game? Count me in. It’s literally the reason why this game got my interest, but while there’s some amazing parts in the game, there’s definitely some trying moments as well.
This is JJ-kun bringing you my review of Lando – Me? A Hero?
Lando – Me? A Hero? is developed and published by solo developer Dario Criscuolo. There’s actually not much known about this particular developer and the only definitive information that one can find about this game is that this is made because of the developers’ passion to code with a goal to, and I quote, create a game that gives an immersive experience that captivates and entertains. The game’s an action-roguelike game that has its fair-share of frustrating RNG but that’s not all that’s frustrating about it.
Upon opening the game, you’re automatically transported to a heaven-like world where you are met by Seraphina, an angel that tells you that you have to save the world, and thus your adventure starts.
Story-wise, there’s not much happening throughout the game provided that the game’s focus is not the story but rather the roguelike gameplay. That said, upon reaching the climax and consequently completing the game for the first time, that is when you will be greeted with new story elements.
Unfortunately, for the most part, it’s only the angel that has the most change in their dialogue, acknowledging the fact that you acknowledge somehow being transported back in time when you die, similar to how Subaru from Re:Zero’s Return by Death ability. In terms of the new story elements that unlocks after the first playthrough, it does not really affect much of the story but I guess it unlocks more areas and requirements for the final piece of the story.
I believe I already said this before, I’m a huge sucker for games that utilizes pixel art and is also literally the reason why I requested a review code for this game. I saw the pixel art and the action gameplay which reminded me of Zenonia for some reason and just like that, instantly hooked. Sadly, the reasons why I got hooked did not age well.
Now, see it utilizes pixel art right? Good. However, the pixel art in this game is quite inconsistent in terms of style. Some attacks and monsters look way out of place for the art style that this game is gunning for. There’s also the fact that it uses fully drawn art for items, abilities, and magic which all the more makes it inconsistent… or honestly I think those were generated by AI. To be fair though, the game indicated that there’s AI generated content in the game on its Steam page as a disclosure. The character art was clearly AI generated, especially with its ever changing clothing.
I’m also quite bothered by the user interface. Sometimes, it just overlaps with one another which is such a pain because you may have been reading some dialogues between characters but there’s a huge PRESS E TO INTERACT message on top of the dialogue box. On other times, texts just aren’t wrapped in text boxes so it spills over. There’s also the attack damage asset and other texts which are not consistent at all. It’s some of the smallest things but it’s quite annoying.
Perhaps, the only consistent thing regarding this game is its inconsistency.
Each level has its own music depicting its environment which is I think the redeeming factor of the game. I also like the sound effects since at least there’s an impact between strikes and hits. It also does not fail to keep the game alive. That’s really all I can say since this department of the game is not particularly grand but at least it gets the job done.
As I have mentioned, you may very well consider this department to be the saving grace of the game.
Ah, yes. The gameplay. I liked the first 5 seconds of the game when I booted it up, then I got hit by an enemy. Jeez bro, what the hell is that hitstun? Literally, I can take up first grade elementary schooling up until I graduate from an undergrad course before you recover. It’s whack bro. And then there’s the enemies, right? In all fairness, I like the fact that there’s a huge pool of different enemies, one problem that I have noticed with a lot of games nowadays is just recycling their assets. This does not do that, but their attack patterns and sheer number stands out to me in a negative way since you can only do such a limited number of movements and attacks and the enemies are doing movements as if they’re I don’t know? Sonic? Especially at the very starting dungeon. It was very frustrating.
On the other hand, I liked how it greatly understands what roguelikes are and heavily emphasizes that. Unluckily, it’s just that. It understands what roguelikes are supposed to be but it can’t seem to deliver, particularly with how limited the resources are in the game. I understand that roguelikes like this need to be played many times over and over and over again but with how the gameplay is? It’s not really even enjoyable to repeat the entire thing over and over. As mentioned earlier, new story elements are unlocked after the first time you finish the game and while I was able to get the new requirements to unlock the new story parts, with how frustrating the game is, it just does not seem to be worth it to replay it again. Still did, regardless of how much I wanted to drop the game at that point.
There are two things that I hate about the game the most: (1) is how it crashes from time to time and (2) is how it soft-locks you. The game is already maddening as it is and you add random crashes to it? All your progress on that specific loop, gone. It’s even more infuriating that it happens after a boss fight, opening a chest, or when finding a relic (requirement for the true ending). As pointed out earlier, the game is very erratic and sometimes the game just does not let you progress to the next part of a map so you’re just stuck there, forced to restart your game session.
There are rage games and those games intentionally make you rage, but this one is just filled with things that will make you just quit it.
I don’t know how much the game is going to be priced since there’s still no price available on the Steam page. It only indicates that the game is going to come out in November. Personally though, I don’t see this game to be worth more than 3 US Dollars at most.
As it is, I don’t think I can recommend it even if it’s just for a dollar. I think everyone deserves a game worth their time, and with the current state of the game, I don’t think it’s ready yet.
The game feels more like a game made by passionate students all for the fun of it and I acknowledge that. However, we must also recognize that this game was made for commercial purposes, after all it’s on Steam, right?
I just hope that by the time of the release, the game receives patches to make the game at least less frustrating as it currently stands because it really does have potential to be great.
A REVIEW COPY WAS PROVIDED BY KEYMAILER
REVIEWED ON PC
