For those of you who aren’t aware, Parallax has its very own podcast dedicated to all things Indie games. A benefit of writing these spotlights and being on the podcast is that I have a whole segment where I sift through various Kickstarter titles that might be hidden gems. One of my recent finds was a title called Unsung Warriors by Osarion and Mountaineer. This 2D side-scrolling adventure is all about being a brave warrior back in Iron Age Europe and currently has a good 30+ minutes of gameplay out for free. They are calling this demo content the prologue of the game, so if this sounds interesting, you will want to pick it up and find out where the story begins.
As far as gameplay goes, it reminds me a good bit of castle crashers. The characters have a floatiness to them when slashing their weapons and there is a number of ranged weapons that you can purchase and try out from arrows to lightning bolts. With a double jump mechanic and a dash, there is definitely some fun platforming aspects that can be incorporated as well. In the demo, there is a side-scrolling sequence that got me a couple of times due to falling platforms and pillars. All in all, I enjoyed the varied styles of gameplay they are attempting to incorporate. Combat can feel a little clunky, but I think it can be fixed up by smoothing out the animation and making the actions a bit more snappy. Overall, it felt good after getting more used to the buttons, so this might also be something that with time could feel more natural.
I tried this out on my own, however, the game does allow for a second player to join the battle if you have a buddy coming over. Playing with a friend also seems to have its benefits because you can revive one another if the other is defeated. I’m sure that could make things a bit easier unless balanced properly so I wonder how that will play out long term. Unfortunately, this will only support local co-op due to the nature of them being only 2 developers, as mentioned on their FAQ. It makes sense but I won’t say I’m not a little upset that I can’t jump in this with my online buddies.
Obviously, with just a demo this is not everything that the game will have to offer. Reviewing some of the comments on the Kickstarter page, it seems they also plan on including additional skills, new weapons, a leveling system and much more. I’m also pretty excited to hear that they will be leaning more to the metroidvania style of gameplay, as it is one of my favorite genres. Looking forward, this game is still in the Kickstarter phase so don’t expect a finished project anytime soon. Their estimated delivery seems to be around December 2020 at this point but the demo is constantly evolving even during this campaign. It’s not often you see a demo get new features as they get higher funds added. If any of this sounds appealing, I highly recommend you check out their Kickstarter page, Twitter, or even check out my Let’s Play Video of the demo below:
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