Welcome to the rouge-like, action-oriented, hack n’ slash, simple yet fantastic and I probably prolonged this long enough RPG! Set in a sci-fi and fantasy themed world of adventure filled with robots, monsters and animals alike, we follow pretty much anyone that would be unlucky enough to wake up with the sounds of a large dung beetle knocking out of their doors. This poor unlucky soul has to face the burdens of being the one and only man, woman, person or animal to face the evil witch dubbed Mormo. But all is not lost, as you the player have the power to force someone… maybe a loved one, brother, sister, your kids or maybe even your grandma to help you face the dangers that lurk within the world of… uhm?! Ditto? Well whatever it’s called you get to call upon their aid in our times of need to rid of her once and for all, or at least die trying. And did I mention you only have a number of days to do it? Well good luck you poor sap!
The cartoony world within feels vibrant and at the same time a bit dark as every step gets you closer to your certain death. The people you meet within the game, although not dubbed, has the quirks fit for a cartoon world which would even a kid would enjoy or the children at heart. With the two-dimensional sprites on a top-down hack n’ slash game filled with adventures, hacking and slashing, dungeon-crawling and possibly toy collecting, even someone as old as your grandma can join in the fun. Although keep in mind that death is one that you have to avoid at all costs as dying is like losing your lunch money to a bully at school. While you do not lose your lunch money like I just said, so forget what I just said, you get to lose your toys and stickers and at which is considered to be your tools or secondary weapons and armor upgrades respectively. And of course the ones that never offered their help, better known as the townspeople, would spend the next hundred years living under a rock ruled by the evil witch until the next hero or another zero wakes up with another dung beetle problem.
As the one dubbed as the sword of Ditto, you get to slash, shoot, throw and roll your way out of harm’s way in a world filled with monsters from your average slimes, ghost riders? (skeletons with flaming heads… uhh? Okay?!) to even things like plant monsters, floating plant-like bulbs, zombies and even bats… blah blah blah… there’s more but let’s just skip this part. But that one true thrill that had me going for more is the variety of upgrades and toys you could equip to your character to smack those bad boys to shreds or simply poison and set them ablaze! The toys itself is the one true godsend of the game as you can even upgrade them and give them special traits for an even more devastating power than it already has while all the hacking and slashing with your sword became more repetitive as time goes by.
The music is mediocre at best, it isn’t that great but it’s relaxing and calms your nerves as each fight might as well be your last if you’re not calm to face them as they can prove to be a challenge at times while going in solo like the Kirito within you.
Combat itself is pretty simple, you have your attack button, tools and toy button, a roll button and an interact button all in your face buttons and on the directional pads control what toys are active and you can switch within the four of them at any given time on a controller while R1 and R2 pretty much does the same thing and puts up a tab for consumable items. Certain enemies has their weaknesses and effects, some explode after depleting their health while some uses a shield to block frontal attacks, there’s also some that throws projectiles and even status effects that could poison and set you on fire as well as a debuff that would make that certain enemy heal a certain amount of health after getting hit instead of the other way around. So paying close attention to whatever is happening is one of the key elements to mastering the game and to saving the world ruled by fear.
While the combat can be repetitive at times, every playthrough tries to be fresh as the world is randomly generated everytime so while you have a specific goal to achieve within the game it doesn’t feel all too similar to the previous as you discover new paths and new dungeons while also keeping enemy levels just around your ballpark. This makes the game slightly more challenging and not being a walk in the park after a few retries. Although it’s still a kid’s game in my opinion as boss fights and monsters don’t really offer much difficulty in the mechanics and that’s not a bad thing as it looks and feels like a game that kids would love especially the fact that you could just let your kids run loose in co-op mode while valuing each other as you share your health to your fallen friend or siblings, or they could just fight over the controller left standing. LOL!
But enough about combat and let’s go deeper in the dungeons and explore the puzzler mechanics that befalls this game. It honestly has its quirks, you can use your toys to activate certain dungeon puzzles and at times even I need to think for a second and look around for things that I missed to get to the next level. It’s definitely not child’s play but it would definitely develop their imagination and way of thinking which is why I love puzzle games and I thoroughly enjoyed doing the tiny bits of it.
So with all that in mind, did the game served its purpose or did I just waste my time trying it out? It’s both actually! It served its purpose by thoroughly entertaining the heck out of me and the kids while also a waste of time just because I saw myself dying a few times while learning the game and how to beat certain types of enemies. And it’s a waste because I end up wasting my hard earned gold and silver coins spending on the toys of legend for every death whether it’s because I ran out of time and had to face the boss or just because I enter what I like to call the idiot-zone and go “kamikaze” as I rush through hordes of enemies and spamming the attack button. It’s definitely entertaining no doubt and I wanted more… more missions to do and a much bigger and expansive world to explore at my own pace but overall, it’s a keeper!
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