Warlocks 2: God Slayers (Nintendo Switch) Review

Much like any other Action-RPG, Warlocks 2: God Slayers starts the hero off with nothing more than the clothes on their back, and a rudimentary spell. In short order, they'll be introduced to the basic controls of running and jumping. The Switch controller's four shoulder buttons are used for spell-casting. Limitations such as resource-management and cooldown timers keep the player from holding down all four buttons and obliterating adversity in microseconds. Magic consists of basic projectiles, stat-boosting auras, and everything in-between. With each level-up, the magi-in-training receives three points, which can be used to learn new spells, strengthen what's currently available, or add special upgrades. Each of the five playable characters has their own brand of magic, and specialized builds can be developed to further differentiate them.

Aiming is another essential tool in the spell-caster's repertoire. Many of their techniques can be aimed with the help of the right analogue stick. Pressing 'Y' will lock-onto an enemy, though there are no guarantees that the correct foe will be targeted. Why, it's possible that the lock-on will end up on something that's behind a wall, and out of reach. Since this feature isn't entirely reliable, it's appreciated that holding down the 'Y' button will switch back to free-aim mode.

Once one gets acclimated with how this works, they can begin their adventure in earnest. Progression is almost entirely quest-based. When entering a new area for the first time, heroes should look for any NPCs with question marks floating above their heads. They hand out quests, which usually consist of finding a certain object or zapping a particular enemy. Once these tasks are finished, then you are allowed access to new areas. This cycle of progression is fairly standard, though a few side-quests help to allay the tedium.

Also in accordance with the genre, the loot tends to be sufficiently "phat." At first, nominal gains to hit-points and defence are the norm. Before long, the Warlock will find equipment with powerful modifiers and other neat effects - vampirism, the ability to restore health while doing damage, is always nice to have. Other types of gear can cause monsters to get struck by lightning or temporarily blinded. Gear can be purchased at the Canteen, this game's version of the "Hub." At about the halfway point, a man by the name of Quirk starts selling random loot. Expect to gamble a lot of money trying to win legendary wares.

Unfortunately, there are a number of significant problems that are holding Warlocks 2: God Slayers back. For one, this is prone to stutters, hitches, pauses, or whatever you prefer to call them. Basically, whenever something happens, the action will freeze for a fraction of a second, and then resume. Now this "something" could be an enemy respawning, or the completion of an objective - it's never exactly clear. In any case, this is a constant issue that is consistently annoying, especially because it leads to missed inputs. Thankfully there aren't any instant-death pits. Although, stuttering can also occur in the heat of combat, so be wary of overextending your Warlock of choice. There's no telling if a stutter will occur while you're trying to dodge an enemy's attack, or smoke a life-replenishing joint.

In spite of this glaring issue, most should have very little trouble on a normal play-through. Some might even find the adventure a little too easy. After all, it's possible to find gear that bumps the Warlock's evasion and damage-output to stratospheric levels. The Gods, though imposing in both size and the length of their health-bars, are mostly just a war of attrition. There are multiple difficulty settings, which are supposed to satisfy the desire for more challenge, but instead they lead to new issues. The 'Hard' and 'Very Hard' settings cause enemies to eviscerate the heroes in short order. On average, a single hit can do 40 points of damage, and that'll kill most characters in 6-8 hits. Now picture a crowd of archers and a few bum-rushing grunts, all of whom are attacking at once. Oh, and since the Warlock is still at or around level 1, they don't have any cool spells or equipment to help them survive the ordeal.

Going further, the difficulty disparity and penchant for projectiles is insufferable, especially for those who specialize in melee. Woe to poor Kormag. Kormag is a drunken goat who rides a four-legged human and wields a scythe. This is such an interesting character, but he gets cut down before he even reaches his prey. Generally, the only worthwhile tactic on 'Hard' or above is to snipe foes from afar, while using the environment to defend against their return fire. It's about as exciting as it sounds, but hopefully it'll keep the heroes from dying horribly. Four friends can team up via local co-op. This is undoubtedly the most viable solution of all, since it allows everyone to test riskier builds and bail each other out of tight spots. Plus someone gets to play as the drunken goat.

Annoyingly, once the three worlds are saved, there's little else for a high-level warlock to do, besides complete a couple missed side-quests. There aren't any post-game dungeons or the opportunity to move onto higher difficulties. On one hand, this makes the upgrade-path more meaningful, since one can't simply unlock every possible skill and modifier. On the other hand, the disappointment of having no more challenges to take on or gear to acquire is overwhelming.