Saviorless Critic Reviews

Saviorless is a dark, frightening, often sorrowful tale that took me a little while to get into and then held on tight for the duration.

Saviorless shines when players control Antar, evaluating a puzzle that might stretch across a few screens, then testing possibilities and contemplating how to reach a collectible. Combat isn’t as engaging as the platforming or the puzzle solving, and checkpoint placement is pretty bad. Thankfully, the world is intriguing enough to counter potential frustration. The impressive art style is another draw and it’s worth playing through the narrative, even without getting all the torn pages, simply to see how the developers bring this fantasy universe to life. Saviorless is a solid debut title from an indie developer and its mix of ideas is good enough that I look forward to seeing what Empty Head Games delivers next.

Saviorless isn’t perfect, but this beautifully animated, enigmatic world offers an incredibly artful and engaging experience that I would ultimately recommend.

All in all, Saviorless is an intense experience that I recommend to fans of difficult platforming and metafiction. The controls are frustrating on purpose, the puzzles are merciless, and the atmosphere is designed to stress you out. But the narrative is fantastic, especially when it’s at war with itself.

If Saviorless is Cuba’s first independent video game, then players are in for an aesthetically pleasing yet moody future of game design that touches on emotional elements that leave a mark on the psyche. Saviorless isn’t the best example of a platformer, but it’s a great start to something truly novel in the platforming space.

This game features stunning hand-drawn art and a compelling, unconventional narrative, but suffers from a lack of clear structure that loses player interest. While the unique artistic direction and intriguing story elements stand out, the frustrating gameplay mechanics and poorly paced difficulty spikes hinder the overall experience.

Thanks to its nice and quite unique aesthetic that looks like its drawn with a pen, comic style, Saviorless can draw the attention of platform fans. Its a short and mature adventure, with serviceable platforming, albeit overtly simplistic in all its aspects (other than the visuals), be it its gameplay, puzzles and storytelling.