Game Review: Lords of Exile

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC

Though Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon seems to have a rather strong hold on the retro-Castlevania revival scene, there's a new game that also takes inspiration from the classic vampire-killing game that just may challenge that position. Lords of Exile came into being via a successful Kickstarter back in 2020, and originally promised a 2021 release. Clearly some twists and turns were made along the ways as we only recently saw the game's release. Delays aside, it's now available on just about every modern platform, and we're going to be taking a look at the Steam version today. Was the long wait worth it? Does this capture that indescribable retro charm and flair? Will its villains fill the big shoes left by Dracula himself? Let's dive in and find out!

Lords of Exile puts you into the shoes of Gabriel, an orphan swordsman who was raised by a Western family in the Far East land of Exilia. His village was destroyed by a raid from the local Big Bad of the land, the evil Galagar. For reasons I'm not totally sure of, Gabriel becomes Galagar's most deadly minion. Though he upholds a personal promise to never bow to the will of anyone, even his Big Bad boss. This hubris, and the fear that Gabriel will betray him one day, prompt Galagar to murder Gabriel's fiancée in an attempt to send a warning regarding staying in line. Coming as a surprise to no one, this backfires and immediately causes Gabriel to turn towards revenge. He jumps onto the back of the nearest coach, and takes the fight to Galagar himself. And that's pretty much all the story you get until the end of the game where more is revealed and/or wrapped up. I'll be the first to say that the story in an action platformer is usually not very important in the grand scheme of things, but I was definitely disappointed by how thin the plot is. I'm not even sure what the deal is with Exilia, as it seems to be half Japan and half Western Europe at the same time. It's as if the developers were asked: "Is this going to be a game set in Transylvania or Edo?" and they answered: "Yes." None of this affects gameplay all that much, but I can't help but feel that I could've just skipped talking about the story entirely and this review wouldn't have been any worse for it. Not exactly a great start to things, but I'm sure the rest of the game will make up for it.

If you're a fan of the original Castlevania game for the NES, then you're in luck as Lords of Exile pretty much plays a lot like it. That's not totally fair as there is quite a bit here that makes it unique, but I'm sure that comparison isn't exactly an unfavorable one as far as the developers are concerned. Attacks come in the form of your sword, but you also have two sub-weapons to work with; one that shoots straight, and one that arcs upward. You can walk, jump, and slide your way through levels featuring lots of creepy monsters and more knockback than you'll see in any other game in existence. I guess walking and jumping is where Lords of Exile most closely resembles Castlevania, but this time the comparison isn't exactly favorable. Saying that Gabriel moves slow is probably the understatement of the century, as he seems to lack any sense of urgency about what's going on around him. Jumping is even worse, as it can be frustrating just trying to get to the next ledge sometimes. While you do have a bit of control over where your jump will take you, jumping never feels quite as precise as you'd like it to be. There's a stiffness to it, and you seem to move far more vertically than you do horizontally. This is made worse when you eventually gain a double jump, as it requires precise timing that means you'll probably miss about a third of your attempted double jumps because you hit the button during the wrong frame of animation. A barely mobile, stiff character probably wouldn't be too bad if the game was made with this in mind, but everything else seems to move at a breakneck speed. Enemy placement is always done in a way where each jump will be a life or death scenario, and enemies have no problem at all coming at your fast. I'm glad to say that there's pretty much nothing wrong with the sliding mechanic, but don't expect to use it much outside of moving across the screen at a pace faster than a crawl.

