Heroes of Loot Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Heroes of Loot
Genre: Action, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC, PS Vita and mobile)
Developer|Publisher: Orange Pixel
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £6.99 | EU 7.99 | US $7.99
Release Date: December 8^th 2020

Review code provided with many thanks to Orange Pixel

Twin Stick Dungeon Crawling

Orange Pixel returns with another title from its back catalog wrapped up in a nice little package just in time for the Christmas season. Heroes of Loot is one of the developers earlier titles that brings the rogue lite design with the witty humour Orange Pixel is well known for and adds it to a dungeon crawler.

The game plays as a twin stick shooter. You enter a dungeon, with your end goal to find the key in each level and reach the exit. But to do that you need to take out hordes of enemies while collecting a plentiful amount of treasure in the way. There’s also secret rooms to find, power-ups to collect, shops to spend your money and even the odd side mission to take on.

Each dungeon is randomly generated so each time you restart the level the design and enemies are different, adding to that addictive arcade incentive to try again over and over. The more you play the game, the more new content gradually unlocks such as new enemies or new gameplay features like rescuing prisoners in cages. A small witty cutscene usually plays, making fun of the situation as well as adding in the odd pop culture reference for good measure.

Choose Your Hero

Pick your hero from four classes Elf, Warrior, Wizard and Valkyrie, all of which have their own unique stats and weapons. There is also a fifth character to unlock if you are able to delve deep enough into the dungeon. It’s fun to experiment with each class and a second player can jump in and take on the dungeons with you in co-op.

Heroes of Loot has a much easier barrier to entry than other Orange Pixel titles. The games difficulty starts out quite casual and manageable. On my first play-through I was able to get through over 20 floors. As you play though the game does increase it’s difficulty and before you know it your run will come to end. It’s worth noting that the higher difficulty will remain even on a restart. I was surprised when re-attempting the game to die on the very first floor when on the previous run I did so well. If you head into the options you are able to turn down the difficulty again to a more manageable level.

The Arcade Feel

Everything Heroes of Loot does is solid. The controls are solid, graphics and sounds are simple and retro adding to the gameplay fun. It all runs well and plays great on both handheld and TV mode. I also didn’t encounter any glitches or bugs during my playtime. I guess the only niggle is that some people might find the design simple and lacking in depth. If you’re a fan of the old arcade games like Gauntlet and Robotron this won’t be a problem, myself very much included in this category. But it’s understandable that some gamers may expect a little more. Heroes of Loot is a game where you move from floor to floor aiming for a high score and that’s about it. A lot of games have attempted this design but I will say no one designs games like Orange Pixel. His unique take on this design still shines through even all these years later.

Heroes of Retro

Heroes of Loot is a simple fun arcade gameplay to play in those short gaming bursts alone or with a friend. While there’s not much more depth to its design sometimes simple is all some gamers need.

Final verdict: I like it