Publisher/Developer: Secret Base
Where to buy: Steam
Growing up as a wee lad, I had a couple choices in terms of what video games to play as I was a lucky boy and had both the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. With that luxury, one of my favorite game genre was the arcade based beat’em ups. Just the simple joy and excitement from knocking your enemies around all across the screen seemed to define my gaming style in the early 90’s.
Why do I bring this up? The fact that in today’s current age, it seems beat’em ups are slowly fading from mainstream glory. Thankfully, not everyone has forgotten about the 90’s glory days. Secret Base’s love letter to the genre is a fulfilling affair, but not without its flaws.
Immediately after starting the game you are presented with a story unlike any beat’em up so far. You are a convention goer who I assume is cosplaying his favorite hero, who once selected as your fighter magically transforms taking on traits from their respective games. With 4 characters to select at the start that each have their own different fighting style, there are plenty of options open at the start of the game.
I cannot talk about the start of the game without one of the first flaws becoming apparent. In order to use a controller, you must manually set the attacks and actions your character performs on the controller. This is a small gripe, but here is hoping that maybe a patch will be released to eliminate this all together, as the game screams for controller support.
Devil’s Dare is filled to the brim with cameos and nudges to other video games. Each one of your playable characters has elements from some kind of video game. You have a girl in a mech that handles much like the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s arcade games, to a Golden Axe style 2 handed axe wielder. In total, there are 6 characters altogether, and each one has their own strengths and weaknesses, allowing for a variety of play styles.
Those play styles will come in handy because making progress in Devil’s Dare can be very challenging. You are in charge of clearing the world of zombies, through 4 stages. One of the most redeeming parts of Devil’s Dare is how you can tackle any the stages at anytime, and depending when you tackle the stage the enemies you fight will be different, which allows for great replay-ability. This game can and will become a difficult and often frustrating experience. What tops the experience is if you die and do not have the item needed to revive you are done. Game over. Your file is deleted. While I understand this was done to emulate the feeling of running out of quarters at a arcade, I personally have never enjoyed the “Once you die, you are done.” gimmick of some games.
If you used to play these games with your friends, you better hope you have them on your couch. Devil’s Dare offers local co-op, however there is no multiplayer co-op. This saddens me as the game screams for it. With such an emphasis on the difficulty, having an online co-op mode would make the game much more accessible to gamers who do not feel like investing time with the chance of said time being wasted. There are updates planned, so hopefully Secret Base hear the cries of us convention goers and gives us some sweet online co-op in an update of some kind.
Gameplay itself is what you would expect of a arcade style game. Simple 2 button controls that are easy to pick up and play, yet difficult to master. The combat becomes highly skill-dependent as you progress through the game, quickly taxing you as you try not to die until you have enough money to continue or have a Soul Token. Money is a crucial part of the experience. Do you spend money on that stat boost, or do you save it in case you die? Your choice may very kill you.
The music in the game is a mixed bag as there were times I was really into a stage due to the environment and ambiance, and others where the music doesn’t quite match what I am seeing and experiencing on screen. I did however enjoy the music more than dislike however so if you are intending to buy and play Devil’s Dare you may have a different opinion overall.
Devil’s Dare is a charming love letter to the late 80’s and early 90’s era of video games, with multiple references and cameos to the games of old. While there are a few head scratching omissions, I enjoyed my time with Devil’s Dare and can recommend it to any arcade beat’em up fans looking for a budget title with a new story around a familiar concept.
