"Rift Keeper"

"Rift Keeper"
Reviewed By: Carless Yen
Developer: Sometimes You
Publisher: Sometimes You
Platforms: PS4, XBox, PC, Switch
Release Date: Dec 17, 2019
Price: 9.99

Rift Keeper is a rogue like experience where you play as a guy who awakes in a small town to discover guys in red robes awaiting him at a Rift. This rift will take you across 30 dungeons where you will fight a boss upon running off 10 in a row without death. You will keep all of your items your entire play through, but will lose everything when you die except character upgrades. These upgrades will carry over in all your plays, and can be upgraded using items certain enemies will drop. They will also drop gold which can be used in shops in the town. be careful though how you spend cause these items won't stay with you. Let's say you purchase a groovy new sword and die, it's gone. So be careful how you spend, but also don't be greedy cause you lose some money when you die as well. You can certainly tell the difference when you have great gear versus when you don't.

You can get Melee weapons like swords, shields, whips, etc, but also very valuable range weapons like crossbows and magic. These are really important at times with tough enemies or when your health is low. There are health stones in the level to replenish you, but you never know where it is. It can be any where, and maybe surrounded by enemies. Every trip through the 30 dungeons are very tough, and important. One death and you start from scratch. Each Dungeon has a time limit to finish, and you can't leave until you have killed 70% of it;s enemies. So it can leave you really watching your step. Since there are traps, as well as enemies. If you do both of these you are awarded with two chest in town. You can receive coin and items in these. The same for the ones hidden in the dungeons as well. There is nothing like finding that perfect weapon. Every weapon and amulet has different stats. They will give you a certain amount of damage and health, and sometimes they will put a decline on one of the stats to favor the other. You have to pay close attention to what you equip, because it really does matter.
Rift Keeper is challenging, and is loaded with replay value. You will struggle and you will fail. Hopefully you pick yourself up and keep going because it is rewarding when things come together. There is a game called "Dead Cells" I'm sure you have heard of it it has won many of Game of the Year awards, and is a perfect example how to do Rogue-Like adventures like this. "Rift Keeper" feels like a budget version of it. Sometimes You really does a excellent job at porting games to console, and delivering budget quality titles. "Rift Keeper" may not have all the bells and whistles that "Dead Cells" does. Some times the levels can all look the same is one of it's short comings, but it's still a really addictive game. It's hard to find another Rogue-Like adventure at 9.99 that feels as good as this does. I just couldn't stop playing. Every play through felt different , and when I found great items and things went well I felt really rewarded, and when I died it hit hard because I knew everything was gone.

Is Rift Keeper for you though? IF you don't like a challenge probably no. It isn't overly challenging though, but certainly can be a grind. I enjoyed that grind though. It isn't a bad grind, it's a very fun one. It runs really well and almost perfect. barely had any issues with it. The weapons all have different feels, and feel smooth when attacking. The music is stellar, I enjoyed it very much found myself turning up the volume several times. So give it a try at 9.99 well worth it for Achievements alone. They aren't really that tough to get either.

Pros:
Music is outstanding
Feels a lot like Dead Cells
Weapons and controls very smooth
Runs perfectly
Feels different every play, tons of replay value
Challenging

Cons:
Dungeons can all start to look the same
Couple Glitches and dashboards but not released yet

Overall: 8.2
If you loved Dead Cells or wanted to play Dead Cells and couldn't afford to "SomeTimes You gives you an affordable experience that feels so much like it. This will keep you busy and on the edge of your seat for hours and hours.

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