Saviorless [Review]
Empty Head Games’ dark fantasy puzzle platformer Saviorless is gorgeous.
Saviorless, published by Dear Villagers, is a highly polished 2D puzzle platformer rendered in a beautiful hand-drawn style. While I didn’t care for the story, I always wanted to see where the game would take me next because its mysterious dark fantasy world was fascinating to explore.
Antar is on a journey to explore the Smiling Islands and become a Savior, a protector of the islands, despite not fully understanding the ramifications of that choice. Meanwhile, there’s a meta-narrative about Narrators controlling Antar’s story that also introduces Nento, the main antagonist, as a secondary protagonist.
For most of the game, you’ll play as Antar. Antar can run, jump, lift himself onto ledges, operate levers, climb, push/pull objects, and crawl. Antar has no physical defenses and will die if hit just once. Thankfully, he won’t die from long falls. Later in the game Antar can gain speed and combat abilities for short bursts of time in his Savior form. Combat is straightforward, with a single kind of attack and the ability to dodge by dashing. The brief segments where you control the hulking Nento are entirely combat focused.
Each level in the game takes place in a different biome, with each getting progressively more foreboding. You start on lushly green cliffs and then move to mines, abandoned ruins, the depths of the ocean, the monster-infested Smiling Islands, the Silent Forest with its creepy wooden effigies, and finally the Blood Fortress. Levels are full of puzzles to open your path forward. I particularly enjoyed the ruins, where you must clear the way for a massive beam of light through to the end of the level by activating and repositioning relay towers and piloting robots.
Combat is a little boring because it’s simplistic. It could have used more variety. My time as defenseless Antar was far more rewarding as I made my way through each level. Boss encounters that you must complete as Antar are thoughtfully designed, turning them into puzzles where you must figure out how to lay traps for the boss or trick it into destroying itself. There are still some very fun sequences in Antar’s Savior form that are more about traversing areas before your power runs out rather than fighting, an extension of of the puzzle platforming at which the game excels.
As great as the game’s level and encounter designs are, the graphics are what makes Saviorless stand out. Every character and enemy is traditionally animated and contracts with the very angular environment that looks like it was drawn with ink, making the game look like a living storybook. The visual style is flat but layered and full of detail. Character and enemy designs are also inspired, especially as the game starts to get a bit more gruesome.
Saviorless is billed as the first indie game from Cuba to be published by an international publisher. The developers faced many setbacks—limited internet access, power outages, inexperience, and lack of equipment—making development take more than eight years. What they’ve created and brought to the world with the help of Plug In Digital is a stunning achievement and I hope we get to see more work from Empty Head Games.
Saviorless is available now for PC/Mac/Linux (Steam, Epic, GOG, Fanatical, GamesPlanet), Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5.
Overall Score: 8/10
Played on: PS5
