If like me you love fast-paced pixel artwork platformers with stellar soundtracks, and virtually any roguelike or roguelite you will get your arms on, Elsie is a recreation you have 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 provides you loads of causes to maintain taking part in and replaying.
A demo has been reside at WASD 2024 in the event you have 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 need to 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 big selection of upgrades, expertise, and weapons to select from for every run. So as a substitute of finishing each stage and being carried out 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 start out once more even in the event you ‘beat’ the sport.
Video games like Berserk Boy have been maintaining 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 selections, is that no two visits to the identical biome shall 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 along with your subsequent run. You’ll begin with the aerial stage 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 may as a substitute go for Andru, a melee-based fighter with their very own augments, weapons, skills, and upgrades to utterly 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 desires to vary the way you interact with every stage, making them extra replayable than any others within the style.
You may wishlist Elsie on Steam proper right here, with a launch nonetheless “to be introduced” for the frantic 2D platforming roguelike. The most recent trailer says the crew at Knight Shift Video games is taking pictures for summer season 2024. There are loads extra WASD 2024 video games to play and keep watch over too.
Within the meantime, you possibly can take a look at a few of the greatest roguelike video games that’ll hold you taking part in eternally alongside some massive upcoming PC video games to keep watch over.
You too can observe us on Google Information for each day PC video games information, evaluations, and guides, or seize our PCGN offers tracker to web your self some bargains.