A twin-stick action roguelike with bullethell properties, Mystic Gate is a decent game if you are not exhausted of the entirely overused rogue genre.
Published by EastAsiaSoft, this ten-dollar digital download provides plenty of entertainment if you have the tenacity to get good. Like most other games in the rogue genre, the difficulty is set at such a high level that you probably won’t be able to finish the first stage after multiple attempts. With each run, you’ll gain a tiny amount of currency which can be put toward unlocking and leveling numerous passive and active abilities that don’t reset with each death. In other words, you’ll need to grind for gold slowly, getting a little better each time.
The twin-stick controls work well and there is a liberal aim assist feature. Dash will become a necessary skill to learn, and local co-op is available which helps ease the difficulty a bit. The pixel art design is also charming, but the short looping musical tracks will have you reaching for the mute button by the end of the first run. There are other unfortunate glitches that hold back the experience, like when your character continues to move in the direction you were moving when the analogue stick is released, or how the rumble motor in the controller doesn’t deactivate when you take certain damage.
In short, Mystic Gate is a perfectly fine twin-stick action roguelite at an attractive price point… just as long as you are not exhausted of this overused die-and-try-again gameplay, and you happened to land on this one instead of the dozen other rogue titles released this week.
SCORE: 7/10
Also Try: Mana Spark
Don’t Forget About: the dozen rogue titles released last week
Wait For It: the 7 rogue titles to hit your digital marketplace of choice next week
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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