Hero Siege Review

Firstly, this is not a new game on Steam. Hell, it got released YEARS ago, but I just discovered it recently and it's not took off in popularity, so I still count it as a hidden gem. The story isn't important, it has no real goal, so why is it fun? Because it's mindless, awesome fun, as well as being wacky, violent and featuring gorgeously retro style graphics in a big heap of twin-stick shooter awesome.

Like I just said, the story isn't important because the game is a twin-stick shooter with waves of enemies, bosses arriving every six waves, as well as no cutscenes in the game. But, it does have one, and it clearly had effort put into it. In the depths of Tarethiel, a group of monks united the four piece of the brimstone talisman, which awoke the demons below. The act was foretold in the ancient book of revelations and that Satan would rise from hell to rule Earth. If he isn't stopped, mankind will face extinction. And who is going to stop him, you ask? You, of course!

To begin with, there are nine classes you can choose from the beginning, which are: Viking, Pyromancer, Marksman, Nomad, Redneck, Pirate, and finally Necromancer. Samurai can be purchased through DLC, but it's pricey and I need to go into the DLC in another paragraph because of how stupid it is at one point. Anyway, let's go into detail about the classes.

Before I do though, it's worth mentioning some things. Classes unlock skill points every time they level up, allowing you to purchase abilities with said skill points. You can also upgrade your attack, attack speed, damage resistance and health with attribute points. It's a well balanced system and I like it. Be careful, though, as once you spend a point on something you cannot get it back.

Viking, Redneck and Nomad are melee based classes. The Viking is very short range; the first skill point you spend will likely be for his "slam" ability, which allows him to slam the ground infront of him, dealing damage to enemies in all directions excluding towards the Viking himself. Personally, I found myself dying a lot as Viking, especially during boss battles. I don't play him often, though, so maybe he unlocks ranged attacks later on. Redneck wields a chainsaw and I like how they included him as a class just to add variety among the typical "fire class, necromancer class, sword class, etc". It's easy, or so I found, to back up whilst attacking with his chainsaw, making it so you have a chance to kill something without taking damage. The first skill you unlock will be his molotov ability, allowing him to throw a molotov cocktail in the direction he faces. It's useful for when you're being chased, but aside from that, you'll mainly find yourself taking on one enemy at a time with melee classes. Nomad has a short attack range, the shortest out of all three non-ranged classes, but he does a lot of damage and can attack quick. Once again, it's easy to back up whilst swinging your sword as this guy. The first skill you'll unlock is his ability to throw his sword like a boomerang, where you will not lose your attack until it returns to you, but it does take a notable amount of time to recharge. Of all classes, ones with melee weapons are probably the hardest to get used to.

Pyromancer, Marksman and Pirate are ranged classes. Pryomancer is probably my favorite if I had to choose, because of his ability to shoot a spray of fireballs in one direction and create a ring of fire around him, scorching enemies, even leaving a trail on the group which they can walk over and be harmed by. Another ability is the summon a dragon head like object which shoots fireballs slowly at enemies. But by the time you've unlocked that, it's too weak and slow to mean anything to you. His attacks are fast and have medium range distance with the possible chance to shoot a meteor, which will kill most enemies on the first stage. It's usually followed by a second one, too. Marksman can shoot arrows with expected speed, and his haircut reminds me of Vaas from Far Cry 3, so that's always a good thing. The first ability you will unlock as him will be his arrow turret, which is like the turret thing you unlock as Pyromancer. It's useful on the forest stage, but after that it's also weak, slow and not worth it. Pirate is a female character, and she is armed with two pistols which shoot pretty fast (but not at super speed or anything, it has to be balanced). Her abilities are not gun-blazing ones, and rather, as I find, useful for when fleeing from enemies. She can lay down an X on the floor which will explode when an enemy walks over it, spreading north, east, south and west. Another ability is throwing bombs in a circle around her, their distances increasing every throw. It can be useful in fleeing, but where the bombs will be thrown from is going to change depending on where you stand. Overall, I like these three classes the most.

Why did I exclude Necromancer? Because, sadly, I do not enjoy him, but let me explain. He's the first one I chose, but I found his ranged attack puny against even the basic giant rants you face. I did not find the whole idea of having others fight for you and you running away fun, because all enjoyment watching this may of had is gone because enemies will attack you whilst your undead army is occupied on a giant skeleton archer or something. With some bosses, his minions are easily killed off, and I just end up running around, shooting my army out of my ass whenever I could and praying his attacks don't kill them. It honestly would not be a difference if they named this class "mother" and you spawned your children to fight off enemies. Yes, you can make him a somewhat independent class later on, but I'm not willing to sink so much time and effort into just getting a poor man's Pyromancer. If his attacks were stronger, I might play as him as often as I do Pyromancer or Pirate, but for now, I just do not enjoy him.

Let's talk about enemies. There's a lot of variety in the enemies, and even in the first stage there's plenty to keep you occupied. They can challenge your character, too, as they can be ranged resistant (sometimes not taking damage from ranged attacks whatsoever), forcing you to use an ability to take them out. Some will fire electricity balls around when they're hit, making you think of how to kill them. Some are larger, stronger versions of enemies, such as "Enraged Dune Rat" which packs more health and is larger rather than the normal giant rat, or maybe a colossal skeleton archer enemy which will fire two arrows at a time instead of one, and faster too, making the process of defeating them slower but not tedious.

Bosses? They're great 9 times out of 10. The Keeper Of The Haunted Forest will trap you in snares, allowing him to get close, and it can be very effective if you're playing a melee class (forcing you to never be far away if you want to do damage). The Eye splits into two different enemies when hit enough. The Abomination fires spike balls which will explode and fire smaller spike balls in different directions when they land. They're fun, rewarding, and varied. But there's also bad bosses. There's a mummy boss that spams a tornado which can kill you in seconds, making it near impossible to just scratch his amount of health, and he is just plain unfair.

You can customize your characters through a shop system, where you spend crystals on hats. Don't worry, it's not a thing that costs real money, thank God; just two hours of playing allowed me to get a good hat for all my classes. However, it has to be ruined by the DLC. It's very pricey and too much. Let me just get your attention; you have to pay £3 for multiplayer right now. That's right. A feature which is implemented in most games and is expected anyway costs £3 AT THE LEAST for you to play as of now. They're planning to change it, yes, but the idea is just greedy and pathetic. I don't care if you didn't plan on the multiplayer, just release it through a free update instead of through an in-game transaction. You have to love how they try to convince you, though, in ways such as "Pay £5 and get a free fish hat and Samurai skin!" Even though the Samurai requires more money to get so it's pretty much useless. A fish hat? Yeah, that's so worth what I could spend on some games I want. No, screw getting that game, I want a virtual fish hat that means nothing in real day to day life! Yay!

Moving on. Aside from the DLC, you will simply love Hero Siege and get sucked in like I did. I give it 7.5/10.