Developer: Thunder Lotus Games
Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games
Platform: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), PC, Linux
Released: July 28th, 2017
Sundered is a beautiful game. It was the main draw for me when I first saw it on Kickstarter. From the animations of the main character, Eshe, to the gigantic bosses and backgrounds of each area, everything is hand drawn. Some of the intricate detail is amazing, creating some striking visuals that wouldn't look as good if the game were in any way 3D. Coupled with music that's a little unnerving you are left feeling very isolated and vulnerable as you explore, fight and occasionally flee your way around the mysterious, Lovecraftian world you find yourself in.
When you start the game you have hardly any health, no power-ups, no upgrades to strength or armour. Only a voice introducing itself as The Trapezohedron, offering to become your weapon to help you fight for your survival and escape. From your starting area, the "Sanctuary", you have nowhere to go but down. Everything is a bit quiet at first, some might say "too quiet". You poke about a bit more, doing your best to avoid spikes and heading towards a part of the map marked with a mask. Getting there you unlock your first ability, the shield. Finally, you think to yourself, those spikes were tearing through my health. A gong sounds. At first, you think it's part of the music but then enemies start pouring in from both sides of the screen. You can fight them off but most likely you'll die. You die quite often in Sundered. Dying isn't the end though. Killing enemies and smashing objects earns you shards that you can use to buff various stats from damage to luck. When you come back to life you are back in The Sanctuary. Now you have access to The Trapezohedron's Tree.
Now it's time to buff yourself up. Hitting harder and being able to take more of a beating are the obvious routes when levelling up but the luck attribute is important as it determines how many shards enemies drop when beaten. Each stage of the tree requires you to spend three times on it before you can move past it. The price of the upgrade increases by 5 each time so at later stages of the game, it really starts to cost you for the basics. (I'm currently shelling out over 1000 per upgrade) Jumping back into the fray, you are better equipped to make it further, reaching new locations with bosses and new upgrades. At random points during exploration, the gong will sound again and the hoard will arrive. Depending on the location this can get a little overwhelming. This is kind of the point in terms of the setting for Sundered but at times it can feel like the game is being difficult for difficulties sake. Later, coupled with platforming sections that require a high amount of precision, you have the perfect reason to rage-quit and walk away for a few hours. As I've said though, dying just gives you an opportunity to upgrade yourself and push further into the game's mysteries and doesn't feel like the grind that a lot of games fall into.
A few issues so far. When the action gets high on screen the frame rate can drop to a point where you'll freeze then appear a few steps further than you were. This can throw you off in the flow of combat or make you miss time a jump which can be a little frustrating if you're in a tense situation. Loading screens are quite long if heading into a new area. This can be taken into account as large sections of the map are randomised and change every time you die or leave the area. (It has been optimised with a recent patch but can still drag a little) A couple of times I've encountered the game crashing on the loading screen or during a particularly intense amount of frame rate slow down. Most of these problems have been addressed by Thunder Lotus and steps taken to help fix them. They've been very open with their backers and with the public in general that if there is a problem then they are there to listen and help where possible which is reassuring. The patch that fixed a few of the problems also introduced the "Backer Rooms" which consists of around 50 people (5 per backer room) hand drawn into the game, providing the player with various timed buffs. These appear randomly but can provide some much-needed support such as increased agility or luck.
Each section of the game contains three mini-bosses and the main boss. In the first area, you can tackle any of the mini-bosses in any order and even challenge the big bad if you're strong (or crazy) enough. The mini-bosses reward you with an increased amount of shards for beating them and a fragment of Eldar Shard. Beating a main boss earns you one full Eldar Shard. These are the games important MacGuffin. Collecting three fragments makes one whole Eldar Shard and with it, you have the option to corrupt one of the abilities you've obtained (by revisiting the shrine you received it) or destroy it (by taking it to the Furnace). The tagline for the game is "Resist or Embrace". Either you destroy these shards and maintain your humanity or corrupt your abilities and become closer to the monsters you're fighting. (I took the "resist" option and can't go into detail on how the abilities change after corruption) For the most part, the "resist" path has felt pretty rewarding, allowing me to upgrade my various basic attacks. The game is easy enough to pick up and play that I'm more than willing to start a second play through to see what the "embrace" path has to offer.
Perks can be equipped that have both advantages and disadvantages. (Though most often one perks advantages can cancel out another's disadvantage) These can be from increasing attack strength 25% to earning health back per attack. Equipping the right ones for the right kind of run can really give you the edge in the more difficult areas later on. (I've had a "bonus exp" with zero disadvantages equipped since pretty much the start of the game) Exploration of the map is kept in check by enemy difficulty or requiring a specific ability to unlock a path. (Much like your classic Metroid games) While that can sound limiting it's implemented in such a way that you're still left to explore a vast area without feeling boxed in. Enemies can always be beaten and if there's the promise of a new ability somewhere then there's the excitement of finding out what it is.
Would I recommend this game to you? If you've missed the 2D Metroidvania hack-and-slash genre like I have then yes, this game is well worth your time and money. The right level of challenging combat mixed with some stunning visuals and gameplay makes this an excellent (spiritual) successor.
Available PlayStation Store (£15.99), and Steam (£14.99)
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