Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark PC review — Going through the motions

I’m a big fan of Gal Guardians: Demon Purge, so this game shot right up to the top of my list when it was announced. While the first game was more in the style of classic Castlevania games, Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark is a full-on Metroidvania. Series developer Inti Creates doesn’t make many of those, so I was doubly excited. The game has the same general look and feel as most of the developer’s games, fitting comfortably alongside them, albeit sticking out due to its much longer runtime. That being said, it’s mostly a competent Metroidvania that does certain things well, while resting a bit too strongly on typical genre aspects.

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark starts with demon maids Kirika and Masha returning to the home of their employer, the demon lord Maxim. They arrive just in time to see the castle laid waste by the head maid under the direction of an opposing demon lord. The castle inhabitants, including Maxim himself, have all been reduced to bones, but Kirika and Masha can return them to life by finding their souls. Luckily for them, Maxim himself is able to give his soul form and the three of them set out to restore him to life by collecting his bones across the game’s large map.

This is very much a typical Metroidvania in a lot of ways, but with some major differences. The most obvious is that, just like the last game, you have two characters at your disposal. The game can be played either in co-op or single player, the latter allows you to swap between the two characters at will. Kirika and Masha may be new characters, but they’re much like Shinobu and Maya in the first game. Kirika has guns (a pistol for regular attacks and a shotgun for her dash attack) and Masha has a whip. The sub-weapon selection has been massively expanded. There are a ton now that can even be improved via a blacksmith in the castle.

The other big difference is how levelling works. Kirika and Masha level up and get stronger, but the levelling system lies solely in finding Maxim’s bones. These are typically found in chests or dropped by enemies. Once you have enough, you need to simply return to Maxim’s throne room and you’ll level up, increasing your health and demon power that lets you use sub-weapons. Reaching certain level milestones grants the ladies new abilities, which is mostly how you’ll be able to reach new areas instead of acquiring abilities out in the word. That being said, some sub-weapons you find still do this.

While novel, this does affect the game’s pacing in some notable ways. At times, enemies will completely stop dropping bones because the game doesn’t want you to be able to grind your way to progress, so reaching the next milestone can get a little wonky. I finished the game at level 44 out of 50, despite having searched the entire map very carefully. There’s a true ending that seems to only be attainable if you’re at max level, but finding all of the bones is a bigger task than you might be thinking.

At least Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark‘s map system is solid. It notes down treasure chests and certain gates that require rune glyphs to open, but it doesn’t have as much detail as I would have liked. Additionally, you can’t place your own icons. Gameplay-wise, the controls are very much up to Inti Creates’ usual standards. Everything’s responsive and the platforming controls feel pretty solid. Combat does seem somewhat limited, however, which is worsened by how almost all of the attention in that regard is paid to sub-weapons. The thing is, the game doesn’t really make it anywhere near necessary to bother with these.

I almost never used sub-weapons outside of lanterns to light up dark places, as the main weapons usually get the job done. There’s sadly no way to upgrade main weapons either, which I thought was strange considering the first game. For instance, Shinobu was able to learn to shoot upward and got missiles added to her shot. Kirika’s attacks, on the other hand, are the same in hour 1 as they are in hour 12. I really wish the devs had split some of that focus instead of going all-in on limited-use sub-weapons. It’s a real waste.

The world itself is also a bit of a missed opportunity. The game’s level design is fine. It’s memorable enough in terms of layouts and is fairly fun to explore. But all of the biomes are just so generic. While there are castles to explore in the game, the vast majority of your time will be spent in outdoor areas. You’ve got a forest, a desert, a frozen place, a lava place, a series of caverns, and a water area. These biomes have absolutely been done to death, not only in this genre, but in every genre. I was really hoping to see some more creativity here, especially since the first game was better in this respect.

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark has a bunch of boss battles to sink your teeth into, but I honestly wasn’t crazy about most of these either. They’re mostly just very tanky and not all that fun to fight. The final boss is kind of egregious in this way. Getting the normal ending, at least, requires you to fight his second phase three times in a row. Boss fights just often feel like they go on for far too long. Thankfully, Kirika and Masha have great survivability. Just like in the first game, if one dies, the other can resurrect them. Also, Maxim has a few powers that use up his ability gauge, with the first of these being a heal. Later on, you get an ability to swap to the other character when one takes a fatal hit, keeping the combat flowing.

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark took me about a dozen hours to get through, but there are occasional problems with signposting and a lack of clarity that can easy add on to this. The game is perfectly solid, but I can’t help but feel that it’s too workmanlike overall and that it doesn’t live up to its potential. Considering that this is the first full-length Metroidvania that Inti Creates has ever made, I was expecting more. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a perfectly serviceable game here, but I’m still hoping we get something a bit more special next time.

Check out our previous review:

Assassin’s Creed Shadows PC review — Nice head, think I’ll take it |