Review – Dark Scrolls – Gamerview

For those who believe that living an epic adventure against the forces of evil is something simple, with a beginning and an end, know that you are very mistaken: after all, evil is not something finite. , a game we’ve already talked about before, has finally arrived with all its content available to be explored and enjoyed.

Produced by Doinksoft and distributed by Devolver Digital, it is to be expected that Dark Scrolls has all the potential that titles under the company’s wing usually present. Still, playing the full product now, after having tested its beta version in March, I admit that little has really changed between versions and many improvements that I expected to see were just promises.

Revenge is a dish best eaten in groups

Bringing a great mix between classics like Castlevania and modern gems like Dead Cells and Infernax, Dark Scrolls places the player on an arc of “revenge” where the wizard Esmeraldo, the barbarian Bruto or the rogue Colomba must trace a path full of dangers, while marching towards the one who was once a companion and friend.

After fighting against the ancient tyrant of that land — a powerful, but somewhat stupid, three-headed dragon —, our heroes hoped to be able to rest and rejoice in the fortune and treasures left behind by the creature. However, the leader of our group had other plans in mind, taking for himself the infamous “Black Scroll” that gives the game its name and disintegrating his former allies in a blast of energy.

It is not known how, or why, but the three did not accept it so calmly. They have returned to life and will now, once again, cross the lands they have already ventured through — whether alone or in groups — for a new mission that may lead them to face their former colleague, or perhaps something even more disturbing and powerful. Throughout this new journey, there will be new allies who will join the team to fill the space left by the traitor and help our heroes see the good and beauty of friendship again.

The narrative of Dark Scrolls is very simple and fun, very reminiscent of the games from which it is inspired, but without being as in-depth. The characters we control do not have dialogue or interaction options that could generate deep conversations or unlock secrets. They are mere archetypes of their classes and only serve to convey the visual idea of ​​what they represent — which, I believe, left the narrative somewhat tepid and not very engaging.

A playfully chaotic world

The game opens with the player choosing which character they want to control in this run, either one of the original three or one of the new members that can be unlocked throughout the campaign. To begin with, there is the wizard Esmeraldo, the barbarian Bruto and the rogue Colomba. Esmeraldo fires magical spheres that, after a period of continuous shooting, generate a magical saturation in his hand, allowing him to release a rain of projectiles across the screen, in addition to being able to perform a second jump like an arrow and generating protective orbs with his special.

Bruto is the big fool of the group, always with his axe. He rains double axes on his enemies with his special and, when he’s not throwing weapons in the air, he uses his double jump to land on top of his opponents and defeat them with a classic “butt”. Colomba, on the other hand, fires knives in his normal attack; in his double jump, he throws more blades downwards to gain space; and, in his special, he becomes invisible and intangible for four seconds. When attacking while invisible, she deals immense damage to enemies.

In addition to the initial characters, as mentioned, there are several new allies to be discovered. We have the dog Cookie, who barks to scare and defeat threats; Nezumi, the saxophonist mouse who shoots musical notes; Quinn, the cupid archer who uses her arrows to keep enemies at bay and flies across the screen with her wings; Boss, who shoots steaks across the stage (a shame we can’t use them to recover health); and, finally, Saturn, the alien who uses a powerful machine gun to blow holes in his opponents.

These extra characters, even though they join the group, don’t really seem to have any weight in the narrative from what I’ve seen so far. Dark Scrolls has this problem: it presents fun and excellent elements, but they all have this characteristic of “not being fully there” yet, as if something was missing. Both the narrative and the worldbuilding and character integration suffer from this negative point, giving the impression of being only almost complete.

Feel all my power!

The single-player mode is very chaotic and frenetic, with the game sending enemy after enemy across the level. Dark Scrolls works on a screen scrolling system where the player advances from left to right, like the vast majority of platform games. However, the game itself dictates the speed and rhythm, which scrolls the screen alone, revealing the level and challenges that await the player.

Each level has an enemy archetype. In the forest, for example, the enemies are frogs, spiders and zombies; In the mines, we face miners, bats, carnivorous mushrooms and wide-eyed creatures. Furthermore, each phase follows a predefined structure: players face a few monsters until they reach a horde challenge; After that, they face another section of the map until they reach a store, where they spend the coins earned on skills; Finally, after a little more progress, the fight against the level’s boss takes place.

These improvements make up the roguelite part of Dark Scrolls. Whenever the player dies, there is a count of the distance traveled, enemies defeated and secondary missions completed with each character. For each score bar filled, you earn a crystal. These crystals can be exchanged in certain quantities for characters and new attributes (such as thorns, flames, thunder, attack and movement speed), which become available for purchase in the phases’ stores.

While attacking enemies, after a certain time, the characters gain a star. When they collect five stars, they can use their special attacks. However, Dark Scrolls has a system in which the player links attributes purchased in the store to these star levels. If you buy the “fire” element and link it to the fourth star, for example, the character’s attacks will gain this flaming attribute as soon as the star is reached during the phase.

Get out of the way, people are coming behind

Dark Scrolls has local and online multiplayer, and I admit that both are quite fun, even if the game maintains that “something is missing” energy. Players set out on this journey of revenge being able to choose from the range of characters they already have, fighting side by side against a barrage of enemies — and when I say side by side, it is in the most literal sense possible.

The game has a body block, that is, two bodies cannot occupy the same place in space. If you jump or are competing on the same platform, someone will have to give way, fall or move out of the way. This makes for some really fun moments, but I admit it can also be quite frustrating; After all, in fights against bosses, a teammate’s wrong positioning can end up ruining everything.

The platform also does not have an internal voice or text chat system, only the ability to communicate using emojis — so be prepared for endless spam of smiley faces during matches. In online multiplayer mode, each player only has access to their own world; In other words, changes and upgrades to your base will not be seen or transmitted to your teammate (although in couch co-op, naturally, everything will be displayed on the same screen).

The dynamics are interesting, but not to the point of overshadowing the weaknesses of Dark Scrolls; some, in fact, even accentuate this problem. Some characters are extremely unbalanced and very strong, ending up stealing the show and leaving others completely forgotten. Certain game enhancement choices make them even more lethal, increasing the disparity and making the player feel like they don’t need to experiment with the rest of the cast.

Beautiful cover, so-so story

Dark Scrolls has local and online multiplayer, and I admit that both are quite fun, even if the game maintains that “something is missing” energy. Players set out on this journey of revenge being able to choose from the range of characters they already have, fighting side by side against a barrage of enemies — and when I say side by side, it is in the most literal sense possible.

The game has a body block, that is, two bodies cannot occupy the same place in space. If you jump or are competing on the same platform, someone will have to give way, fall or move out of the way. This makes for some really fun moments, but I admit it can also be quite frustrating; After all, in fights against bosses, a teammate’s wrong positioning can end up ruining everything.

The platform also does not have an internal voice or text chat system, only the ability to communicate using emojis — so be prepared for endless spam of smiley faces during matches. In online multiplayer mode, each player only has access to their own world; In other words, changes and upgrades to your base will not be seen or transmitted to your teammate (although in couch co-op, naturally, everything will be displayed on the same screen).

The dynamics are interesting, but not to the point of overshadowing the weaknesses of Dark Scrolls; some, in fact, even accentuate this problem. Some characters are extremely unbalanced and very strong, ending up stealing the show and leaving others completely forgotten. Certain game enhancement choices make them even more lethal, increasing the disparity and making the player feel like they don’t need to experiment with the rest of the cast.