Review | Ravenswatch - An Unkindness of Ravens
Within the last two years, there have been shocking depictions of well-known characters of myth and legend entering the public domain such as Pinocchio and Winnie-the-Pooh. Properties like Shrek have given us different versions of characters, and gacha games have introduced us to the many anime versions of Alice in Wonderland. These characters have been reinterpreted in different forms many times, but, in reality, many of them are very different from their original versions, and lots don’t get their expected happy ending. Ravenswatch pulls from a bit of both and is all the more interesting because of it.
Ravenswatch starts with a cutscene of Scarlet, whom you may expect to be an echo fighter of Red Riding Hood, undergoing a brutal transformation into a werewolf. Each character is recognisable, yet the sad tale they weave makes the game all the more gripping. You may ask initially, why would some of the more villainous members of Ravenswatch like Carmilla or Melusine work together with the characters like Aladdin and Beowulf? The answer is the same for every character – they are all banded together by their hatred of Nightmares. While their individual stories are different, Baba Yaga and various Nightmares have destroyed the lives they previously had. Gepetto’s son was killed, and his grand invention in Sugarland wasn’t a triumphant moment, but a horrible massacre. Aladdin had fallen in love with a princess and become a prince, only for the Nightmares to cause him to make a horrible sacrifice by trapping his beloved in a lamp. Melusine, a murderous siren, was mysteriously impregnated by the Nightmares, and fights for a better world for whatever her child happens to be. Through levelling up the members of the Ravenswatch, you’ll be regaled with stories, tall tales, and songs that recount how they each encountered their cruel fates. The regional accents are on full display, and the voice actors give it their all whether grunting or sharing story tidbits through the occasional dialogue. These stories aren’t anything new, but they are compelling enough to dull the repetition of traversing the same stages in this roguelike game.
This is indeed a roguelike game, and it tasks you with taking down the Master Nightmares of three stages and if you’re on a higher difficulty, an endgame boss rush. In roguelike tradition, you only have a few tries getting through an unrelenting, caustic environment with plenty of dangerous Nightmares. There are four difficulties, and if you want to finish the story or look to challenge the infamous Baba Yaga, you’ll have to engage in at least the NIGHTMARE difficulty. Passtech Games was previously known for Curse of the Dead Gods, and the brutal difficulty of that game is definitely present here. Even the initial enemies you encounter in The Dark Hills are dangerous as two to three hits from anything will put you face down in the dirt. This will force you to use one of your raven’s feathers if you have any, and if you don’t, your run is done. After dying or a run is over, if you choose to steel yourself and re-enter the fight against the Nightmares, you’ll unlock more talents, a second ultimate ability to choose from, and items. This is definitely where the core of Ravenswatch is – taking a member of the Ravenswatch and trying new strategies to overcome insurmountable odds.
Do you use the optimistic Gepetto and put his not-quite-machine, not-quite-nightmare ‘Scapegraces’ to work? Or maybe the deadly-beautiful Carmilla, who weaponizes blood, and can transform to much more ferocious form when she’s had her fill? Or perhaps you’d like to forgo having an ultimate at all, and instead be granted wishes to supercharge your other abilities with Aladdin? The depth of playing different characters and experimenting with different builds is sure to keep you busy for as long as you can stomach it. You can choose to take a friend with you in online co-op, but just know Raven’s feathers are shared between players.
The graphical style is beautiful, but it can be hard to tell when it’s day or night, as oftentimes it’s either raining or just in general a very dark and brooding atmosphere. This doesn’t make or break gameplay, but some characters' and enemies' behaviour changes, like Gnolls falling asleep during the night. Though you’ll scarcely have time for it, the intense and sinister music keeps you on the edge of your seat and enters a crescendo as you enter battle. The combat UI, characters, and enemies all look great, but I will say It can be hard to see what’s happening during some boss fights. For instance, the first boss, the Tentacle Master Nightmare has tentacles, and their ‘tell’ of winding up can just be confused with them, well, being wavy tentacles. In fact, I’d say the boss fights are one of the issues I have with Ravenswatch overall. While every enemy is dangerous, bosses veer into a territory I’d call unfair, where staying still for even half a second could kill you. The problem is that not every character is mobile despite having a dash, and some even have animations that take longer than would allow for the player to safely escape many of the bosses’ tactics. It is not a good feeling to have your ultimate, Frost Ray, interrupted by a giant tentacle squishing the Snow Queen. Additionally, bosses tend to summon minions which you need to kill for them to become vulnerable, and on the higher difficulty, can bring you back to the game over screen in seconds. Even in playing the PlayStation 5 version, loading took quite a bit of time which only served to pour salt in the wound of when I had a very quick and unsuccessful run.
Even though I’ve just described the boss difficulty as a negative, Passtech Games shows foresight on this by having modifiers, both positive and negative. While I’m not sure why anyone would want to make the game harder outside the difficulty (it’s only a bonus to your score), you can also remove the time limit, make it day or night permanently, or start with a legendary item. You can also complete the story this way, which is an awesome accessibility feature. Passtech Games last effort, Curse of the Dead Gods, was a roguelike as well and Ravenswatch is all the better for it. There are very few bugs, and the combat, discovery, characters, and story all feel smooth as silk so doing ‘one more run’ is usually the next thing on my mind, as I finish a run or die.
When it comes to issues I might have with Ravenswatch there are very few. There are some minor graphical glitches with flying enemies, but most everything else has been polished to an impeccable shine. One thing that is odd is that the main menus are slightly isometric. I understand Passtech Games making that decision as you’re reading from a ‘storybook’, but especially if your display isn’t sight-level in front of you, it creates an uncanny feeling before getting used to it. One last note, Balor's Eye seems to be broken (in the player’s favour) unless I'm not understanding what ‘+100% damage per extra charge’ means’.
Ravenswatch is a fantastic game and proves just because it’s the same old song, it’s still worth listening to. A corrupted world with varied champions to take, many different combinations of skills, modifiers if you need more or less of a challenge, and all that even before considering co-op. While you may run into some issues if you’re a ‘purist’ or trying to do a ‘no death run’, it’s an otherwise outstanding package. Even still, the game has oncoming DLC if you’ve somehow mastered the game already. Answering the call of the Ravenswatch wasn’t just my duty, but my pleasure.
