Devil Daggers Review

<p>I am not good at <em>Devil Daggers<&sol;em>&period; The longest run I&&num;8217&semi;ve made is 0&period;004 seconds under a minute&period; I am bewildered as I look at leaderboard scores that go any higher than mine&period; <em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>is brutal and unforgiving&comma; in ways that few score attack games can manage without sacrificing the drive to restart and continue&period; This is that balance that few games can pull off&comma; and it makes for one of the more interesting score attack games to have been released&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>has no story&comma; which instantly puts it in a category where its game design matters above all else&period; You appear in an arena floating in darkness&comma; armed with a hand that can shoot daggers &lpar;presumably&comma; devil daggers&rpar;&period; Soon after you spawn&comma; a tall spawn point for enemy skulls starts spewing said skulls out of its top&period; What you do from here on out will dictate the way the rest of your time in <em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>goes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Essentially&comma; the game boils down to crowd control as you try to take out the skulls spewing forth from the mouths of spawn points&period; Strategy becomes a key component as spawn points continuously appear around the arena&comma; also sending out minions of skulls&period; The strategy is invoked by whether you choose to try to outlast the skulls &lpar;they will continuously spawn if you don&&num;8217&semi;t take out the spawn points&rpar;&comma; or if you try to tackle the spawn points &lpar;which have a weak spot that will often involve strafing to locate&rpar;&period; There is so much going on after twenty seconds of playing through a run that it is easy to just become overwhelmed and give up&period; Fortunately&comma; the redundancy of what happens in a round makes for a mindset that encourages persistence in the hope of a better run&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101179" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101179" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-101179" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;ss&lowbar;89f97dd1bf7f8f57403e8831b08dd914bb97b41f&period;1920x1080&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Devil Daggers" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101179" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Devil Daggers&comma; Sorath&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Luck is not involved in <em>Devil Daggers<&sol;em>&period; Similar to <em>Geometry Wars<&sol;em>&comma; everything is placed where it is placed on every run&comma; which means that nothing is left to chance&period; You learn things on each playthrough that will lend to your ability to win&period; For example&comma; when I first went through a couple rounds&comma; I never released the fire button&period; Daggers consistently shot out of my hand as I waded through enemy after enemy&comma; occasionally killing the ones that drop a jewel to pick up&period; Then I realized if I stop shooting&comma; I become a magnet for the jewels&period; Why do you want the jewels&quest; It makes your daggers stronger&period; Why would you not always stop shooting when a jewel is nearby&quest; Swarms of enemies are always chasing you and it could mean living or dying in that split second you release the fire button&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is the kind of brutal gameplay that demands constant awareness&comma; which makes <em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>unique with its first-person mechanics&period; The game has you looking away from the ground on a regular basis&comma; and also looking for spawn points to destroy&period; Without the ability to view what&&num;8217&semi;s going on behind you&comma; you might get killed in that split second you stop to look around&period; Or maybe you aren&&num;8217&semi;t looking at the ground and it turns out you&&num;8217&semi;ve now fallen off the arena because you were too concerned with running away from an enemy&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m not convinced that I enjoy how the game blocks your vision when it is so focused on you requiring awareness&comma; but it assists in making the game challenging&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It really isn&&num;8217&semi;t that far off from playing a <em>Geometry Wars <&sol;em>in first-person&comma; except even in <em>Geometry Wars <&sol;em>you could be backed into a corner&period; In <em>Devil Daggers<&sol;em>&comma; you just keep strafing around in a circle hoping not to get hit by a flying skull&period; Enemies quickly escalate in difficulty and size&comma; making it easy to get sidetracked and attempt to take them out instead of the smaller minions&period; No enemy can be taken for granted&comma; especially not the smaller types&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101177" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101177" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-101177" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;ss&lowbar;5f08d0fc5a418ab6e236d61c04808b7e4b02478a&period;1920x1080&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Devil Daggers" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101177" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Devil Daggers&comma; Sorath&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>is something which also has an aesthetic that evokes the same feeling you get simply playing it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s dark and gothic in appearance&comma; with hellish sound design that gives you a sense of place&period; It fits perfectly with the constant torture the game puts you through&comma; but it also makes for a memorable experience&period; Creature designs are appropriately macabre&comma; delving into the weird as well as the vile&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As I said when I introduced this review&comma; I am not good at <em>Devil Daggers<&sol;em>&period; I think the issue is that while the game leans on strategy and repetition&comma; it also has a bit too much chaos to contend with&period; I love playing it in short bursts&comma; but after a certain point&comma; the deaths outweigh the satisfaction of surviving another run&period; Sure&comma; I could jump back in and maybe make it a little further than last time&comma; but I don&&num;8217&semi;t feel like my strategy is the reason I made it further&period; Instead&comma; that little bit of chaos in between the known quantities is what makes my run last longer or shorter&period; <em>Devil Daggers <&sol;em>is a great game&comma; but it is not a game you will probably get much time out of&period; With only one mode&comma; it wears thin after a couple short sessions of its blisteringly difficult gameplay&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>A PC code for Devil Daggers was provided by Sorath for the purpose of this review&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;