ScourgeBringer Critic Reviews

ScourgeBringer is an addictive experience that delivers terrific arcade-style gameplay. The combat is so fluid, fun and fast that you’ll easily get caught up in it for hours, and it puts up an impressive fight when it comes to delivering a tough-as-nails challenge while still being highly enjoyable, with intense battles backed up by stunning visuals and a fantastic soundtrack. It’s a roguelike platformer that can be a tough nut to crack at first, but the reward is worth all the blisters you’ll have on your thumbs.

ScourgeBringer is a beautiful game with intuitive combat and bucketloads of style. The difficulty curve is sharp, but if you can power through it you’ll find yourself ensconced in a tough but rewarding roguelike with punchy gameplay and a beautiful look to it.

ScourgeBringer is a roguelike (or roguelite, whatever) that came out a month after Hades set the gaming world on fire. A lot of roguelike games are fine. Hades set a new gold standard. And ScourgeBringer doesn’t quite manage to rise to that level. Your progress is too slow and simple. There’s a skill tree, and you spend Judge Blood on it; you make Kyhra more powerful. It works. Still though, I never felt that excited to unlock a new capability, and it took far too long before I felt like I was making any progress. Maybe I would have felt better if I was making progress across multiple fronts, but character development feels mostly linear.Still though, I never complained about character development when I was playing Sunset Riders on that emulator. I played it a zillion times, trying to beat the next boss or get a high score. That game could entertain me for hours, simply because it was nice to look at and felt great. And that feeling, where the controls help make the drama… you can’t fake that. That’s why you’re going to play ScourgeBringer and you’re going to enjoy it.

What is the current state of Scourgebringer as it enters Early Access? It’s more than playable, and fans of Metroidvania or pixel-perfect platformers (or, heck, both) will definitely enjoy what they find here. Personally, I think the music is great, and I’m definitely going to keep playing it as it journeys through toward its final release.

Scourgebringer offers a challenging and chaotic roguelite experience that manages to be as addicting as it is frustrating. The mechanics are sound with a responsive combat system and intense battles, even with the limited enemy variety. You may suffer many deaths, but Scourgebringer is just one of those games that you can’t help accept the punishment and then jump back in for revenge.

Despite some frustrations when it came to keyboard controls and repeatedly starting over again with nothing, ScourgeBringer is a surprisingly chill experience considering how difficult it is. Even though I died repeatedly, I never felt like rage-quitting, which is honestly a pretty solid accomplishment. With glorious pixel art, engaging fighting sequences, and plenty of exploration, ScourgeBringer is an absolute treat for veterans of the roguelite genre who want some punishing pixel art play. If you’ve got a controller handy for your PC, I don’t see why you wouldn’t pick up this title; if not, consider getting it on console (or getting a controller) for a more seamless experience.

Quotation forthcoming.

Scourgebringer is a rogue-lite based primarily on combat and skill. Fighting being the essence of the game, you have to be patient and diligent in the confrontations, in order to develop your skill to face the real challenges. The wide range of moves and the very satisfying fights make the runs enjoyable. However, because of the lack of depth in the mechanics, the game runs out of steam after only a few hours of play. Nevertheless, it remains a good pick for those who expect a rogue-lite to deliver smooth, frenetic and rewarding fights.

ScourgeBringer has strong pixel visuals, extremely tight gameplay, and a high level of challenge. But a lack of variety limits its appeal.

Scourgebringer will be manna from heaven for players craving a fluid, smooth roguelite with hair-raising action. While I wasn’t crazy about graphics and the relative lack of freedom in building my character, I kept coming back because of how it all came together when I found a good groove. With a more distinct art style and some tweaks to the controls, this could have been a real classic.

ScourgeBringer manages to work on the strength of its controls and the overall smoothness of its combat.

There is something special here for those who want a mechanical experience that can bring about a fluid, satisfying flow state. For everyone else, the game should be a blast to watch at GDQ.

Failing to have a great replayability and to vary the gaming experiences, ScourgeBringer offers players twenty hours of a challenge as hard as it is satisfying.

If anything, ScourgeBringer wallows in roguelike trends instead of staking a real claim to the genre. The basic combat - a genuinely hard gameplay element to design, where other more successful roguelikes falter - is so confidently realized that it longs for a deeper, wilder game built around it.

I do think it is too “hurt me plenty” for me, only just. The sensation of being slapped right back to the start every time and having to repeat the opening level is as likely to produce a frustrated sigh as it is to inspire a “one more go” mentality. In this case, new minibosses have started to appear to offer some variety. But I’m probably bowing out, at least for the time being. That’s okay. I can appreciate the knuckle-cracking attitude of improvement-by-death while also being ready to lay down my demon razor and die no more. You win this one, ScourgeBringer.