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Latest version
Categories: free version
Size:13 GB
Unprecedented disparity in wealth, the cyberhumans blurring the lines between bots, sane, corporations and governance 1
Agencies act in harmony with their own interests: all of the topics that have been in vogue over the past few years in gaming. In other words, the cyberpunk genre is more popular than ever. Developed by eBrain Studios, Loopmancer jumps into the fold as a 2D action-platformer that combines the grit and dystopia of cyberpunk worlds with roguelite elements to create an exciting game full of twists and turns and plenty of violence.
Loopmancer is a beautiful game, offering one of the most attractive indie games this year. It's full of action packed combat sequences and a detective mystery story that makes for an exciting cyberpunk noir story. However, the roguelite elements often feel at odds with the game and tend to create more friction than fun in an all-around solid package.
The year is 2046 and humanity has advanced to its next stage in technological advancement. Breakthroughs in nanoscale biotechnology have advanced medicine to new heights, as citizens walk the streets sporting electronic prostheses, and new breeds of criminals emerge in the technology's wake. At the center of the Loopmancer's story is Xiang Zixu, a deranged private eye still reeling from the death of his daughter and the disappearance of his wife. Amidst the grief, Zixu is tasked with finding a missing journalist who may have ties to the Dragon City underworld. Quickly, Zixu uncovers a plot that could bring Dragon City to its knees.
Zixu is shot and killed while chasing Wei Long, a high-ranking LongXi Gang boss who could hold the answers Zixu is looking for and could also be the key to his wife's disappearance. After his death, Zixu wakes up the same day he died, remembering everything that happened and stuck in an endless loop until he can find a way to break it. Zixu, equipped with his knowledge of past events, must make critical choices along his journey that could have devastating consequences for every character involved.
Thick and engaging, the cyberpunk noir atmosphere in Loopmancer is more than a simple framing device for the game's loop-based mechanics. While the B-movie is very critical in its execution and character development, Loopmancer still manages to hit the right story beats to keep players interested in what comes next. Each layer Zixu peels off raises more questions for the audience and demands some unexpected twists. The lines branching out at the center of the narrative are not as intricate and interwoven as they could have been; However, it still provides enough incentive for players to come back and experience multiple endings as the story moves to new places depending on the player's choice. It's a pulp fiction puzzle worth following through from start to finish.
Visually, Loopmancer looks excellent and serves as a great display of Unreal Engine 4's graphical prowess even in 2022. The game's first mission is stunning as it combines the lavish, neon-filled backdrop of Dragon City with a monochromatic, ramshackle foreground. criminal underworld. However, Loopmancer doesn't linger on the streets of Dragon City, which is surprising in a genre that leans heavily on its urban environments. ZIxu fights through crumbling countryside, corporate buildings, ninja training grounds, and even gets sucked into the supernatural at some points. Each level is unique and offers something new to look at, a key component to getting the right to a game that places great emphasis on repetition and seeing the same level over and over again.
While the plot is solid and the graphical presentation is excellent, Loopmancer doesn't show up in its voice acting and localization. Zixu and his companion characters seem uninspired in their dialogue delivery, and their lines often sound flat. Subtitles can also use some work as an intel cache, and the subtitles are often difficult to read.
The Loopmancer's greatest strength is its combat, which always feels fluid and weighty. Combat works best when players mix and match the items in their arsenal, alternating between melee, ranged, and special attacks, with the game incentivizing this style of play thanks to a menu of challenges for different regions. These challenges reward players with more currency and upgrade materials to better equip them if they fail and have to make another episode. Zixu's range of weapons is vast, from katanas to bats to auto turrets and drones. There are plenty of weapons for players to discover as they invest coins in weapon stations across each level, unlocking better weapons to increase their chances of survival.
While Zixu and his combat animations look great, the enemies in Loopmancer lack the same level of polish. Enemies mostly slide on the ground in a way that is out of proportion to their walking movement speed, and they seem unfinished in their current position. Furthermore, some of the enemies have issues with the amazing mechanics. The lower-ranking LongXi Gang members tended to stagger, stay there, and beat them to death. In most cases, Zixu only finds a challenge when presented with multiple enemies, or in boss fights where the game forces players to reconsider the pace of combat. Overall, however, the Loopmancer animation looks great and is the driving force behind the experience.
Loopmancer is another entry in the 2D action-adventure roguelite genre. Each time Zixu dies, his loadout resets, taking only upgrade materials and coin reserves to give him an advantage in the next round. Each episode changes the configuration of each level, but only slightly. Players will see nearly the full scope of each level after the first five runs, and the changes are minimal enough that they sometimes feel superfluous.
Many roguelikes tend towards a procedural creation system that provides a unique experience each round or a consistent but challenging level design that forces players to master each mission. Loopmancer doesn't go either way, and its level design feels modest in its execution of a game that requires repetitive runs. The level changes for each episode are mostly superficial, sometimes sprinkled in a simple puzzle, and come off like the linear level design that was there in the beginning with the studio's reworking of roguelite mechanics.
Overall, Loopmancer has some issues with its implementation of the roguelike gameplay, and it sometimes detracts from a good package. A key component of roguelike games is their ability to make each round rewarding and unique despite their fail-proof nature. It's a very carefully designed system that almost deceptively tricks players into having a good time despite the fact that they routinely fail. Loopmancer strives to make every episode rewarding because her roguelite progression really begins at the end of the game.
The first half of Loopmancer offers upgrade materials and low-level weapons at a slow pace before increasing rewards in the second half with legends and mountains of upgraded cores. As a result, eBrain makes for an uneven experience where players can feel like they've been spinning their wheels on the first two missions for hours before the mechanics kick in and can get through the second half relatively quickly. There could have been a better way to allow players to find and earn higher quality weapons early in the game to achieve a more balanced roguelite experience. As it is, Loopmancer's early drip-feeding progression makes the game seem tedious and boring at times.
On top of that, Loopmancer preloads the dialogue and cut sequences at the start of each run, making it tedious to get back to the action. There is an option to skip dialogue, but it still requires running through a couple of full areas, loading screens, and clicking through some menus before players get back into the fight. The Loopmancer's attempt to fuse roguelite mechanics into a compelling, dialogue-rich story is a novel concept but makes new episodes a chore through extended gameplay sessions.
Traversal is another sore spot for the Loopmancer. The levels offer some rudimentary platforming sections that fail when the game wants to be more mechanically rigorous. Namely, the mechanics of wall jumping aren't as straightforward as the rest of the driveline. Players will find themselves battling with the controls in sections that require precise timing and spatial awareness in a few areas. Wall jumping isn't something the game calls for regularly, but it's hard to bear when it happens.
More often than not, Loopmancer presents itself as a game struggling with an identity crisis. On the other hand, there's a solid 2D action-adventure game with enough flair and tough combat to be an engaging and cohesive experience. On the other hand, there is a roguelite that struggles to find balance in its implementation of the genre and ends up making the gameplay unnecessarily tedious and sometimes boring. Loopmancer steps forward with its gritty story, frantic action, and eye-catching aesthetic. Other than that, eBrain's first title needs some tweaking with its roguelike premise to create a more balanced game.
Loopmancer is now available for PC.
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