Ravenswatch

When I first saw screenshots and the trailer of Passtech Games' Ravenswatch, I was immediately drawn to its dark fantasy atmosphere and attractive visuals. However, as I'm not usually a player of roguelike games, I was expecting the game to include a sort of linear storyline, with a clear beginning, middle and end. This turned out not to be the case, as the game instead focuses on combat using different heroes on randomly generated maps. So how is it to play a game without a clear storyline, and is Ravenswatch's focus on combat enough to keep you playing?

In Ravenswatch, you're dropped into combat from the start and only explore the backstory of the game's characters as you progress. There's no tutorial to help you get started and you're more or less forced to sort out for yourself what the game's goal is and how to survive. It took me about two or three attempts to get an idea of what I was doing. Here the lack of a storyline coupled with the instantly difficult gameplay make for a pretty rough start.

Once you get to know the game though, the core gameplay loop is pretty straightforward. You start by choosing a hero, such as Beowulf or Scarlett (Red Riding Hood), and drop into a randomly generated map. From there, you have around 20 minutes to explore, defeat enemies, and collect coins to buy upgrades from The Sandman, a shopkeeper at the spot where you spawn. In these 20 minutes, three days and nights pass, with different bonuses and challenges depending on the time of day. The time constraint adds a layer of strategy, as you can't linger too long without risking being underprepared for the eventual boss fight.

Each chapter culminates in a showdown with a Nightmare. In the first out of three chapters, it's a massive tentacle monster with smaller tentacles you must destroy first before attacking the core. My first attempt at defeating it actually made me doubt whether the game was possible to be played solo. I had almost no chance of winning, and figured that perhaps Ravenswatch was meant to be played in multiplayer, as it supports up to four-players online.

After trying out the 4 characters available at the start, I started to get better. I really like the character design of the Pied Piper, a hero who shoots musical notes at enemies and has a rat pack around him for special attacks. There's also the Snow Queen, who seemed like a support hero with frosty, ice attacks, while Scarlett has the ability to transform into a werewolf at night. My favourite hero and the one with whom I actually managed to get furthest in the game is Beowulf, a tanky Viking hack 'n' slasher with a giant sword. He also has a little wyrm sidekick on his shoulder, which can incinerate enemies. Gepetto, a hero who can call in wooden robots to fight for him, is my second favourite, as he can use his minions to soak up damage.

The enemies you encounter are a mixture of creatures. There are some weaker golem-like creatures that throw rocks at you, large lumbering monsters that explode when they die, a type of magician that shoots magic attacks, phoenixes that spawn from big eggs, and tree-like creates that try to entangle you with their ranged attacks. They provide a good mix of adversaries, forcing you to adapt to either more ranged or close-quarters combat. Additionally, there's loot to gain if you take on bigger groups of enemies all at once.

The combat in Ravenswatch is tough, but rewarding. Even when facing the early enemies, it's not an easy fight, but when you manage to beat another group of enemies, it feels like a well-earned victory. I've slowly managed to understand better how to time my attacks and how to make the best attack combos. It's also possible to upgrade your attacks through pickups or by collecting coins to acquire an upgrade. These pickups are different each time you play, making each run a little more unique. For example, I usually hope for an upgrade to make Beowulf's standard attacks slower, but more damaging. Additionally, there's an upgrade to give the standard attack an incineration effect.

When playing a hero more, additional upgrades are unlocked. Each run, I'm hoping for the ones to appear that suit my playstyle the most, in order to be best prepared for the boss fights. For those who enjoy a challenge, the boss fights are some of the most rewarding parts of the game. On the other hand, some heroes are clearly meant as support characters and playing solo, they're too weak to survive the strong attacks during boss fights, meaning they're pretty much a no-go.

Sadly, besides the combat, there isn't much to explore in Ravenswatch. As we already remarked in a preview of the game in 2023, each randomly generated map is full of deadly enemies and besides looking for loot, there isn't much going on in them. There are some side quests, like a friendly character asking you to gather wood for him so he can defend against waves of enemies. However, it's almost impossible to collect the necessary resources around the map in time due to the combat difficulty, so I mostly skip these quests and look for easier loot.

Additionally, you can unlock up to three chapters, which are basically three themes for the randomly generated maps. However, you always have to start out in Chapter 1 with each run. After a while, it starts feeling tiresome to start out in the first chapter again after dying another time. Perhaps when playing together with others, this is less of an issue, but playing alone I started feeling a lack of purpose. When you level up a character, a part of backstory about the hero is revealed, but also this is very minimal and doesn't offer anything in the way of a progressive storyline.

The lack of purpose or storyline is a shame, as the visuals and music are excellent and manage to draw me into the game each time. I like the dark, cartoony art style and the maps feature nice details, like breakable barrels and carts scattered around. The music consists of a sort of medieval tune that gets more tense as the end of the three days draws closer and in the final stage of each run, there's even a siren running through the music, which really gets the adrenaline pumping in anticipation for the next boss fight.

Concluding, Ravenswatch offers compelling heroes to play and a big focus on combat, a characteristic of rogue-like games. Heroes like the tanky, sword-swinging Beowulf or the robotic minion-summoning Gepetto have very different playstyles which, coupled with the randomised maps and loot drops, make each playthrough markedly different. The music and visuals go together well with the tense and difficult gameplay, but unfortunately, the lack of a narrative hurts the general enjoyment of the game after a while. With no storyline, constant dying and repetitive play cycles, the game ultimately suffers from a lack of purpose, especially when playing solo.