Scarlet City of Devils

[h2]Scarlet City of Devils is a rather short but soulful Metroidvania that is remarkably charming in its presentation, perfectly solid in its mechanics, and an overall good experience for a couple of hours.[/h2] [h3]Story and Setting[/h3] SCoD takes place in the titular city of devils, “Elovelle”, in which players control Scarlet. A character with very little investment in the grander schemes of the supposed devil clans vying for control of the enigmatic Fountain of Elovelle. Her quest rather innocently starts off by beginning to do mercenary work for a local devil bathhouse but swiftly ropes her into a missguided ploy to heal “Ferality”, an inevitable state in which a devil falls into a feral state due to spiritual imbalance. The game is all over the place when it comes to its story. The game is far too short to really develop the bigger story surrounding the Fountain of Elovelle, nor really to develop any worldbuilding at all, as even the intro suggests much more strife among different devil clans than is actually presented in the game. The writing varies a bit between the different characters and overall suffers from side characters not really having any space to express themselves and being typically forgotten just as soon as they are introduced. The main characters are somewhat better, and especially Scarlet and her fairy companion are quite charismatic, even though they are both very simplistic characters. Overall, the game leans towards being best when it does not concern itself with the main story but rather small interactions between Scarlet and her traversal of Elovelle. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3649843588 All that is to say is that SCoD cannot really be recommended by virtue of its story and writing, as the former remains underdeveloped all the way to the quite open-ended finale, and there is a lack of proper worldbuilding and too few character-dynamic interactions to make it worthwhile. That being the case, the story that is there remains serviceable for a game of its scale and supports the vibe and atmosphere very nicely. [h3]Gameplay[/h3] At its core, SCoD is a reasonably basic Metroidvania in which you will explore Elovelle and, on your way, unlock more and more abilities to enable you to access previously unreachable sections. For combat, Scarlet has a light and heavy attack, as well as later on a plethora of unlockable bonus abilities, which I found to be surprisingly better introduced and implemented than many other games in this genre—I never thought that any ability that I unlocked was cumbersome to use or worthless outside of being a movement gimmick. Apart from Scarlet’s offensive options, she has a very generous dodge that also doubles as a sort of parry: Whenever you perform a perfect dodge, time slows down for a few moments and allows for an incredibly powerful counterattack. The first ability you unlock via the main story will also allow for Scarlet to receive another more aggressive parry via a firebreath. While combat overall felt fine, I never really got a grip on the timing of the perfect dodging. For some bosses, I could reliably do such, and for others, even though it felt correct with the visual and sound cues of the game, I could not properly execute such. This may just be a matter of me not having been able to consistently execute such between enemies, but it does feel as if the visual indicator is just ever so slightly off, which led to me experiencing this issue. Similarly, Scarlet’s movement can feel a bit floaty, as each swing commits her for a bit longer than I’d like to her animation. That being the case, these are very minor complaints, and while combat isn’t exactly as crisp as the likes of Hollow Knight or Lodoss, the variety of weapons and movement tools made it nevertheless a very fun experience throughout its runtime. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3649930452 The map variety is, regrettably, not as good, and most areas of Elovelle look very much the same; nor do the different map segments fundamentally play differently. The same is true for enemy variety, which is rather limited though does not become too much of a bother due to the short runtime (I finished the main story at just under five hours, going decently out of my way to explore, but also with some optional bosses and the boss rush mode itself left untouched). Exploration itself feels great and typically rewards the player with permanent health and stat increases, or the money to purchase such. Save points typically also have to be unlocked with money, which I initially disliked, as I figured it may lead to some unnecessary grinding between unlocking permanent upgrades and the utility of save points, but this did not actually ever become an issue. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that SCoD is quite an easy experience. It does not feature any difficulty settings, and I managed to beat most bosses on my first attempt—and no boss took me more than three attempts. Maybe some additional challenge can be found in the aforementioned bosses I have apparently skipped or the boss rush mode, but I would rather point to SCoD for the raw fun of its combat and a lukewarm, quick Metroidvania to play through rather than a game to really bite your teeth out either in its story or here in its difficulty and combat mechanics—while there is some theoretical depth to what is certainly possible with your assortment of weapons and abilities, it never becomes needed to actually make use of everything you have. [h3]Graphics and Sound[/h3] This may be contentious, but I do adore the art style of SCoD. It’s an art style that is clearly a bit amateurish and simple but detailed enough to allow for a nice range of expressions on the characters and is clearly made with a lot of love for the characters. The quality varies a bit, and I find that front profiles are typically just better than, for example, side profiles, as can be seen in my screenshot further above. While the game does not feature any cutscenes during regular gameplay, there is also a very cute opening cinematic when opening the game that I appreciated a lot. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3650060291 The music wasn’t exactly memorable but is high-energy and works well to keep you engaged throughout the game. As may be expected, the game does not feature any voice acting to speak of. While this is overall perfectly serviceable, I would reiterate that I found some sound cues unreliable during combat. [h3]Technical Issues and Performance[/h3] SCoD ran perfectly reasonably throughout the five hours it took me to finish it. I did not experience any crashes or stutters, though some movement could be jittery under certain conditions. I also experienced an occasional bug wherein Scarlet would automatically interact with savepoints or, in one case, repeatedly interact with a story character and loop their dialogue continuously until I stepped away and returned. [h3]Final Thoughts[/h3] SCoD is very much a game that wears its heart on its sleeve. It’s a very small game that has a small cast of charming characters to take through a somewhat amateurishly written story. The flaws it does have are minor and simply do not really detract from the overall experience if you are interested in an adventure like that. It isn’t a masterpiece of storytelling, its combat is a little bit janky, but it’s clearly a labor of love of someone who understands what makes these types of games fun.

