Skautfold: Usurper from Red Art Games is a 2D Metroidvania in which you must fight against the Eldritch horrors that have been unleashed in London. Check our Skautfold: Usurper review!
Skautfold: Usurper from Red Art Games is a 2D Metroidvania in which you must fight against the Eldritch horrors that have been unleashed in London. I got to review Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity from Red Art Games on PlayStation 4 last year. That one is a gruesome roguelike action RPG set in the same universe. While it’s a direct sequel to Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity, you don’t need to know anything about that game to be able to enjoy Skautfold: Usurper on PlayStation.
Speaking of which, Skautfold: Usurper begins on April 9, 1898, in London, in the Angelic Empire of Brittania. It takes place a year after the events from Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity. As you control Waltham, who is currently left as a monstrous entity, you must locate a usable body to inhabit. The good news is that there are several cadavers around you, so you’ll surely find one that works! Waltham settles on bringing Saragat back to life. Saragat was one of the bosses in Shrouded in Sanity. The game has a bit of a Castlevania vibe to it – emulating, in particular, some elements from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
You’ll control your character with the left analog stick, jumping with the X button and interacting with the Square button. The Circle button will be used for a dodge roll, which can also be used to slide through some narrow spots. By rolling through enemy attacks, you’ll have a small window of invincibility. Since this is a Metroidvania, you’ll need to gain new skills that will allow you to reach new areas.
If you use the L1 button to guard at the right time, you’ll be able to recover some stamina while protecting yourself. You can use the R1 button to attack enemies with your current weapon. Do know that guarding, attacking, or rolling will consume some of your stamina, so you’ll need to make sure every action counts. You start with a sharp sword in your hands but will get a chance to obtain additional weapons as you progress further and further into the game. You could end up with a mana rapier or a huge axe that deals considerable damage but is very slow to attack.
Visit Erhai’n – the greatest archmage among all Thrians -, and you’ll be able to purchase spells by spending the Vitae that you collect. Buy, for example, the Bolt of Nodens, and you’ll be able to launch arrows to damage enemies. Talk to Bacah, and you can show your devotion to the Elder Gods by donating to Nyarlathotep, Shub-niggurath, and Yog-Sothoth. Exchange some small talk with Howard. P. I., and decide if you would like to trade some of your Yth Stones for a ton of Vitae.
As you obtain Yth Stones, you’ll be able to spend them along with Vitae to level up your character to boost its stats so that you can have a better chance of surviving against the many monsters you’ll run into. Boost your constitution to increase max HP. Increase luck to boost drop rates as well as critical hit chance. Boost dexterity to determine your overall dexterity based on weapon scaling. Increase intelligence to boost damage dealt by spells. If you increase your guard, you’ll have more stamina to roll, attack, or block, as well as to autoblock some incoming damage. Eldritch is an interesting stat since, by increasing it, you’ll boost your knowledge of the unknown. Increasing Saragat’s strength will, as expected, boost the damage you can deal with weapons. If you increase defense, you will be able to lower the damage that Saragat can receive from an attack that is blocked.
Yth Stones can also be spent in order to level up pets. Have I not mentioned pets before? As was the case with familiars in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, by searching every nook and cranny in Skautfold: Usurper and attacking all mysteriously suspicious walls, you’ll be able to add more pets to your collection. Having them by your side will allow them to aid you on your adventure as they attack enemies.
The game has a full trophy list with a Platinum waiting for you. And since Skautfold: Usurper is a Cross-Buy title, so if you have a PlayStation 5 console, you can download both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game, with each one offering its own trophy list. Said list includes 2 Bronze trophies, 6 Silver trophies, and 9 Gold trophies for you to work on. You’ll have to complete objectives such as dying – again – for the first time, defeating each of the bosses in the game, beating the game and getting three different endings, beating the game without dying once, beating the game without leveling up, and beating the game without defeating a single enemy. Good luck!
Skautfold: Usurper is a sequel that takes place in the same world as its prequel while jumping into a different genre. We’ve gone from a roguelike action RPG to a 2D Metroidvania with serviceable action, but some mistakes made along the way. Leveling up is far from ideal since you not only need to collect Vitae by defeating enemies and breaking objects but also find Yth Stones to spend. On top of that, for a Metroidvania, the map is pretty useless. Sure, you get to see how rooms are connected and where each save throne room, and boss is located… but that’s about it. The map won’t track what rooms you’ve visited or where you’re currently located, which is a big blunder for a Metroidvania. Skautfold: Usurper is available as a Cross-Buy title, so our $14.99 purchase will give you access to both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost.
Disclaimer
This Skautfold: Usurper review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Red Art Games.
