Magic, mysteries and mayhem!
As the above mentions, this is an average day in many a wizard’s life, and that rings true in the newest rogue-like metroidvania. Taking the brutality and frantic nature of Dead Cells and turning into a 2D shooter is an interesting take, but UpFox labs have taken this task under their wing and produced a weirdly wonderful mash-up that many of us wouldn’t have expected!
Starting with a backstory told in limerick form, we find out that every so many years, a demon king rises, and it’s up to wizards to beat them down and maintain peace, but dark times call for drastic measures, and this time players are in charge of an apprentice. A clumsy apprentice, and they’re the world’s best shot, thus begins Folly of the Wizards.
Like indie darling Binding of Isaac, we start with very little and are thrown in at the deep end. Every run we start fresh, with no carry-over of items or secret powerups, and no over-all story progress from run to run. Aiming is very important, and is controlled with the second stick
Each of the playable wizards can use a variety of elemental attributes with their basic shot which alters the default shot, having multiple elements will randomly change a shot to a different element, there’s not really a bullet synergy mechanic here either, it’s more of a chance.
It is a tough game, you will die fast if you’re not careful. Luckily, we can escape danger with an invincible dodge and a jump to avoid enemies. Like many other roguelikes the power you hold can accumulate after each NPC interaction or reward room. Defeat the assorted beasties in each room and get closer to the zone boss. Make no mistake though, this game can be very tricky, often your reflexes will be faster than your firing speed so patience is also key here.
The movement is fine, but the game does feel a little slow, especially compared to other roguelikes, and from what I played, there wasn’t really a way to increase my shot speed or range and even stacking element scrolls doesn’t really change the damage, more the chance of the shot element being fire, water, earth, lightning, etc the dash is about the best thing in your arsenal but even then it has a cooldown.
The game has a lot of promise that, sadly, feels as though slightly under-delivers on, with many relics not really making sense with what they do or change about your character’s abilities making it hard to know what you’re actually doing, which is perhaps fitting for a clumsy mage apprentice.
Each new zone adds new, trickier enemies for our clumsy apprentice to try and surpass, luckily there’s a cast of allies for our intrepid hero, featuring a wizard, a vampire, a merchant and a king. Each of these can bestow new powers unto you via spell scrolls, tomes or relics and the occasional chunk of slimes; the game’s currency. The relics that you can find are varied and interesting, though they don’t always improve your character. Some add flavour or comedy to damage or movement, and some are more interesting, like a crystal that turns your default shot into a splintering diamond with a pierce effect.
Visually, the game is pretty with a lot of care clearly put into the locales and models of the various friends and foes you’ll find in the numerous biomes your quest takes you through. Some of the spells have fun graphics too, like the belching frogs and the like. I will say that the illustrations are definitely the most stand out element of Folly of the Wizards, almost like a mix of Rayman Legends and Binding of Isaac and clearly a lot of love went into the presentation, but the audio does leave something to be desired. The backing tracks are harmless and fit the tone the game is going for, and the sound effects used in Folly sound like they were made by a small VA team, it’s clear they had fun with it but it comes across more as a group of kids playing pretend with various doops and belches rather than a grandiose adventure to save the world.
Verdict
Folly of the Wizards is fun, if not a little underwhelming. If you enjoy hard gameplay with arguably pretty solid RNG mechanics, the skill ceiling is pretty high, and it does come across a lot more like a classic roguelike than the newer iterations on the market. There’s hours of gameplay and it’s genuinely pretty satisfying to get further in your runs as you unlock more strange relics and the like. I do think that it could do with an update that explains how the items work, maybe in the compendium as they’re a little cryptic, and it can be a bit difficult to track your progress with nothing progressing between your runs. It’s a pretty big game content wise, but it’ll only take up about 1GB of your console’s memory and with many attempts ending relatively prematurely it’s great as a loading game, or to kill time while at home or travelling. It has as much potential as the playable wizards which is a lot, despite the game’s claims otherwise.
Where to Buy
- Nintendo eShop
- • Price:
- • Link:
- Nintendo eShop
- Price:
- Link:
#AffiliateLinks – Prices correct at time of publishing.
Credits
Written by Luke Young
Edited by Mark McAllister
Graphic Template by Paul L. Russell
Disclaimer: Occasionally, we are sent a copy of the game from the publisher to review.