Sephiria is *the* action adventure roguelike to pick up
Play as a pixelated bunny and swipe, slash, and dodge your way to... victory?
I picked up Sephiria when it came out of early access, back in August, after Arknoodle suggested it to me. And since then it has been hard to put the game down! This game, made by the South Korean indie Team Horray is very likely the top action roguelike of the year.
From satisfying combat, great music, novel inventory management, and many different play styles, this games packs it all in a visually cool world. Not surprisingly, the game is the #2 best reviewed Roguelike in the past 90 days (and Action Roguelike, Roguelites, Pixel games, etc). True to its genre, this game gets more fun every run.
If that's not strong enough of an argument: here's 5 reasons to play it!
robbietron rates Sephiria as a favorite!
“Slowly progress a dark story while unlocking interesting weapon combos, play-styles and fighting your way to defeat the real boss, and achieve... victory? As a bonus: The soundtrack of this game has been living in my head rent-free.”
1. Fantastic story
When you wake up in a haunted and pillaged village, you instantly realize that this game’s looks are deceiving. At first glance, the cute, pixelated Bunnyville might remind you of Stardew Valley, and some basic farming and building chores confirm the resemblance. But this game is packed with a mysterious, dark force that only one hero can face: you!
2. Nice progressive combat
Personally, I’m not great at button-mashing action games, and fighting top-down boss battles with a controller used to be an instant disqualifier for me. Sephiria fixed that by making the combat smooth, simple, and properly challenging.
You unlock more weapons and combos as you play. As enemies get tougher, so do you. And just when the combat starts to get a little stale, you unlock even more ways to fight!
There are also a bunch of different weapon classes to choose from, so you can find a style that suits you best.
For me, the great sword is simply unbeatable
3. Great Music
The game features 26 tracks with grand, orchestral, dare I say, Studio Ghibli-esque qualities. From epic boss-fight battles to cozy tunes, they’re all variations on the same melodies.
This tune is permanently etched into my brain.
4. Strategic inventory management
Scaling your character in a run happens by picking up Artifacts and Tablets that you place in an inventory grid. Artifacts contain powers, abilities and buffs that can be leveled. You level those by placing tablets which add or remove points to neighboring tiles. Creating the right mix of overlapping tablets and artifacts is how get to control which part of your build need boosting.
It reminds me a bit of the building system in TerraTech Legion, another favorite of mine, which adds a good balance of fighting and strategizing. Not just head-butting into fights.
The game also offers a strong meta-progression system through sapphires and talents, which alongside many other mechanics allow you to increase your chances of success.
I've you feel stuck, I noticed a huge change when prioritize unlocking talent points with sapphires and skilling 10 points into Wisdom, which allows stacking artifacts which makes rolls more useful.
5. Great Deck, Mac, and Machine support
This game plays very very well on Steam Deck, Steam Machine and even Mac. Which makes it a fun game to play on the go or when your day job offers a moment of distraction.
I have yet to try the co-op mode, which allows you to fight alongside a friend. Strong device support makes it easier to play co-op!
There are so many more small reasons to pick up this game, which I'll leave for you to explore.
Play this game if...
You enjoy top down roguelikes such as The Binding of Isaac and Shape of Dreams or when you enjoy item progression and combos found in Vampire Survivors and TerraTech Legion.
