In Celebration of Violence (Action/Adventure RPG Blood Fest)
This is just such a great game. In Celebration of Violence has been at least getting decent press since its release in February of this year, but it needs a lot more, otherwise the developer/producer behind it, Julian Edison, won’t get that sweet impetus he needs to make some more games son. If you’re looking to relive the glory days when various Zelda titles were first released, like me and The Legend of Zelda, then you need to check this out, except you need to expect more ass-kicking and blood. This is like that game fourth quest, if there was a third. Remember the second? Yeah time to get slayed.
In Celebration of Violence may fool you with its purposefully childish look, and it keeps the plot vague. The intro implies you are violence itself, so let that existential brain-drill tear a hole in there for a moment. Talking to various people in the game yields some information, but mainly serves as a frame. A unique approach, for there is no story to follow that directs the action, you are instead following a path of destruction. Basically, kill everything that’s not you. After you choose your class (depending on what you’ve unlocked) and design your character, the game begins from the primary fortress, from which you navigate the land pillaging and killing until you find mirrors that lead into other areas. The world is large with expansive areas like deserts, dungeons, and swamps, that are entirely random. It’s absolutely amazing how different each playthrough is, but the details of In Celebration of Violence are its real success.
Since it forgoes any story, the game’s primary draw is in its mechanics. In Celebration of Violence can be played with a PC or through Steam on your TV, though using a controller is far more difficult. Definitely playable, but keyboard and mouse are the way to go, though you’d be surprised how smooth controller play is. Your goal is to navigate through various areas to defeat a variety of enemies to reach minibosses and then big badass, WTF kind of monster designed this bosses. There are too many details to elaborate upon, but the primary feature to note is your experience is collected in the form of purple gems. These can be used to purchase items, upgrade weapons, and also upgrade stats. Experience can be stored for later use, or spent whenever you wish, but interestingly the game tries to direct you towards not focusing on level grinding. WTFFFF HOW EVEN?
Because you need to strategize far more. When you die, though you retain your levels and stats, the game resets everything else. This means you lose all the equipment you were carrying no matter how much you were committing your foes to bondage. Thus, it’s to your benefit to maximize each run to its fullest advantage and not level crush. Since the areas are randomly generated some runs will yield you incredible weapons like the +2 war hammer just laying there hey pick me up, or you might find yourself walking around with only a pitchfork by the time you get to a boss. So maximizing your current spawn is key. You can also utilize potions, a wide variety of spells, magic items with different effects, and upgrade your weapons. This is merely another part of the game’s strategy, in addition to making sure you’re fed and paying attention to your stamina bar. After you get through certain areas, smashing the mirror to the next area enables you to save your experience and current equipment, to restart later, but even this is limited, on purpose.
In Celebration of Violence is primarily about thinking about how you play, but it does not rely on strategy alone. Fighting is often intense and incredibly rapid with trees falling due to a missed flame arrow, giant stone beasts swinging stone axes and leveling your puny ass, huge bosses, and tons of surprises, such as the bizarre ghost swarm attack that scared the freaking shit out of me. Because of its wide variety of tricks and details, it has an incredibly lasting appeal for even a casual gamer, but the further you advance the quicker you learn that this is not simply a sit-down action/adventure RPG. If this can be considered any sort of fault, it is, but only because of how its unusual save system works. A more detailed plot may have been a better direction for it, but for how many boundaries it breaks you should definitely enjoy it. It had my heart beating like a ten-year-old who just had his first girl circle “yes” on a “Do you like me I like you” note, except he decided to game instead cause the “yes” was enough to say “okay accomplished that.”
In Celebration of Violence Official Website
Written by Stanley Stepanic
In Celebration of Violence
Julian Edison (developer and publisher)
4.5 / 5
