Loop Hero from Devolver Digital and Four Quarters is a very addictive RPG in which the world has been thrown into chaos by the Lich. Can you save everyone? Check our Loop Hero review!
Loop Hero from Devolver Digital and Four Quarters is a very addictive RPG in which the world has been thrown into chaos by the Lich. You’re now in a timeless loop, and must use a mythical deck of cards – that will continue to grow as you go – to place buildings, terrain, and enemies, as you go around the loop. You’ll, of course, gain access to more and more powerful loot, so that you can start to slowly but surely make some progress in this whole “save the world from the chaos and defeat the Lich” situation.
You’ll unlock new cards, new character classes, collect new equipment, and use the resources you collect to expand your camp, so that you can gain reinforcements for every loop that you complete along the expedition path. Carefully planning what card goes where is a must in Loop Hero, so that you’re not overwhelmed not only by the many enemies you’ll battle, but also by the deadly bosses you will face. Since each loop path is randomly generated before you set out on your adventure, this one has endless replay value!
You can play Loop Hero either with the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, or use touchscreen controls when playing in Portable or Tabletop Mode, or if taking this one for a spin on a Nintendo Switch Lite. To switch between Adventure, when you’re exploring, and Planning, when you review your inventory, cards, and the overall current state of the world around you, just press the Y button. Your hero will automatically mov along the path, so you’ll have to pay attention to the bar at the top of the screen as the day progresses, since new enemies will usually pop up at the end of the day.
To give you a chance to get used to how the game plays, you won’t be facing any challenging enemies during your initial journey. A living ball of slime will show up, a creature that can digest anything on its path. If you’re a veteran RPG gamer, then you’ll probably have defeated thousands of slimes before even getting started with Loop Hero. Once in battle, you’ll notice a bar below your hero and a bar between each enemy. This will dictate when each character will take its turn, attacking automatically.
Defeat enemies and explore the land, and you’ll gain equipment to increase your character’s stats, as well as cards that can be played. To equip items, press the ZR button to select them and then place them on the corresponding section on the upper right corner of the screen. Pressing the ZL button will allow you to select the cards at the bottom of the screen, so that you can then drag them onto the playing area and drop them where you need them to be. Some will grant you resources, while others will grant you bonuses.
Once back at camp, using the resources to improve it and build things will help you survive. You could build a cozy campfire to warm you up and light up the darkness, a herbalist hut, a smithy, a field kitchen, a refuge, a farm, a smelter, a gymnasium, a supply depo, a warehouse, a cemetery, a crypt, and more! Some things will require that you first build others before them – can’t have a crypt without first taking care of building a cemetery! – so be sure to make the most of your resources.
During your time with the game, you can customize your experience based on your video, audio, and gameplay preferences. You could add a CRT shader to give it that old-school feel, selct between pixel fonts, high-res fonts, or dyslexia-friendly fonts, select the color for your hero, highlight the hero on the map or highlight the road, automatically pause the game at the end of the loop, after battle, or pause when hovering over units or items, allow for changing fight speed, or activate a speedrun mode.
Loop Hero features an in-game trophy system, so that you can work towards completing a variety of objectives during your time with this pixeltastic adventure. These include embarking on your first expedition, dying for the first – or tenth – time, unlocking new classes, defeating 1,000 enemies, defeating one enemy of each type, finding 100 resources, building the first camp structure, crafting five items, dismantling ten items, synthesizing 100 resources thanks to alchemy, unlocking new chapters in the encyclopedia, drinking 50 potions, and more!
Loop Hero is a very addictive RPG on Nintendo Switch. Sure, it’s gameplay mechanics and overall loop – pun not intended – are not going to be for everyone, since every time you enter your camp to recover and to try and upgrade things, you will lose your equipment and items, resources will be added to the pile, and the path you’ll find when you exit will be different. But it’s this roguelike element that keeps things feeling fresh, since you’ll unlock new classes, new equipment and items, upgrade your camp at a slow but steady pace, unlock new cards that will change how you configure the layout of your new loop. And yes, there’s some luck involved based on how the game rolls the equipment and cards you receive after defeating each enemy – or group of enemies. It’s the type of game that will keep you coming back for “just one more run” until you realize it’s way too late at night. Loop Hero is out on Nintendo Switch with a $14.99 price.
Disclaimer
This Loop Hero review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Devolver Digital.
