Hero Siege

Developer: Elias Viglioni & Jussi Kokkonen
Steam Release: Jan 2014
Hours Played: 15.2
Similar To: Deathstate / Hammerwatch / Heroes of Hammerwatch / Overture
Rating: 4/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

Hero Siege is a pixel-art game that blends the two genres of top-down action RPG with the twin-stick shooter category. It may not be beefy enough to compete with the isometric heavyweights such as Torchlight or Grim Dawn when it comes to production values but, although basic by design, is far too elaborate to be classed as a mere simple twin-stick shooter. You play a character in the role of up to 12 different classes and enter one of seven portals - or one of seven unlockable Acts - from your home town of Inoya. You're then cast into the middle of an extremely hostile 2D world and charged with the task of battling through hordes of adversaries who gradually converge upon you. The game takes place in a fantasy setting but is marred by pathfinding problems and other issues.
   
 

BALANCE & PACE

Hit-points are displayed and rolled off as you hack and slash away at enemies while coins, potions and items are dropped and picked up as you go about your business. You'll gain experience, level -up and upgrade skills and abilities as well as sell and equip items in your very basic inventory. Each Act is divided into five unlockable areas which you can also enter from your hub or home town. These areas are further divided into six waves with a mini-boss at the end of each. A final boss for each act also makes a grand appearance. Unfortunately, I did encounter balancing issues - one in particular was where my minion had up to three times more hit-points than me and was able to destroy the Act 1 boss (Guring the Destroyer) without me even entering the fray or having to do anything at all.      

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Hero Siege may have been developed by a company with barely two or three developers but you cannot fault them for their passion and devotion to making the game work. At nearly 300 upgrades and patches it has to be the most tweaked game ever! Why I still have such an overpowered and uber minion I don't know but there it is. Each class comes with its own unique voice and I like the fact that you get 12 character slots - one for each class - displayed efficiently at the character select screen. The giblets and innards fly out satisfyingly as you slay your foes but the game seems quiet and I think there could have been more sound-effects added. Nevertheless, credit has to be given to the way the graphics and features have been vastly polished and improved since the initial release.

PROGRESS SYSTEM

Hero Siege works very much like an action RPG when it comes to reviewing progress. For starters, now, after a few expansions and added DLC (and viewed in the form of glowing portals at your home town), you can now experience seven acts - up from the original five. Additionally, you now have six difficulty settings (tweaked at a portal in the home town), up from the original four. As well as measuring progress by the act reached and the difficulty setting, the game commendably gives you 12 character slots to match the 12 different classes that you can play as - so you can play each one and see how well they compare. For those who like the company, there is a huge multiplayer element as well.   

CONCLUSION

Basic top-down shooters with RPG elements have become quite a crowded genre of late. Old contenders such as  Dungeon Souls and Overture; new contenders like Chronicon and Deathstate; the stalwart, Hammerwatch, plus the lesser known Razenroth, Riddled Corpses and Runers all jostle to get your attention. But Hero Siege has enough going for it to gain the upper hand and to rise near the top end of the pack. It can even be said it's become something of a cult classic. Granted, my minion being able to single-handedly take on bosses by himself and make critical hits of super-human proportions (not to say a few dodgy pathfinding issues) can all be overlooked and brushed aside by the way the game absorbs you into its world by its other interesting features.