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Metroidvanias and bullet hells maintain a particular place in my coronary heart for contrasting causes. One is nice for an explorative and enjoyable expertise that’s sometimes a one-and-done. The opposite, in the meantime, supplies an adrenaline enhance that will get many repeat playthroughs in useless makes an attempt to scratch the talent ceiling.
From this angle, inspecting CreSpirit and GemaYue’s newest collaboration TEVI appears contradictory however not unwelcome. It advertises itself as a Metroidvania/bullet hell mash-up, and it’s an idea I like, regardless of my mindset on each genres. The lovable anime artwork type and developer’s present pedigree with Rabi-Ribi solely served because the icing on the cake. TEVI is even bought as Rabi-Ribi‘s successor resulting from having the identical style mash-up and GemaYue’s return.
Whereas I by no means performed Rabi-Ribi, my time with TEVI might need bought me on it. Though TEVI suffers from a reasonably uninteresting plot early on, the incredible gameplay and development system make it a pleasure to blast by means of.
TEVI (PC [reviewed], Swap)
Developer: CreSpirit, GemaYue, and Ein Lee
Writer: CreSpirit and Neverland Leisure
Launched: November 29, 2023
MSRP: $29.99 (PC), $34.99 (Swap)
Some journeys begin with a stumble
TEVI‘s hook is fairly easy. Gamers management the titular lead, a woman on the hunt for Astral Gears. These objects are full of a strong power known as mana, and Tevi collects them to assist her rabbit-obsessed father’s analysis.
Becoming a member of her are Celia and Sable, an angel and demon who’re each created from magitech. They largely observe her journey inside her orbiters, tiny floating orbs that shoot off numerous ranged assaults. Of TEVI‘s narrative selections, it’s neat seeing one thing like magitech recontextualized as a complete race of individuals with distinct subraces.
Sadly, it takes a bit for the story to get rolling. Whereas the opening sequence set 30 years prior helps arrange TEVI‘s vital plot factors, it takes a while for something attention-grabbing to occur. For the primary few hours, the plot devolves into searching for Astral Gears with out a lot course and comes off as unfocused.
The conversations round Celia’s chest dimension and the aforementioned obsession Tevi’s father has with rabbits don’t assist, both. The latter comes off particularly bizarre, given how he initiatives it a bit onto his daughter, whose hat has mechanical rabbit ears to mix in with beastkin, who look human with animal ears and generally tails.
These solely occur a couple of occasions across the beginning hours and for temporary moments, however that is what TEVI leads with. So whereas I used to be having fun with the gameplay loop, it did really feel like I used to be watching an unfunny anime throughout cutscenes.
Any points I’ve with the narrative disappear rapidly because the tone focuses on the Astral Gears’ objective, and stopping the unfold of a corrupting entity generally known as the Decay. TEVI by no means transcends right into a storytelling masterpiece, however the core characters get stable arcs, and the closing hours are compelling with a surprisingly bittersweet conclusion.
Whereas having a sluggish tempo at first of a narrative is okay, TEVI doesn’t put its finest foot ahead. At the least my greatest points with the story don’t happen usually, and actually simply didn’t depart one of the best first impression.
Hopping by means of artwork
Even when my story complaints prolonged all through TEVI, the artwork course would have compelled me to maintain enjoying. All through everything of its runtime, TEVI is an ocular feast.
It’s exhausting to find out my favourite space within the Recreation as a result of every has one thing particular about it. From Morose’s unusually cozy industrial setting, to the cute mushroom cottage-core vibes of Merry Village, even the start areas are distinct and beautiful.
TEVI is mostly a soothing Recreation to casually roam round in. A few of my favourite moments got here from simply soaking within the various atmospheres. Even the wet and considerably melancholic Gloomwood and town of Ana Therma are nice to probe for collectibles.
This isn’t to say that TEVI solely has the comfy vibes going for it. Some areas, like The Plagued Forest, present how devastating Decay is by turning a standard forest right into a poisonous wasteland. The creatures and equipment nonetheless alive are corruptions of their former selves, spewing much more Decay. It’s so prevalent within the air that, earlier than coming into the forest, Tevi wants a fuel masks to guard her from the toxins.
The Plagued Forest additionally occurs to be the place TEVI‘s plot picks up, because it demonstrates how Decay took over swathes of its world. One equally desolate mid to late-Recreation space is especially haunting resulting from its reference to Tevi’s backstory, exhibiting glimmers of what was there earlier than.
TEVI‘s character artwork can also be stable, if vague from different video games with an anime-adjacent artwork type. Despite the fact that among the revealing outfits look genuinely uncomfortable to put on, each main and minor characters have cool designs. A standout for me is Tevi’s design, which demonstrates her capabilities as a mechanic whereas showing straightforward to maneuver round in. It’s uncommon for me to love the protagonist’s design essentially the most in a Recreation, however Tevi herself is cool sufficient that I’d wish to cosplay her.