I didn't mean to start the discussion on gameplay so negative, but hopefully we'll find some positives as we continue. Lords of Exile features eight levels, with each level being rather long and separated into smaller sub-levels. These sub-areas have to be completed on a single life, and you'll be returned to the start of the current one if you die. This can be a bit annoying when the areas are quite long, but you at least have infinite lives to ease the sting a bit. Throughout your journey you'll come across money. Money is used to purchase items before a boss fight, and can also be used to gamble in hidden areas. I never found any real use for the money found in each level, but I guess it can be important if you're trying to beat the game without dying as you can use it to purchase healing items. Each level has a boss, and defeating them will grant you a new skill that changes gameplay. This may sound like it's dipping into Metroidvania territory a bit, but the skills are things like new attacks, the aforementioned double jump, and basically other things you'd assume would be unlocked from the get-go. You also get the ability to summon a spirit that can be used to perform long range attacks. This is sort of like an additional sub-weapon that uses a meter instead of an item, but these companions are mainly used to destroy walls that block your path. I actually wish this mechanic was more fleshed out as it could've really changed up the combat system. While I don't want to talk too much about them as to not enter spoiler territory, there are some interesting features you unlock after you beat the game. First off you get a second character that plays completely different to Gabriel, and you also unlock a Speedrunner Mode and a Boss Rush Mode. Boss Rush is pretty self-explanatory, but the Speedrunner Mode is something that scares me to the core as I think I spent about 20 minutes on every single level. There really isn't much else to say about gameplay I guess, but relatively simply gameplay doesn't necessarily make a game bad.

Want to know what does make a game bad? I'm about to tell you, but I don't even know where to begin. Before I begin, I don't want to make it sound like I hate Lords of Exile. It's a great game that charmed me enough that I never put it down, but there were some things in the game that made me regret that decision. Most of my issues revolve around the game's difficulty, but I'll try to break it down into specifics. The sheer amount of instant deaths in Lords of Exile is insane. Bosses aside, I think I died twice from losing health my entire time with the game. Every other time I was taken out by hitting something that killed me instantly. Usually this meant being knocked back into a bottomless pit. This can be extremely frustrating, and I'm still a bit surprised I didn't give up on the game early on. I don't mind a game having knockback, but the level design here felt very mean-spirited. Next up is the fact that bosses are the literal definition of a damage sponge. Every single one takes far too long to kill, and some have those good ol' instant death attacks too. Even if you manage to beat them, EVERY SINGLE BOSS HAS A CHEAP FINAL HIT. I can't stress enough how annoying it is to survive a boss battle after a handful of attempts, only to get cheesed at the very end. One time I even grabbed the orb that cleared the level AS I was hit one last time. In case you're wondering, yes, I had to beat that boss again. Once again, mean-spirited. I already talked about how I think the controls are extremely stiff, but considering it was emulating a specific game, it struck me as a really odd thing to bring forward. Everyone has played a game that has bad controls, why would you intentionally design a game with them? I could go on and on about how some of the gameplay elements just felt pointless or tacked on. Like a half-formed idea that was just left in because it might've taken too much work to remove it, but I guess what I'm really circling around to is that the game feels padded out because of its difficulty. This would be a very short game if not for the fact that you'll be a doing a lot of dying and restarting. Once again, I don't want to come off sounding like I hated the game, but I was surprised to see that just about every review on Steam seemed to be overly positive. It made me feel like I was playing a completely different game at times.

Even though I feel that Lords of Exile dropped the ball in terms of story and gameplay, I have to admit that it hit it out of the park as far as graphics are concerned. Lords of Exile is obviously going for a retro aesthetic, and it pulls it off perfectly. Many games that go for this style often go overboard in terms of visual effects, creating a look that has the old and the modern clashing a bit. Lords of Exile definitely has a lot of visual flourishes that could never be pulled off on 8-bit hardware, but it also manages to blend in and look totally natural too. I'll just say it, these are some of the best graphics I've seen in a retro-inspired game. They even pull off the atmosphere thing where everything feels moody and dark, but is somehow also full of life and color. Every character and enemy looks great, there's a lot of detail in the levels, and there isn't even a hint of slowdown to mar the experience. I even have to admit that the bosses are an impressive lot, even if they take far too long to kill. While the fourth stage was where I was beginning to question my sanity when it came to continuing to play a game that was frustrating me to no end, it also was where I was so impressed by the mysterious monstrous giants in the background that I began to just accept that I was going to have to finish this game to see what comes next. There's a lot of visual references to other classic games too. While most of them are Castlevania related, you'll get a sampling of Ninja Gaiden vibes here too. The cutscenes especially look like they were taken from that game, as does the double jump animation. Even though it shouldn't be the case at all, the graphics somehow made the game far more playable.

