Fantasy meets futurism in this twin-stick shooting dungeon crawler. The titular, ominous, mystic gate leads to a succession of increasingly difficult randomised dungeons filled with goblins, slime blobs, pigmen, floating ancient tomes, and screen-filling dragons. Rather than evening the odds with an array of magical and medieval weaponry, our daring female adventurer is armed with shotguns, pistols, missile launchers, and more. Rambo would be proud.
Pushing the premise into sci-fi territory, we’re also accompanied by a small floating robot who’s able to take down the occasional enemy with slow-firing projectiles. We initially hoped, and believed, the robot was there to give the heroine somebody to converse with mid-crawl – and that they could be upgraded over time – but no, Mystic Gate fails to make good on either of these ideas.
Suffice to say, it’s grounded when it comes to its structure. Sticking to its guns, if you will. A single screen village acts as a hub, and it’s here that quests (mostly of the kill X amount of Y variety) can be turned in, a researcher’s bestiary filled in return for cash, and new skills acquired from a merchant.
Skills are relatively inexpensive. Even when starting out, around 100 gems can be easily acquired, and many of the basic skills will only set you back 30 gems – meaning you can bolster your skill set straight away. This is one of those Roguelikes where some upgrades are essential. A good example is that the protag moves slowly and starts with a slow-firing pistol – perhaps to give time to acquaint and master the basics. Regardless, it’s vital to improve both these stats as soon as possible. Chances to find better weapons can be improved, along with more gold (used to buy items from the in-dungeon storekeeper), the chance to poison or freeze enemies, and every weapon type can be made more powerful and accurate. Active skills feature too, such as HP regain, which can only be used once per dungeon floor.
The action here is easy to read, and that’s certainly one of Mystic Gate’s strengths. Every projectile, whether it’s emitted from a lowly goblin or a dragon-sized boss, is red – a simple but effective design choice. You’re blessed with a dash move (incidentally, dash and attack are mapped to LR/RT) and can sometimes find more health by smashing vases. To open a boss room, keys are required – starting with three and soon increasing to four. This means you’ll have to traverse most of a dungeon to find and defeat enemies or hunt chests – a task not as time-consuming as it may sound, as the pace is here delightfully brisk.
Upon defeat, there’s the customary choice to return to the hub or restart instantly – albeit back from the first floor. Bosses start to alternate quickly, so even if you do find yourself replaying the first floor often you may be pitted against a new boss type, and each dungeon has a randomised layout.
The general presentation is evocative of ‘90s RPGs – very simple text and descriptions, and small sprites that lack detail but are distinct enough to tell them apart. The music is appropriately chilled while within the town hub, becoming louder and more raucous with each dungeon floor – each of which has a theme with accompanying enemy types.
I found progression in Mystic Gate relatively easygoing. After spending an hour mastering the basics and improving fundamental skills (hello, improved walking speed) I was able to make good headway, felling bosses while only taking a couple of hits. If you find a powerful weapon early on, such as a missile launcher, rooms can be cleared out effortlessly. Once the HP regen skill is acquired, the rest of the experience shouldn’t give Roguelike veterans much trouble.
Mystic Gate is competently designed, and a decent entry point into the genre, but a bit forgettable too. The local co-op mode might sweeten the deal if you’re curious.
ZOO Corporation’s Mystic Gate is out Sept 13th on all formats. Published by eastasiasoft.