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 <div class="jeg_dealsheader clearfix">
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 <h3>Valfaris DEALS</h3>
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 <ul class="jeg_storelist">
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 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="storename">Steam</a>
 <div class="priceinfo">
 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="price">$22.49</a>
 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="productlink">VIEW</a>
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 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="storename">Nintendo</a>
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 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="price">$22.49</a>
 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="productlink">VIEW</a>
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 </div><p>History has no shortage of brutal games about blowing up aliens, demons, or the undead to a metal soundtrack. <em>Doom</em> has certainly brought that back into the mainstream as of late. However, it isn’t quite so often that the traditional aesthetic of heavy metal is the core focus of the game. With developer <a href="http://www.steelmantis.com/">Steel Mantis</a>&#8216; <a href="https://valfarisgame.com/"><em>Valfaris</em></a> – much like <em>Slain: Back from Hell</em> – the music, visuals, and gameplay feel like they were pulled straight out of an Iron Maiden album cover, and it works.</p>
<figure id="attachment_148514" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-148514" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-148514 size-full" src="https://cdn.bagogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/13020316/ss_09bdaaeb2d57408001f23a384be507d9e45123fb.1920x10801.jpg" alt="Valfaris has Brutal Bosses" width="1920" height="1080" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-148514" class="wp-caption-text">Brutal Bosses</figcaption></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Fear of the Dark</h2>
<p>The transition of ‘brutal’ games from dark and foreboding to a much more bold and colorful place has been one that made the genre a great deal more appealing. <em>Valfaris</em> is very comfortable in this spectrum. The game immediately bombards you with a design filled with vivid color as well as grotesque environments and enemies for you to wail on with your weapons.</p>
<p>The game sets you up in the role of Therion, who is some sort of undefined warrior sailing through space on a ship shaped like a wolf. You have just rediscovered your lost homeland, Valfaris, and decide to swoop in to check it out. But of course, it’s swarming with all sorts of nasty enemies. The bit of story within the game expands on your role as the son of the (now former) leader of Valfaris, and you discover what happened since the space-bound city had gone missing.</p>
<figure id="attachment_148512" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-148512" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-148512 size-full" src="https://cdn.bagogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/13020308/ss_578ad07f931b1e9372c7de7bf91e989f65c7cc79.1920x1080-1.jpg" alt="Valfaris has Diverse environments" width="1920" height="1080" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-148512" class="wp-caption-text">Diverse environments</figcaption></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Not Afraid to Shoot Strangers</h2>
<p><em>Valfaris</em> wastes no time having you plunge into the role of tearing apart enemies. With your character wielding a gun and a sword at the same time, you end up using both quite liberally in this process. This may be one of the first games where I’ve used ranged and melee in almost equal parts. Normally, in games where that’s an option, I end up leaning on one way more than the other.</p>
<p>There are three slots available, one for your primary weapon, one for the melee, and one for a specialty ranged weapon that uses your energy. Energy is also used for your shield, so there is a tradeoff in firing that specialty weapon. However, hits with the melee weapon provide regeneration for your energy, so you’re motivated to get in close and start sword fighting.</p>
<p>Each of these slots has a decent collection of weapons you can obtain throughout gameplay. Some seem less useful than others, but they are all unique. You can also upgrade each one independently with items you collect to give them more damage and some extra functionality that is useful in particular areas of the game. The upgrade items are sparse compared to the number of weapons you get, but another collected item, the Resurrection Idol, can make them a little more common – if you choose.</p>
<figure id="attachment_148501" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-148501" style="width: 2560px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-148501 size-full" src="https://cdn.bagogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/13015409/t4PJCqV.jpg" alt="Weapon selection in Valfaris" width="2560" height="1440" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-148501" class="wp-caption-text">Weapon selection</figcaption></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Resurrection Idols</h2>
<p>Within the game, you’ll pick up many Resurrection Idols. These floating green icons have several uses, but their most important is allowing you to enable checkpoint altars that you respawn at when you die. Of course, when I say “most important,” it’s relative to their similarly important role of increasing your health bar. So every time you pick one up, you’re harder to kill. However, spending them to enable checkpoints prevents you from having to repeat large portions of levels when you die.</p>
