Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director’s Cut (PC) Review

Having not played the original DSiWare or iOS versions, it is instantly obvious what makes the Shantae series such a highly regarded one after spending just a few moments with Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut. It feels like a culmination of many great titles; it has the Metroidvania edge to it with the exploring and bits of back-tracking after finding power-ups to open new areas, and what could even be described as a Paper Mario feel in more ways than one thanks to its quirky NPCs. Even slices of 2D Zelda spring to mind at some points, the unorthodox sides to the Oracle games and Link's Awakening coming through, in particular. The expressionistic characters; the simple, but effective level designs; the catchy music; the lovely pixel art - it mixes plenty of ingredients to form a wonderful little cake.

'Little' is the key word there, though. Risky's Revenge is a rather short offering when it comes down to it. In truth, the game world is bigger than the world map suggests upon first glance, but there aren't quite enough labyrinth-style areas or bosses to defeat that would have really spruced this title up. As such, it's over quicker than would have been liked, with the easiness helping make that possible.

As the Director's Cut edition, what's been added, and is it enough? In addition to the usual bog-standard offerings that come with Steam games these days, like Achievements, Steam Trading Cards, and controller support (with issues), actual in-game stuff includes some new HD character portraits, a redesigned warp system to travel hastily through the lands, and an unlockable tougher Magic Mode with new costume. The graphics remain decidedly unchanged. On the one hand, after seeing the glorious HD work of what's to come in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, this does make for disappointing viewing, visually. However, on the other hand, there is a delightful charm portrayed through these pixelated character and level designs, and when the resolution is scaled down a tad to a more suitable size, it simply feels like basking in the marvellous platforming days of the SNES and Mega Drive. Any further extras are practically non-existent, though, meaning this is a very barebones port.

There are the odd niggles in this PC edition, sadly, too. The major one would have to be game data getting completely erased if Alt+F4 is pressed during the game. This came as a shocking revelation during the playthrough for this review, as it was performed right before the final dungeon. Granted, it may not be the actual recommended method for shutting down a game, but Alt+F4 is such a universally recognised command for closing windows, that it would never cross the mind that something so drastic would happen when performed. Therefore, a good five to six hours was wasted, taking into account the odd restart from deaths.

Controller support is there, but it has some limitations, like not being able to switch the 'confirm' and 'deny' buttons around from the standard Nintendo style. It's rather easy to adapt, and the main setup works perfectly fine, but it's worth noting for those who are accustomed to the Xbox or PlayStation layouts.

In short, Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut is sheer platforming goodness, but these peeves, along with its unfortunate short length and lack of challenge set the game back.