As great as TEVI‘s artwork course is, its gameplay is its biggest energy. I might contemplate it adequate that it’s change into arguably my favourite Metroidvania this yr, and one which’s excellent for enjoying on a handheld.
Heavenly bullet hell in my Metroidvania?!
TEVI‘s better part is by far its gameplay loop as a result of it’s a pleasure to play. It takes one of the best of its inspirations and goes wild with them.
Beginning with the way it handles its Metroidvania components, exploration is incredible. Not only for how fairly its world seems to be, however as a result of exploration is sort of at all times rewarding. There’s rather a lot to see for positive, however it generally appears like there’s a potion with a everlasting enhance or cash blocks round each nook.
Everlasting motion skills additionally come alongside at an excellent tempo. There are mainstays just like the double bounce and slide, however others stand out in enjoyable methods. The jetpack, for one, lets Tevi acquire extra air whereas letting her float for a couple of seconds. As soon as I received used to the way it labored, the jetpack was incredible for touchdown jumps I might have in any other case missed. It’s additionally incredible in boss bottles, for avoiding the tail finish of notably lengthy assaults.
And TEVI‘s boss fights have some wild assaults. That is the place the bullet-hell inspiration comes into play. Boss battles are the Recreation’s greatest highlights, and convey out its finest qualities.
Though fight isn’t deep, it supplies some enjoyable choices. Airdashes and slides work as assaults and are nice for fast motion, and Tevi’s fundamental four-hit combo is at all times dependable for stable injury. Celia and Sable even have three completely different cost pictures which have their makes use of, each out and in of fight. These and extra can obtain flat upgrades, or be boosted with sigils Tevi can equip.
If boss assault patterns remained easy and comparatively grounded, TEVI‘s fight can be serviceable. Fortunately this isn’t the case, as even boss encounters within the opening hours are a blast to battle.
An early instance of that is Tevi’s good friend and self-appointed rival, Vena. As one other engineer, she assaults utilizing her numerous bombs and stat-buffing robots to offer her a leg up. It’s an excellent introduction to how the handfuls of boss encounters alternate between huge lasers, lock-on assaults, and clusters to take out the participant. These three are essentially the most rudimentary descriptions of boss strikes, however every makes use of these fundamental ideas to create dozens of dazzling assaults that take all types of various shapes and speeds.
One other factor I admire concerning the boss development is that every new encounter incrementally provides to the bullet sample complexity. Even with a superb little bit of upgrades collected, every battle felt prefer it was at all times getting a bit tougher. The ultimate encounter had me sweating due to how a lot there was to maintain observe of. Late-Recreation fights are not any joke in TEVI, with loads of screen-filling assaults and slim margins to keep away from them, and I find it irresistible.
It’s a small level to harp on, however it’s an space TEVI excels as a result of, from a gameplay and narrative standpoint, the stakes match up fairly effectively. I want I might say the identical about regular enemies, nevertheless. Whereas not actively detrimental to the general expertise, regular enemies pale compared to the boss encounters.
There isn’t a lot to say concerning the common enemies, apart from they serve their objective as obstacles. To not say they’re poorly designed. Even essentially the most fundamental machine enemies recycled all through the Recreation at all times come again with a novel spin on their base assaults. It’s simply that the bosses completely shined brighter at any time when they appeared over TEVI‘s prolonged journey.
A prolonged and worthwhile journey
One thing that stunned me about TEVI was its size, taking round 25 hours with solely half of the gadgets collected. With detailed exploration and dedication to search out each merchandise and improve, playtime might in all probability improve to 30-35 hours.
This doesn’t even account for the way replayable TEVI is, with the way it handles issue. Alongside growing enemy assault injury, greater difficulties additionally bump up the enemy bullet density. It’s a neat manner of holding repeat playthroughs on excessive difficulties recent. This doesn’t even account for different modifiers, together with a Turbo Mode to extend Recreation pace or Random Sigils, which randomizes the place sigils are discovered on this planet.
These prospects wouldn’t matter a lot if TEVI was a slog to get by means of, however it’s the other. Even when the story drags to start with and it’s straightforward to blitz previous regular enemies, TEVI is at all times a pleasure. Merely maneuvering across the setting is great resulting from how lovely and diversified every locale is.
The boss battles make TEVI shine essentially the most as a result of it has a number of of one of the best fights I’ve performed this yr. As odd as this comparability is likely to be, I’d say they’re as pleasurable as Armored Core 6‘s fights. Each have frantic and difficult battles which are by no means unfair.
TEVI is a nice shock that hopefully doesn’t fly beneath most radars. Even with my gripes, I can comfortably advocate TEVI to anybody searching for a stable Metroidvania with a bullet hell twist.
[This review is based on a retail build of the Game provided by the publisher.]
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