Valfaris – Review

Valfaris is developed by Steel Mantis and published by Big Sugar.

Valfaris is a 2D action platformer created by the team from Slain: Back From Hell. Valfaris boasts of a very gnarly soundtrack heavy metal soundtrack composed and recorded by Curt Victor Bryant. The music amps up the atmosphere of the game. During the intense boss fights, the music ramps up and plays a steady rhythm during the rest of the play-through.

Therion is the main character returning to the planet of Valfaris. In the opening we learn Therion is searching for his father Vroll to punish him. The planet that was once lush and beautiful has been corrupted and twisted by Vroll.

Valfaris can be played with a controller or keyboard. The game has full controller support and it feels smoother using the controller. Using the controller, the actions feel on par with most other game control schemes, intuitive. Valfaris can be played in with either a controller or keyboard, however, I wholly recommend using the controller for the intuitiveness that it offers. The keyboard controls felt clunky and I had to continually look up what button did what. Using the controller however, was smooth and used a layout found in most games.

A tutorial explains your character’s abilities. Your abilities are based on melee, ranged, and special ranged attacks. You have access to a shield to block both melee and ranged attacks. If you time it right, you can catch and return ranged attacks. Both shield and special ranged attacks use your energy bar which can be refilled by using melee – which is the strongest, but slowest, attack in the game almost guaranteeing a one-hit kill. Special attacks can range from mini-guns to missile launchers. All special ranged attacks do heavy damage, but all have unique abilities.

Death is likely in Valfaris, and they have placed resurrection altars around the maps. Every time you pick up a resurrection idol, it increases your max health and max energy. You can choose to use the idols at the altars, or take your chances and risk being sent back to the last altar you used. At the end of the level, you will be able to convert the idols into blood metal. This, in turn, is used to upgrade your weapons. There are a lot of weapons to be found, some hidden extremely well.

Playing Valfaris, you really get drawn in by the soundtrack. Intense music during heavy actions sequences, but still rocking even when you are hanging from a flying worm creature. It is one of the best features of the game. The developers did an amazing job with the music.

The visuals are pixel graphics, allowing the game to be a fast paced, enjoyable romp in destruction. Blood and gore abound when fighting your enemies, especially when using your melee attack. Enemies can be cut in half with their lower half continuing to stumble around. Most end in an explosion of gore. I would go as far as saying the art style is reminiscent of Heavy Metal and Wizards. Both in style and feel, Valfaris is a great combination of both.

Overall, Valfaris is a wonderfully crafted game.