[Review] Valfaris

[Bandolero -]

Steel Mantis Games is comprised of the tag-teaming talents of Andrew Gilmour (art and animation) and Thomas Jenns (programming and design). The duo saw a rocky start to their development careers with the release of Slain! back in 2016. Slain! was a critical flop, prompting a re-release a few months later as Slain: Back from Hell to much more success. Still, despite its excellent soundtrack and visuals, Back from Hell had plenty of flaws. Three years later, Steel Mantis has returned to right the ship with their newest heavy metal-infused platformer: Valfaris.

 

                              

 

Can Valfaris live up to its own epic soundtrack, and can it top the precedent set by Slain!? Either way, get ready to rip the galaxy a new wormhole.

 

Daddy Issues

 

Valfaris introduces the player to Therion and his AI assistant Hekate. Therion is a skull-rocking, head-banging, long-haired, bonafide badass who’s hell-bent on saving his home planet of Valfaris. The player soon discovers that Valfaris is ruled by Vroll, a tightfisted dictator whose reign has devolved the planet into civil war. Turns out Therion is Vroll’s son (understandable), and Therion must return to his home to uncover the truth of its doomed fate and challenge the arcane evil at its very heart. Oh yeah, and to kill his dad.

 

                               

 

 

Ultimately, despite the occasional off-handed comment from Therion, the narrative of Valfaris is nothing to write home about. In fact, I’m leaving the game with way more questions than I had coming in. We never really find out what happens to Vroll, or what he did to make Therion hate him. In fact, even upon the game’s completion, we’re met with little more than a bad cliffhanger.

But then again, the story was never really meant to be the main draw of Valfaris. Like the 16-bit era that it takes influence from, Valfaris doesn’t need a gripping narrative to provide the player with motivation to explore. That motivation is instead guided by its kick-ass heavy metal soundtrack, hand-animated characters, and 16-bit vaporwave aesthetic.

Valfaris does an excellent job of paying homage to games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Blackthorne, and Contra, all while feeling distinctly modern. Meeting a frame rate of 60fps even on my laptop, Valfaris is consistently smooth, responsive, and beautiful – regardless of what machine you play it on.