A well crafted indie metroidvania that rewards mastery of the game mechanics. Animations and character dialogues make for an immersive experience

Solid effort for a solo developer. Fun indie metroidvania, with a distinct art style a variety of bosses, a decent sized map with varied environments with secrets and upgrades to collect. The combat has several unlock-able attack/traversal options as you progress that help keep the moveset fresh and there is a boss rush mode on completion. I had previously played a beta build so ignore the playtime.

Fun combat and a cool main character! Very fun!

I have known the developer since their last game (Hi Miracle Mia fans!) and have been following the development for Scarlet City of Devils since the beginning, so I'm very excited to see that it is up and ready to play on Steam! Throughout it's development cycle, it has been really cool to see how the world and environments have been built out. It has a pretty expansive world and it is clear that dev took a lot of care to include visual world-building details. The action is pretty solid and you have several options in weapons and upgrades so you can play with strategies that you prefer. For me, getting the hookshot-type upgrade was awesome because you can FLY across the maps. Overall, it is an action-packed game that feels expansive enough to get invested in while being able to play through all of it in a weekend (or a good afternoon if you're quick)! Very fun! That all said, be wary if you are not a fan of "ecchi" style, semi-pornographic portrayals of women. The game is very gaze-y, which is pretty apparent in the marketing. The cast comprises entirely of women characters, so this decision clearly was made with men as players in mind. That portrayal is consistent throughout the game, so if that is something that bothers you--sorry, you'll be seeing it with every character with varying degrees of explicity, and when it is in your face, it is VERY in your face. I find this really unfortunate as many of the enemy designs (that are not explicitly women) like the metal dog and suits of armor are considerably more inspired, whereas the women are always naked in the exact same way (with the exact same bra!). So, just a heads up.

I don't usually play these kinds of games but I really enjoyed this one. The exploration is fun, combat and movement is satisfying, and the difficulty is high while never feeling unfair, and it actually encourages you to improve as you play. The only issue I came across is that the achievements don't seem to work on Steam Deck, so keep that in mind if that's what you'll be playing on. Great game overall, and I'll definitely keep playing to beat the extra bosses and maybe do the boss rush mode.