Since I just gushed about the graphics, I'm going to try to not do the exact same thing when it comes to music. As you may guess by that last statement, I'm a huge fan of this game's soundtrack and think that it's probably the single best part of the game. If you're looking for the next retro-inspired soundtrack to add to your collection, look no further than the Lords of Exile soundtrack. There isn't a bad song in the bunch, and there are several that are stuck in my head even now. The cutscene music adds to whatever is on screen, the level music gives you a sense of purpose to complete the tough challenges, and the boss music fills you with dread and doubt. If I didn't know any better I'd assume that the developers somehow uncovered music from an unreleased Castlevania game and snuck it in. It really is that good, and I'm definitely going to be picking up the soundtrack once I'm done here. The rest of the sound department fares well too, but I longed for voiceover for some of the game's cutscenes. I know this might break the illusion of being an 8-bit game, but it's not like the visuals aren't doing that already. I feel that some voiced sections might've given the story more weight, as it really needs something to help flesh it out. I'll be the first to admit that this is by no means a strong complaint, so I'll just throw it out there and move on.

Lords of Exile is anything but a long game and you can beat it in about 1-4 hours depending on skill level. You can double that when you fact in that there's another character to play as once you beat the game the first time, and add as much time to it as you think you'll get from completing the challenges required for the achievements. I mention all this specifically because I think this game would be extremely short if not for its difficulty. It's a game that increases its runtime by forcing you to replay many sections again and again. I've pointed it out in other retro-inspired titles that "Nintendo Hard" games are typically still loved today because they were good in relation to when they were released, and many have a nostalgia for them. Playing a game that is hard for the sake of hard is a hard sell for modern gamers who have no pre-existing ties to the game. Sure you can say "But this game is like the Dark Souls of ______", but that line of reasoning only goes so far. There were a lot of things I liked about Lords of Exile, but as I wrap up this review all I can really think about is how I don't think I'll ever play the game again after this. It had some amazing moments, but I'm not sure it was always fun. I'm sure that there's a lot of retro gamers who will scoff at me calling this game hard, but that pretty much backs up what I'm trying to say. This is a game made for a specific market, and it doesn't really offer anything that will bring in the more casual demographic. There is no Easy Mode, no instant respawns, or anything added to smooth out the rough edges for those just looking to have a good time. It's unfortunate that one of the Kickstarter stretch goals wasn't to somehow make the game more accessible. Speaking of which, I wonder why it took 4+ years to complete if the game is this short.

With everything I've said, I still have to say that I think Lords of Exile is a game that's worth picking up. Though I'm fairly positive I won't go back to it ever again, I didn't exactly hate my time with it. Fans of the Castlevania series, the NES, or retro gamers in general, will want to pick this up now on whatever platform you can. More casual players will probably still have fun here, but should prepare themselves for lots of frustration. I hope that the developers put out some sort of follow-up that addresses some of these issues, or honestly just give us some sort of sequel in general. I'll definitely be back to check it out if that happens. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a soundtrack to listen to!

Check Out Lords of Exile on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1329360/Lords_of_Exile/

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Story: C
Gameplay: C
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A
Value: A

Overall: B

Pros:
+ Great graphics and visual style make this one of the best retro-inspired games out there.
+ The soundtrack is just as good as the graphics, and there are several tracks that feel like instant classics.
+ Though not exactly a long game, there's more than enough content and unlockables to keep players occupied.
+ Captures classic "Nintendo Hard" gameplay while still making the challenges relatively fair.
+ Lords of Exile is tailor made for no damage runs, time trials, and other similar challenges.

Cons:
- The story seems a bit off with to its European and Asian elements seemingly mixed together at random, and its overall lack of integration into the game's levels and bosses.
- While most players will be able to beat the game with some perseverance, its difficulty almost seems put in place to pad out an otherwise short game.
- Though mostly modern in matters of presentation, Gabriel seems like a character plucked from the late 80s NES, clunky controls and all.
- Every of the bosses put new meaning to the term "damage sponge", and seem to take a dozen hits too many to take down.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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