Retro Pixelated Awesomeness – Odallus: The Dark Call Review

<p>You would forgive me for thinking that the world itself has traveled back in time to 1989 with releases of films like Robocop&comma; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles&comma; and now the host of games designed with 8bit graphics&period; Forget Tress FX or dynamic lighting&comma; there’s a colourful block on the screen that’s moving&excl; Holy s&ast;&ast;t&excl; Thankfully&comma; we haven&&num;8217&semi;t returned to that horrible decade &&num;8212&semi; instead&comma; many indie developers are taking the concept on board&period; Indie game developers are reliving one of the greatest eras of gaming&comma; and adding new and dynamic twists to gameplay and mechanics&period; <em>Odallus&colon; The Dark Call<&sol;em> is the latest offering from Indie Developer&comma; Joymasher&comma; and their efforts result in a game that&&num;8217&semi;s akin to <em>Castlevania<&sol;em> meets <em>Golden Axe<&sol;em>&period; Can we relive the era of 8bit once again through <em>Odallus&colon; The Dark Call<&sol;em>&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;iq&period;intel&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;steamworkshop&lowbar;webupload&lowbar;previewfile&lowbar;155556863&lowbar;preview1&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"812" height&equals;"400" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As you might expect with a game from an era where narrative was not a big deal&comma; <em>Odallus<&sol;em> keeps it short and sweet&period; It’s a standard affair of good vs evil with a hero saving the world from the dark forces at work&period; In other words&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>Badass Holy Warrior &plus; Mega Evil Dudes &plus; Lots of 80s violence &equals; Story<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That’s it&comma; really&period; This is indeed a brilliant homage to the style of writing from that era&period; Game designers didn’t have the creative flare for writing that we know now&period; Unless you’re Rocksteady&comma; and you slightly ruin the <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;fear-itself-batman-arkham-knight-review&sol;">Batman<&sol;a><&sol;em> lore&period; <em>Odallus<&sol;em> keeps it to the point and adds in some cool concepts&comma; involving demonology&comma; faith&comma; and even at merchant that discusses the outrageous economy in the game and the price of housing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But what is most striking about <em>Odallus<&sol;em> is its beautiful 8bit style graphics that hold a high amount of detail in the design of the game world and its characters&period; Bosses and NPCs look particularly awesome&comma; and the use of pixilation and colouring bring an intense and rich atmosphere that’s dripping with an 80s vibe&period;  This is made even better by an energetic and rather a catchy soundtrack that beautifully captures the sense of the era too&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 817px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamesidestory&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;gallery&sol;jeu&lowbar;odallus&sol;11&lowbar;big&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"817" height&equals;"432" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Crazy ex girlfriends&period; What can you do&quest;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The mechanics are easy to learn&comma; and many aspects of the game rely on how quickly you learn and develop your tactics to fight enemies&period; Much of the game engages players with platformer style gameplay&comma; traversing to various points in the leve via jumping&comma; swimming&comma; destroying false walls&comma; and walking&comma; lots of walking&period; I did&comma; however&comma; find the controls for jumping and maneuvering while airborne to be a little clunky&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s some great exploration to experience&comma; as the levels are massive with multiple paths to take&comma; and hidden rewards to find&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Jumping and moving in either direction does take some mastering&comma; and even for hardcore players&comma; it can be an irritating chore&period; This is not helped when you encounter some of the more difficult levels&comma; which become somewhat tedious when failure means starting that section over again&period; I can forgive this in some respect&comma; as your character can grab ledges and pull himself up and the game is kind enough not to take away one of your lives when you make a mistake in these troublesome situations&period; But to warn you now&comma; the fact of the matter is&comma; many of these levels require a lot of focus with perfectly timed jumps and quick reflexes &&num;8212&semi; yet overall&comma; they are creative and fun once you get past the difficulty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 815px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fdcomunicacao&period;com&period;br&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;Odallus-the-Dark-Call&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"815" height&equals;"385" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Trying to do my best He-Man impression<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Speaking of difficulty&semi; <em>Odallus<&sol;em> is surprisingly easy compared to actual adventure games from the 80’s&period; Personally&comma; this is a relief to me&comma; as games like <em>Castlevania<&sol;em> and <em>Ghouls and Goblins<&sol;em> were so difficult and punishing that often enough&comma; you’d break the damn controller&period; Things are fair in <em>Odallus&comma;<&sol;em> but also have a trial and error format of play&period; Learning the moves of NPCs and bosses do come in handy&comma; and progression must be earned with knowledge and quick wits&period; However&comma; there are elements which do raise the stakes as you progress&period; Buying items from the merchant will increase prices&comma; so the more you need health or lives to continue&comma; the higher the prices will go&period; Players will start any level with a full set of lives and full health&comma; but if you want more&comma; players will need to be cautious on what they buy&comma; and how much&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The play time is increased with the multiple paths throughout the game world I mentioned before&period; All levels have multiple routes to take&comma; each hiding various items&comma; secrets&comma; and breaks any repetition when revisiting a level&period; New abilities are gained throughout the game&comma; which is a great encouragement for players to return to previous levels and find hidden items they might have missed or couldn’t reach before&period; The world map also holds several hidden levels and alternative paths that will also give players new weapons and abilities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Odallus&colon; The Dark Call<&sol;em> is a wondrous and joyous game to play for those who love 8bit or classic adventure games&period; If you aren’t a fan of 8bit classics&comma; I’d advise you go and play My Little Pony Adventure Island&period; Anyone else who wants to be an awesome hero in an epic adventure&comma; I highly recommend this great game&period; Another thing worth mentioning is that there will be an update including a hardcore difficulty mode&comma; for those who want to truly relive the 80s and throw their controllers at the screen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;