Game Review: Teppo And The Secret Ancient City

By Al

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

Action platformers are all the rage these days, but what about ones that feature an explorer traversing lost cities in the wilderness? Those might be a bit rarer, and that's exactly what we get in Teppo And The Secret Ancient City, a retro-styled action platformer that is out now for all major consoles and PC. We're going to be taking a look at it now and see if this is a title that you're going to want to add to your collection, or if it's something that's better left unearthed. Without further ado, let's dive in and find out!

Good luck even getting one.

Don't expect weapons most of the game.

Teppo And The Secret Ancient City puts you in the shoes of the titular hero who himself is something of a mix between Pitfall Harry and Indiana Jones. He's relaxing in a bar in some Amazon-like place one day when a native tells him about a secret lost city that contains lots of treasure. This intrigues Teppo and he immediately sets off to find this equally titular city. His goal of course is to find adventure, and maybe to reclaim the city's treasures for himself. I'm actually a little confused regarding Teppo's motivations in this game, as I'm sure if he's doing a Pitfall Harry or an Indiana Jones here. Basically if he's looking for fame and money, or wants the treasures in a museum respectively. I guess it doesn't matter, and this thin setup is just an excuse to lead us into the main action platforming adventure. After a short tutorial that displays a lot of gameplay mechanics that you'll barely use in the game (more on that later), you then find yourself in a vast, expansive series of ruins. Is this the mysterious secret ancient city? Well, only one way to find out! While I don't think this game gets any big points for originality when it comes to story, I did find it very reminiscent of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, which was something of an old favorite of mine. Even though it has none of that game's smooth animations or vine swinging, I couldn't help but compare the two. I know this is a bit of an unfair comparison, but I don't make it too often, so don't expect lots of comparisons in this review. Anyway, let's talk gameplay.

Discussing gameplay in Teppo And The Secret Ancient City is pretty simple, as there isn't a whole lot here that's unique to it. You run, you jump, you double, and you fight/avoid enemies and hazards to collect gems and treasures. Gems are the single most important thing in the game as you have to collect all of them within a stage to clear it. Areas in levels are often gated off Metroidvania-style, but they can be opened by either flipping switches, or by acquiring a treasure. Sometimes these unlocked areas will be far back in the level, but you'll have to explore each one if you want to get all those gems. Enemies are scattered throughout the game, and they can mostly be taken out by jumping on them Mario-style, but some can only be killed by weapons. No matter how you take out an enemy though, it will respawn quickly and infinitely. Because of this it's best to simply avoid enemies unless they're completely blocking your path. Stage hazards also exist, and these can be things like lava pits, swinging saw blades, spiked walls or pits, and so on. Teppo starts each level with five lives and four hit points. Extra lives and health replenishment items can be picked up, but they're not too numerous. Besides picking up spare hearts for health, the only way to heal Teppo is to touch a checkpoint. These checkpoints are also where you'll respawn if you die. Weapons can be picked up too, but there are usually only one of these in each level, and they are not all that helpful when you remember that enemies refuse to stay dead. A portal will open at the bottom-most area of the level if you collect all the gems, and it's Game Over if you lose all your lives. That's pretty much it. That's the game. It's an action platformer that features a lot of tricky platforming, but there isn't a whole lot to talk about regarding gameplay. It's rather simple, can be learned quickly, and you can pick it up and play at any time without having to learn any complicated mechanics. There is a blueprint for a great game here, but as we'll see in a bit there are a few things that keep it from its full potential.

This is probably the only portal most will see.

Lots of gems...

Now let's talk about some of this game's biggest problems. First we have the tutorial versus the actual game. The tutorial shows you a pretty action packed experience where you're grabbing weapons left and right, taking out enemies with ease, ignoring the fact that they respawn near instantaneously. Then you get into the game and spend much of it with no weapon at all. Also, the weapons themselves are locked to certain stages. The first stage only has the boomerang, so don't even think you're going to see bombs or guns there. I don't think I've ever had a game catfish me before, but that's what I felt like it had did after I cleared the first stage. Next up are those respawning enemies. I get why the developers would want to have enemies respawn, but they literally do so in about two or three seconds here. There were several times I killed an enemy on a platform, only to have it respawn before I'd had a chance to jump away. Add to this the fact that some enemies move extremely fast, and you have a recipe for pure frustration. Even if you can get beyond that, there's the level design to fight next. The entire mechanic of switches and locked doors is made broken by the fact that all save points are one-time use. If you activate a save point deep within a level, and then realize you missed an unlock way back at the beginning, you're in for a terrible time as you will have to make the trek without any sort of safety net. Your obvious thought would be to just forget about things you missed in those earlier sections, but you literally can't beat this game's levels in unless you collect every gem within them. I nearly quit the first stage because of this, and did quit the second when I realized that I was going to have to do this over and over again. There were even times when I felt my save file was ruined because of missed gems, and I had to completely restart the game. While I get that the game may have been going for ultra-hard, old school mechanics, how they're implemented here makes the game a chore, and I can't imagine others having much more fun with it than I did. I actually looked up gameplay online to see if this was just a me thing, and I now seriously think that I'm the only person online who has actually completed the first stage. It's rare that a game with this much potential completely drops the ball like this, but here we are.

