In these reviews, I’ve spoken a lot about my deep love for the horror genre, but that’s not where my passion for gaming began. No, I fell madly in love with gaming before I even knew what a Silent Hill Nurse was, and that is all because of one game, Tetris.
Like many kids born in the 90s, my first introduction to the gaming world came about through cheap knockoff consoles and Tetris, the game parents all around the globe swore by. Tetris is also the game responsible for absorbing many, MANY hours of my life.
I want to say that my love for the deceptively simple game only constituted a fad and that I grew out of it, but that’s not true. I firmly believe that once Tetris has touched you, you never fully move on, and a part of you is always trapped in the world of endless falling blocks. But why am I here, waffling about Tetris, I hear you ask? Well, because Loot River is Tetris on drugs for adults.
First, let me start by saying that if you aren’t someone who can squeeze some twisted kind of fun out of constantly dying, time and time again and starting from square one each time, then Loot River is not the game for you. The game isn’t overly long, and you should be able to finish your first full run of the game in roughly 6 hours. But be warned, those 6 hours can feel like a lifetime when you keep dying to the same boss repeatedly.
The game’s movement is the core part of Loot River that drives home the Tetris roots. Movement is achieved throughout the game by shifting around Tetris-shaped platforms with one joystick while controlling your character with the other. A large part of the game will see you trying to navigate around the game’s world (a river of loot) while constantly trying to find the right shaped platform to get to where you want to go.
The game’s Tetris-esque movement system is not limited to out-of-combat movement either. Instead, you can utilise it at any point during gameplay, making for some fun and dynamic fights where I would attack and then glide away from the opponent’s grasp, laughing at their inability to follow.
Hidden beneath Loot River’s unique movement system lies a brutal and unforgiving roguelike. No matter how well you plan out your movements or how good your reflexes are in combat, and regardless of how lucky you got with loot from chests, you are always just one slip up away from oblivion. Standing at the start once again with all your upgrades lost to the river.
There is an in-game currency you acquire by killing foes called “knowledge” that can be used to unlock better gear. However, it can’t be used to upgrade anything. This means that every time you start over, you’re in the same position you were when you first started the game; you just have an elevated chance of finding better gear on your journey.
