Roguelikes have always been my favorite subgenre of games since they have almost infinite replayability with procedurally generated levels and a large item pool. Roguelikes also offer a unique experience where you have to play multiple times to truly understand the story and to progress in general. Many games, like The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky, have used this recipe to make them extremely successful. Heart&Slash follows its predecessors very closely in many ways but also uses a couple major features that I will talk about a bit later to distance itself. As I said before, most roguelikes have stories that are hard to really understand since they require many playthroughs to access the whole story so I will talk about that first.
In Heart&Slash, you play as a malfunctioning robot named Heart. Heart is made in a world where humans have been conquered by machines controlled by the robot leader QuAsSy (Quality Assurance System). QuAsSy wishes to conform everything to a very bleak and ordinary system but the few robots that do malfunction are fighting back for their chance to be truly unique. Heart is one of those robots that has the malfunction and is trying to escape from all the conformity to gain its freedom. Throughout the game, you will meet other robots that share this desire and maybe some that wish to end QuAsSy altogether.
I really enjoyed the story that I did get to see throughout my playthroughs of Heart&Slash since it made the game much more immersive and addictive trying to piece together everything. It also surprised me how some parts of the story weren’t clear-cut and gave the player options. The fact that the main character, Heart, was never really given a gender was also a very important detail since it gave the player an opportunity to identify with Heart no matter their gender.
Heart&Slash uses a very detailed, blocky graphics style. This really helped give the game a fun arcade feel which really complimented that same style of gameplay that I will talk about a bit later. I never encountered any actual problems with screen tearing or frame drops but I did have a serious issue with the camera.
Since Heart&Slash is a 3D roguelike brawler, you are constantly moving whether it be to dodge attacks, run away from bullets, or just to jump to kill flying enemies. You also have to be aware of your surroundings but it feels like the developers turned the sensitivity up to max but never put in any option to turn it down. The result is that any time you try using the camera it lurches instead of just turning normally which ended up giving me a headache after only twenty minutes of play. Sadly, the only solution I found for this was to just not use the camera at all and hope nothing was behind me which really took away from the gameplay. I really think that fixing the camera would make Heart&Slash much more enjoyable overall.
Ignoring the problem with the camera, the controls are actually very well done for how fast-paced the game is. You aren’t just mashing a single button, you have to use a combo between “X” and “Y” for your combos while still dodging and jumping around with “B” and “A”. One thing I did have a problem with though was how you have to hold either “LT” or “RT” to stay switched between a weapon which ends up cramping up your finger if you wish to use it as your primary. If the developers were to add the ability to switch which place weapons are in or just let you click the triggers to switch, I think it would be an easy issue to fix.
One of the best things about roguelikes are the items and I think Heart&Slash pulled them off perfectly. You won’t just have good items off the bat, you will start with the very basics but as you complete various challenges in the game you unlock better items that you can then use to progress further. Many people don’t like this system but I think it makes the game much more rewarding and gives a strong sense of progression. There are also multiple characters but I was never able to unlock any to see if there were differences.
The other thing that really helps the game pull off its roguelike side is just the overall difficulty. Rooms are usually flooded with enemies both on the ground and in the air so you really have to work out which is more important to focus on first without losing health since pickups are few and far between. You will also encounter many mini-bosses, bosses, and what I like to call challenge rooms that will reward various items and health pickups if you can beat them. With the items you collect and the enemies you kill, you will earn parts to upgrade you and your items in various ways. I had a rocket hammer at one point (Yes, a hammer with rockets on it, get with the times) and I was able to upgrade it to make me thrust farther across the room to knock enemies down. Sadly, the upgrade system is a thing I ended up having to find myself since it never gets explained to you in the tutorial.
Summary
Overall, Heart&Slash is a fast-paced 3D brawler with roguelike elements that will kick your behind and leave you with a big smile on your face. The story adds mystery and choice to the game while the graphics make it feel like you are playing a classic arcade game. The camera is very broken and while it does take away from the game it still manages to pull off some great fluid movement. The gameplay is also amazing, taking what makes similar games great and putting its own spin on it. I think if the camera and weapon switching were fixed, it could easily be one of the best roguelikes I have ever played.
Noel was a regular ICXM contributor in 2016, publishing 83 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push.