If like me you like fast-paced pixel artwork platformers with stellar soundtracks, and nearly any roguelike or roguelite you will get your fingers on, Elsie is a recreation you need to be keeping track of. With a smattering of Enter The Gungeon’s bullet hell and procedural era, the platforming of Mega Man, and the impeccable vibes of Sonic Mania, Elsie offers you loads of causes to maintain enjoying and replaying.
A demo has been reside at WASD 2024 in the event you had been fortunate sufficient to be there, however for the remainder of us, Elsie is a wholesome mixture of a few of my favourite genres. The platform recreation places you within the metallic sneakers of the titular Elsie, the place you’ll must navigate the Mega Man-style ranges stuffed with technicolor dreamscapes and robotic enemies, all bookended by one of many bosses – The Guardians.
When you’re dodging and parrying the enemies and their barrage of bullets, Elsie’s true twist on the platforming style is available in its roguelike parts. All the ranges are procedurally generated, and also you’ll have a wide selection of upgrades, abilities, and weapons to select from for every run. So as an alternative of finishing each degree and being accomplished with the sport, you’ll be given a alternative after every boss. This implies you’ll solely do three of the 5 ranges in every run – encouraging you to begin once more even in the event you ‘beat’ the sport.
Video games like Berserk Boy have been preserving traditional platformers alive on Steam in 2024, and the completely beautiful visuals and frenetic fight of Elsie are poised to do the identical. The massive distinction although, between the random ranges and suite of upgrades and weapon decisions, is that no two visits to the identical biome might be alike. Elsie sounds good for the Steam Deck, then.
You’ll spend your downtime within the hub space of Sapir Wharf, the place you’ll little doubt discover NPCs, shops, and upgrades to assist together with your subsequent run. You’ll begin with the aerial degree of Eclipse Skyport, however from right here you’ll have that alternative I discussed earlier after beating the boss.
If Elsie’s gun fight isn’t actually your factor don’t fear, as a result of this wouldn’t be a correct roguelike if there weren’t extra characters with extra methods to play. You’ll be able to as an alternative go for Andru, a melee-based fighter with their very own augments, weapons, skills, and upgrades to fully shift the way you play.
At its core, then, Elsie is a contemporary retro-inspired platformer within the vein of Shovel Knight, however with roguelike development that wishes to vary the way you interact with every degree, making them extra replayable than any others within the style.
You’ll be able to wishlist Elsie on Steam proper right here, with a launch nonetheless “to be introduced” for the frantic 2D platforming roguelike. The newest trailer says the crew at Knight Shift Video games is taking pictures for summer time 2024. There are a lot extra WASD 2024 video games to play and keep watch over too.
Within the meantime, you possibly can try a number of the finest roguelike video games that’ll preserve you enjoying without end alongside some massive upcoming PC video games to keep watch over.
You too can comply with us on Google Information for day by day PC video games information, evaluations, and guides, or seize our PCGN offers tracker to internet your self some bargains.