Many roguelike games can be compared to taking traditional herbal medicine. The immediate hell of the taste of dry bark in the first twenty doses draws a parallel, in my mind, to the first twenty deaths of a resetting roguelike; the runs ending without any obvious benefit. Another twenty portions later and you’re finally understanding the draw. Everything suddenly makes sense and you’re no longer grimacing at prospect of resetting those reoccurring nightmare moments.
Zengeon is indeed a roguelike. And, yes, it takes a while to get going. The presence of permadeath, procedurally generated maps, and randomised drops, sticks the game firmly in the oversaturated genre. Leaning away from some of the traditional roguelite trappings however, Zengeon uses its isometric action RPG playstyle and anime look to attempt to do something a little different.
Yaoguai I Oughta
Despite clearly operating on a low budget, it’s immediately apparent that a lot of love has gone into the stunning artwork and impressive animation. The anime character aesthetic supports a bright, cel-shaded look, but there’s far more Chinese influence than Japanese in the overall theme here.
Taking most of its cues from Chinese culture and mythology, Zengeon uses a distinct colour palette to deliver its glorious range of historical inspiration as the perfect backdrop for some demon-slicing mayhem. Enemies encompass horns, empirical floating and all the beastly traits you want from east Asian folklore, a thematic presence further enhanced by the visual makeup of each map, with lush East Asian vegetation and the melding of modern and traditional architecture styles .
Make Some Room In Youdu
The hordes of intricately designed mythological demons are thrown at players in waves with AI as basic as it comes. Enemies will continuously run at you or, if ranged, stay back and stay fixated directly on you. Behaviour patterns then, are literally to the point and in need of an entertaining substitute. Zengeon delivers this through variety in combat.
With a cast of five characters comes an expectation of similarity in playstyles, but with some variables such as speed, range or the occupation of roles/classes, like tanks and DPS. Zengeon follows suit in this regard, but the difference in feel between characters is where it excels.
These characters take centre stage from the outset, with the character select screen effectively doubling up as the main menu. Aside from the bustling colourful designs, unique clothing, and animated personality, the biggest draw of the group is the way in which jumping between characters feels like a distinct shift beyond a regular change of class. There’s suite of four staple moves that make up each player’s repertoire, a standard attack, a multi-hit continuous spell of sorts, a dodge or dash based move and a powerful unique skill, with each subject to a cooldown, bar the basic attack combo. Each character’s individual auto-combo is delivered with different timing, weight and animation to another’s. While some of the other skills carry similar functions to that of you companion’s equivalents, they never feel resigned to a simple change of visual.
The Long March
Every run will provide opportunities to upgrade your base skills or obtain items that provide buffs or additional independent attacks. The system is straightforward and on-screen prompts give on-screen prompts as to how to map new techniques to your triggers, or how to upgrade existing skills. This quick-and-simple method of delivery keeps the pacing stable by subverting the need for complicated menus.
The trick is in stacking buffs and crafting an overpowered build on-the-fly, replenishing healing items and improving your core attack. Once the rhythm of combat takes hold, the resulting ebb and flow of the addicting gameplay loop kicks in. Never bogged down by complexity in controls, Zengeon delights in courting your need to outdo your previous best with weighing you down with more learning.
The Story mode is the standard game mode, where after a brief introductory conversation, you’re sent to the first map. Navigation is a simple affair with the generated layout comprising of boxed areas linked by short paths. Small clips in a visual-novel style are sprinkled in sparingly but, honestly, the story really isn’t the focus and acts only a vehicle to get you started and finished.
Aside from the standard story mode, there a second option in which you face wave after wave of enemies while protecting a central structure. It’s a trivial high-score chaser and a nice time-waster if you’re into the prospect of defensive busywork but adds little to the overall experience.
Diyu See That?
The latest build of Zengeon provides smooth UI transitions and an easy enough to navigate set of menus, but elements such as the section for carried-over equipment can appear overwhelming on first inspection.
Furthermore, some characters need to be unlocked initially by beating the game’s first boss. This wasn’t as simple a feat as one would expect given Zengeon’s utterly punishing difficulty. For those like myself, who wish to avoid total embarrassment, should consider selecting the alternative difficulty setting until you’ve learned the ropes.
This so-called ‘easy’ difficulty still provides more than enough challenge. I’ll freely admit that it took a good few hours to settle on a character and playstyle before I managed to break through to the later stages.
Qi-ki Co-op
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a partner to play through co-op so in terms of an online experience then, I simply cannot comment. With the title being as niche as it is you’ll be better served arranging games with friends rather than hoping to randomly land a game online. Being fully accustomed to the playstyle, it’s blindingly obvious Zengeon’s spirit-shred-‘em up would lend itself greatly to such an experience and I fully intend to gift a copy of the game to someone for this express purpose in this future.
While full controller support is integrated, the hotkey/cooldown-based combat lends itself naturally to a mouse and keyboard setup, that said, I’m always a sucker for a gamepad configuration and, with a console release to follow later this year, this also makes for a convenient test run.
With enough care and balance throughout, the game manages hack and slash its way out of the crowd, despite the familiar mechanics. All the moving parts run smoothly and in-sync which is best exemplified by the polish in battle animations and the weight given to each attack by the sound design and the striking visual tone.
However, the key take-away is that fans of roguelikes will feel comfortable with the gameplay loop but for others, Zengeon might not be the best place to start. Then again, if the style draws you in, be assured that the gameplay is solid enough to carry any expectations, if you’re prepared to put the work in. Otherwise you’ll be stuck in a twenty-minute loop, drinking bark water.