<p>This tradeoff is a great addition to the game. It gives you the option to trade the potential replaying large chunks of the game for being a lot harder to kill. Every time you come to a checkpoint altar, you get to look back and say, “How tough was that? Could I do it again?” The answer, for me, was generally, “yeah I need this checkpoint,” but for some – probably the <em>Dark Souls</em> crowd – the reward may outweigh the frustration of replaying areas.</p>
<p>Of course, Resurrection Idols have a third use – you can also trade them in at certain locations for additional weapon upgrade material. This can be extremely helpful, but if I knew what weapons I was going to use most often, I might have avoided trading in many at all since I upgraded some weapons that I rarely used in the rest of the game.</p>
<figure id="attachment_148515" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-148515" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-148515 size-full" src="https://cdn.bagogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/13020320/ss_a623461cb027b3651145e2fa981fde6553ff85c2.1920x10801.jpg" alt="Lightning fixes everything in Valfaris" width="1920" height="1080" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-148515" class="wp-caption-text">Lightning fixes everything</figcaption></figure>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Aces High</h2>
<p><em>Valfaris</em>, with its ‘tough, but fair’ difficulty level and creative enemy and boss design is simply fun to play. The powerful screen-shaking attacks you deliver (and receive) make the fact that you’re going to die dozens of times a lot easier to forget. I did have some issues though. There were a few moments where I questioned the volume of enemies thrown at you in just random bits of the level. I even had some problems where the game was extremely choppy even though the framerate was still sitting at (locked) at 60. Even with those issues, though, it was fun to play.</p>
<p>I think if you have a taste for gory metal-infused universes and some tough part-<em>Mega Man</em>/<em>Contra</em>, part-<em>Ninja Gaiden</em> gameplay, <em>Valfaris</em> is definitely a game to pick up. It feels more cohesive and a bit fairer than <em>Slain</em> did, which is a great thing to see in a follow up from a developer. You just have to be able to tolerate getting your ass kicked – which seems to be something a lot more people are cool with these days than they used to be.</p>
<p><strong>Did you try <em>Valfaris</em>? What do you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.</strong></p>
<p><strong>If you want more indie games, check out our reviews for <a href="https://bagogames.com/my-friend-pedro-review/"><em>My Friend Pedro</em></a> and <a href="https://bagogames.com/ape-out-review/"><em>Ape Out</em></a>.</strong></p>
<div class="jeg_review_wrap">
 <h3 class="jeg_review_subtitle">The Review</h3>
 <h2 class="jeg_review_title">
 Valfaris
 </h2>
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 <div class="review_score score_good">
 <span class="score_value">8</span>
 <span class="score_text">Score</span>
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 <div class="desc" style=''>
 <p>Valfaris is a challenging but well-designed classic sidescrolling shooter with an interesting twist on the progress and save mechanics. It also pushes the ";heavy metal"; aesthetic to the max both in visuals and music throughout.</p>
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 <h3>PROS</h3>
 <ul><li><i class="jegicon-check"></i> Great heavy metal aesthetic</li><li><i class="jegicon-check"></i> Functional and fun sidescrolling shooter/melee mechanics</li><li><i class="jegicon-check"></i> Unique checkpoint and health combination design</li><li><i class="jegicon-check"></i> Challenging gameplay that isn't too punishing</li></ul>
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 <div class="conspros">
 <h3>CONS</h3>
 <ul><li><i class="jegicon-cross"></i> Some strange slowdown issues throughout the game</li><li><i class="jegicon-cross"></i> A few random difficulty spikes that seemed unnecessary </li></ul>
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 <h3>Review Breakdown</h3>
 <ul><li>
 <strong>Final Score</strong>
 <span class="reviewscore">8</span>
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 <div class="jeg_deals clearfix">
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 <div class="dealstitle">
 <h3>Valfaris DEALS</h3>
 <p>We collect information from many stores for best price available</p>
 </div>
 <div class="bestprice">
 <h4>Best Price</h4>
 <strong class="price">$22</strong>
 </div>
 </div>
 <div class="jeg_storeinfo">
 <ul class="jeg_storelist">
 <li>
 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="storename">
 Steam
 </a>
 <div class="priceinfo">
 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="price">$22.49</a>
 <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/" target="_blank" class="productlink">Buy Now</a>
 </div>
 </li><li>
 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="storename">
 Nintendo
 </a>
 <div class="priceinfo">
 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="price">$22.49</a>
 <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/valfaris-switch/" target="_blank" class="productlink">Buy Now</a>
 </div>
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BagoGames > Articles > Game Reviews > Indie Game Reviews > Valfaris Review
Valfaris Review
If metal manifested itself into a video game...
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By Endyo
- Categories: Game Reviews, Indie Game Reviews, Nintendo Switch Reviews, PC Reviews, PS4 Reviews, Xbox One Reviews
- Tags: hard gamesheavy metalIndie Gamesmetalsidescrollersidescrolling shooterslainswitch gamesValfaris
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