Scarlet City of Devils es un juego de acción hack and slash que combina el estilo punk con una atmósfera oscura. A medida que exploras la ciudad de Elovelle, tomarás el control de un personaje decidido a enfrentarse a las amenazas más peligrosas. Con combates dinámicos y un mundo abierto para explorar, el juego ofrece una experiencia desafiante para los fanáticos de los títulos de acción y aventura. Si te gustan los mundos distópicos con demonios y combates intensos, este es un juego que no te puedes perder. Valoración: Aspecto Puntuación Jugabilidad ★★★★☆ Gráficos ★★★★☆ Dificultad ★★★★☆ Innovación ★★★★☆ Ambientación ★★★★☆

I had fun with this one!

I wanted to write some long overview, but... I don't know if it's needed. The game is just great! I would say that my overall mark for this game is 8.8 / 10 What is good or even great (spoiler - almost all): - good visuals - good music and backgroung/combat sounds - amaizing movement abilities - various combat which is the most brilliant part of the game! - not so many collectables, but, in my opinion, it is enough regarding the game spirit - story is simple but also is good for this game - interesting locations that are just as interesting to explore. In general, I am very pleasantly surprised by how smart the game is built - locations, exploration, backtracking and movement, combat, music - all staff complement each other incredibly well !!! But, of course, the game is not ideal. Below are a few places that require improvements, but they don't spoil the overall experience of the game. 1. Map does not have any markers except savepoint and teleports. After beating the game I needed to move through all map to find 3 upgrades needed for achievements. 1. when you walk up the stairs the upper step causes the character to be stuck in place. I catch this issue a few times because usually you use all your movement abilities and just do not walk, but looks like all stairs textures have this issue. 2. when you make a roll, residual images of MC do not take into account the character's skin/clothing (just visuals which do not affect gameplay at all) 4. I don't understand why the last upgrade (fire spirit) is needed. It is given at the very end and I didn't use it at all... As for me, it would be better to have some locator for missing upgrades instead... 5. Maybe a little bit balancing for the bosses as well as fire breath ability. I can't say that this is some bad thing, because boss fights are fast paced and you need use different tactics, but... Now boss fights, especially with the last bosses, are very fast like all other combat - "you hit hard and you get hurt too". As for me, a bit more defence and a bot less damage will make boss fights longer and more challenging. 6. Purchasing abilities which should be get after winning some boss is not very great decision. Of course in my opinon. Don't get me wrong, I like it, I purchased 2 of 3 abilities and have a lot of fun using them prematurely. But in the same time I realize that I kept money for those upgrades and didn't purchase food buffs. So, looking for this possibility after the end, I would say that it would be better to leave only food buffs and don't allow purchase the abilities. From the other hand, players can decide themselves - buy them and make their life easier, or not. And that's probably all I can say about things that need improvement. Everything else is full of fun and enjoyment. As I said at the beginning the game is just great! it's probably one of the best games that I saw for the last year. Absolutely - must buy!

I'm not super far into the game yet but want to leave some initial impressions: - The controls are very fluid, and combat feels great. I've never felt like I died due to being cheated, it's always my own doing when it happens. The animations are really cool too, I like the concept of using the multiple weapon types to perform different attacks. I personally haven't seen that in a game before! - The character and background art is well-done, with fitting music. I'm having a good time just roaming around the areas, making my way back and forth between fighting enemies and purchasing upgrades. Which brings me to... - The upgraded system is solid. You earn points by fighting monsters, and then take those points back to purchase upgrades. It's a clean, solid loop, and the upgrades feel meaningful! Frankly, this isn't my usual genre, and I purchased the game because I know the dev. But I'm glad I did, I am having way more fun than I expected to! I'm looking forward to playing through more.