Archvale Critic Reviews

It’s been a long time since a game absorbed me quite so entirely. A first-class combination of frantic bullet hell action and endearing RPG adventuring, Archvale stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the titans that inspired it. There’s plenty of praise to be heaped upon Archvale, but the height of its thrills need to be experienced to be believed.

Archvale is just plain fun. It does what it does well, and as a bullet hell provides a serious challenge without feeling unfair. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Archvale is a fun, charming bullet hell with some incredibly enjoyable combat. It's also a satisfying role-playing game on its own, with tons of satisfying progression.

Archvale is an enjoyable, taxing little adventure with as much mirth in its heart as malice.

Archvale focuses on intense fantasy-RPG shooting action and giving the player all the tools necessary to handle it their way, and the result is a game that’s next to impossible to put down until the last arch stone is collected and even then maybe not. There’s never a bad time to test out Hardcore mode’s bigger maps and denser bullet patterns, after all.

Archvale is a lite-bullet-hell that grants players a satisfying gameplay loop fraught with consistent upgrading and intriguing customization. Its narrative is practically non-existent and forgettable, and the dullness of progression can be a bit off-putting, but you can do far worse with a cutesy action adventure. Further, there’s a noticeable level of standout polish here from the delectable sound design, which alone makes it worth experiencing.

Archvale’s big claim to fame is the meshing of RPG (items/loot) and bullet hell mechanics. Aside from that, this is an average title at best. We had fun with this one, but probably only because it is cooperative. As a single-player experience, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much. With little substance in the writing, awkward design decisions (crafting is largely pointless aside from armor and weapon drops are rarely tempting), and a cache of bugs, I would only recommend this title to bullet hell enthusiasts or those hungry for a decent cooperative jaunt.

There’s some merit in spending an hour or so dodging projectiles and dinging away at a half-dozen moving health bars, but Archvale would be immeasurably improved with more depth of content and character customization. A pure shoot ‘em up may not necessarily require those ingredients to flourish, but an action-heavy RPG definitely does, even one with such a pint-sized cute presentation. As it stands, Archvale poses some entertaining distractions for compulsive bullet-dodgers, but it could have been so much more.