Some type of indicator to show when cut–scenes or dialogue will feature anything new would have been nice, though. Since the game is very story-rich, there’s plenty of dialogue in cut-scenes, but thankfully these can be skipped as a lot of it is exactly the same with each run. The sound effects are good, but the voice acting is very stiff and unnatural. The audio in Loopmancer fares slightly worse, with the exception of a few memorable music tracks. Everything looks great, but characters tend to look somewhat like action figures during cut-scenes when the camera zooms in closer. However, Xiang doesn’t spend all of his time beating up thugs in back alleys as he also gets to explore a rural village, luxury hotel, maritime training base, and the headquarters of a biotech company, to name a few. There’s also an abundance of reflective surfaces to add to the game’s visual appeal and plenty of great background details. The game shows that Unreal Engine 4 can still impress, and the rain-swept, neon-lit streets of Dragon City would look right at home in a Blade Runner movie. Visually, Loopmancer looks great, especially with all the settings cranked to the max. However, the upshot is that if players manage to survive it through a complete loop, they get to keep everything, including the buff bot upgrades. Many of these are quite bleak or shocking, so don’t expect too many happy endings. These choices and others during the game will then determine which one of the seven different endings players receive, provided they manage to make it through the loop successfully. This means that the majority of combat will be melee based, which is fine as bashing enemies around with everything from katanas and axes to bare fists is immensely satisfying.ĭeeper into the game, players get to choose which level to tackle next at some points, and some choices might even lead to having to complete a level within a strict time limit. Skill chips can be used repeatedly but have a long cool-down period, while tech gear can only be used a certain number of times. Guns can do serious damage but have limited ammunition that can only be refilled at designated supply caches. For the best results, players must mix and match their weapons and abilities during combat. Some of them are serious weapons, while others, like the fish melee weapon and brick tech item, tend to be a little more humorous. The game has a large assortment of each weapon or equipment type, and even after repeated loops, we were finding new ones to try out. These can all be upgraded with in-game currency and swapped out for other items in the same category once found and unlocked. Xiang is able to equip one melee weapon, one firearm along with tactical gear, and a skill chip for his cybernetic arm. These changes are not as drastic as rogue-lites with procedurally generated levels, but they add some variety to the game.įrom a gameplay perspective, Loopmancer is a 2D side-scrolling platformer with some hack and slash combat thrown in for good measure. In addition, some aspects of the levels will change in each loop to keep players on their toes. Unfortunately, the puzzles tend to be very basic and involve locked doors and corresponding switches or pressure plates. When Xiang is not busy decimating gangsters, ninjas, or mutants, there’s also some platforming and puzzle solving to be done. The result is that with each run, players are a little more prepared for the challenge ahead and a little more knowledgeable about what to expect. These include upgrade cores that can be spent on a skill tree for Xiang as well as any weapons and their upgrades that were unlocked. Each time Xiang dies, he loses his cash and equipment as well as temporary upgrades granted by buff bots, but some elements persist. Instead, the focus is on unlocking and upgrading new weapons that can help to make subsequent runs a little easier. The game features seven large levels, but the odds of players seeing everything on their first few runs are very slim. Repeated loops are nothing new in the rogue-lite genre, but the dystopian cyberpunk setting and the heavy focus on narrative make Loopmancer a unique entry. As this pattern repeats, Xiang realizes that he is stuck in some type of loop and doomed to forever repeat the same day after dying unless he can figure out what is going on and put a stop to it. Instead of dying, Xiang wakes up in his apartment with a colleague from the agency calling him about a new case involving a missing journalist. Loopmancer opens with players taking control of Xiang Zixu on the day of his death, but something strange happens after he is killed. It is a tragic end for a man who only six months earlier lost his daughter in a car crash that also crippled his wife and cost him his arm. In the year 2046, Detective Xiang Zixu is killed while investigating the disappearance of a journalist.
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