Treasure ahead!

I wish these save points worked better.

At least the game looks really good right? I really dig the graphics in Teppo, and they are probably the best parts of the game as a whole. They're all pixel-based, and the backgrounds are well-done and full of detail. Everything has a very cartoon-y look to it, and this is a style I could really get behind. I imagine a slight demake of this game could've run on old 16-bit hardware, and have been based on some cartoon from the time; it all fits that sort of aesthetic perfectly. While I got very annoyed with the constant monster respawns, I have to admit that I think that they looked pretty cool otherwise. I'm not as much a fan of Teppo's squat design, but it too grew on me after a while. It's not all just retro graphics though, as there are some cool lighting effects, and things like the lava look highly detailed. This is also as good a point as any to mention that the game ran perfectly on the Nintendo Switch in Handheld Mode, which is always my barometer for such things as it's usually the least optimized way to play most any current game. The problem with the graphics is the same as the game itself though, in that they overstay their welcome. After being stuck in some stages for over thirty minutes, I started to despise the levels themselves, and quickly realized that they weren't all that unique after all. While there are some cool-looking above ground areas, everything underground felt very same-y after a while. One area looks like the next, and finding that final gem or two you missed will drive most players insane. I also started to notice weird graphical quirks (glitches?) like how I was never able to tell where water would be until I was in it. I'm not sure if this is a graphical glitch or not, but it was weird to say the least. I still have to say that the graphics are great overall, but they're brought down by other parts of the game's mediocrity.

Impressive lava.

Oh, and THESE water effects are pretty cool.

Music is another area where Teppo shines, with this game featuring one of the best retro-inspired soundtracks I've heard in a while. I really didn't like being lost in those levels, having to endlessly backtrack or restart, but I really appreciated that I was given some really good music to listen to while I slowly regretted picking up this game for review. I especially like the way the music shifts while you're in the game's giant levels, similar to a Metroidvania game, even though the level design don't shift with it. I didn't hear a single track that I didn't like, and I honestly stuck with the game far longer than I would have otherwise simply because I was vibing with the music. Sound effects don't fare quite as well, as they are rather low in the mix and are easy to miss, but this can of course be adjusted in the options. I'm usually critical of games that have a meh sound mix by default, but the amazing music made me forgive this small affront. A voiceover narration might've been cool, and helped the overall presentation, but I understand why it might ruin the aesthetics the game was going for. It's honestly a shame that music this good is stuck on a game like this. If the game had been better, perhaps more people could've heard it. As it stands now, it's a shining gem within a rather mediocre game.

I guess by nature of the forced collect-a-thon, Teppo And The Secret Ancient City is a highly replayable game as you'll be scouring levels for those few gems you may have left in an unseen corner of the level. While I do feel that it wears out its welcome long before you get to the end, its $7.99 price tag makes the uneven gameplay loop sting a lot less. There are definitely worse games you can get in that same price range, and there are a lot of great things to enjoy here. I would really like to talk to anyone who has 100% complete this game though, because they have far more patience than I could ever muster. I don't think such a person exists out there, but one can hope.

Get prepared for lots of switch pulling.

Seriously, WHAT DID I MISS?!?!

That just about sums up my thoughts on Teppo And The Secret Ancient City. It has amazing graphics and music, but it drops the ball completely when it comes to gameplay. I can't help but feel that this game would be a hundred times better if they just went the standard platformer route, like just ran with the (possible) Pitfall influences and didn't make it so frustrating to complete a level. That said, if you're looking for a retro-styled action platformer, especially one that has a strong focus on collecting, then this one is for you. Everyone else might be better off picking up the 16-bit Pitfall sequel from the 90s.

Check Out Teppo And The Secret Ancient City on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/teppo-and-the-secret-ancient-city-switch/

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

Overall: B

Pros:
+ A fun, challenging retro game that is reminiscent of the Pitfall series.
+ The pixel-based graphics and amazing lighting make for a very visually impressive game.
+ Has one of the best retro-inspired soundtracks I've ever heard.
+ Controls are very tight, and things become enjoyable whenever you acquire a weapon.
+ While I feel that the game overstays its welcome at times, there is a lot of content here.

Cons:
- The levels are far too long, and the lack of an in-game map makes them feel like a chore to complete.
- Finishing levels is made harder than it should be thanks to the save points only being single use.
- Quickly respawning enemies, tons of stage hazards, and few recovery items, make for some uneven difficulty spikes.
- Thin story aside, it can be hard to continue playing a game that's this long and repetitive.
- The tutorial promises a far more action-packed experience than what the game actually delivers.

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.a

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It takes a lot to actually continue this one.