If I can begin on a personal note, I never thought that there would be a game that I would play that is a part of Steam’s Early Access Program that would make me take a step back and say, “wow.” But here we are with Guidus Zero.
The game itself is worth it even if you do not take time to play; it’s worth looking at as it’s gorgeous. The game has an almost cinematic feel and ambiance to it all, and it rises to a higher level of gaming than I was expecting when I first booted up. With games in the early access program, most games look nearly complete when it comes to the presentation. Still, it’s pretty common to find some things or some features missing.
However, that’s not the case with Guidus Zero; the presentation looks and feels complete, and the team had to put some extra elbow grease and polish into it all. This applies to the game all around, from the character sprites to the enemies, the characters that we meet along the way, etc. It all looks so pretty.
Admittedly, I’m a fan of roguelikes, and I play games like Enter and Exit the Gungeon, Hades, Cult of the Lamb, and some others. When it comes to Grid-Based/Defined games, I’ve always wanted to try them, but I’ve only had time and money to play Crypt of the NecroDancer; my experience is limited, to say it lightly.
With Guidus Zero, the gameplay loop is extremely fun, always making me want to come back for more. It follows a formula where you go to the entrance where you can acquire spirits or bonuses, fight and die, and then come back to do it all again. It’s great, but the gameplay itself can be rough. For beginners, when interacting with the grid system, it’s good and reactive, but it’s also a tad laggy when it comes to the response time and when playing with a supported controller, which for me was an Xbox Series X|S controller, it can seem to stop responding altogether at times. Then, when it comes to combat, enemies are cool and interesting enough when it comes to design and attack patterns, but with common enemies, they tend to encircle you a lot.
This is nice because, to me, it means that both games are naturally challenging enough and that the enemy AI is programmed really well. The game’s simplicity is welcomed, but it can be tiring after a while; Guidus Zero has one attack button, one special button, one dodge button, and an item button. The one attack is a straightforward attack that can vary in style when it comes out, and the special, in its base form, attacks in a straight line. This follows both playable characters, Dalia and Chatri. It would be great to have an alternate attack at the base that can attack all four squares surrounding the player if they get surrounded, as at least for me, this happened enough for it to be a genuine thought. Other than that, the gameplay and its difficulty are quite fine-tuned and really good.
Touching on the playable characters for a second, I see that they both feel very nice to play, and it is nice how they are introduced to show the difference in both their personalities and playstyle. You begin playing as Dalia in the dungeon with a sword, and she is seen as a soldier who keeps her wits about her and tries to be calm and friendly, thinking before she acts. This is reflected well in her gameplay style, as she is someone who tries to strike fast and deal with her enemies quickly. When playing as Dalia, players get the luxury of keeping a story fact in the back of their heads that says, “We are on a mission to save someone,” and it works really well in how she is both written and how she plays.
Chatri is a bit different, as we are exchanging swords for fists here. Chatri is the game’s hot-blooded character who hits hard and strong and has a lot of heart and enthusiasm. With him, we are introduced as he is trying to deal with a pesky rock in his way, and in his dealing (destroying) the rock, it destroys a part of the ship nearly everyone arrived on. This goes to show that Chatri is fundamentally different from Dalia from the jump. When controlling him, it becomes clear how much of a difference there is between the characters, aside from their personalities. Chatri is a man with hot blood and a hard head who prefers to take a slight bit more time to take down his enemies as he hits them as hard and precise as possible.
This means when playing as him, in contrast to Dalia’s lightning speed, Chatri is a tad bit slower, and his attacks are a tad bit slower. Maybe it is just me, but he does seem to do just a tad bit more damage and is a tad snappier to control. When playing as him, again, it could just be a personal thing, but it felt like he would move and snap as a boxer moves around the ring, loose at times when possible, but during combat, they lock in and are very snappy. That is what playing as Chatri felt like to me.
The characters and world that the game is building are very interesting. I have encountered and had fun each time I have been able to play the game. You begin watching a scene of a crew on a ship trying to prevent it from sinking, which winds up failing. The player is then thrust straight into the dungeon and has to endure an unwinnable battle. Afterward, you’re saved and given a common explanation of the dungeon, and then you’re off back into the dungeon.
This sounds and feels pretty run-of-the-mill beginning stages of game stuff that is very common, but what I like about the game is what happens after that run the player sets out on. When the player returns from not just that run but every run thereafter, things outside of the dungeon change with nearly every run I have played and died on. New characters being introduced, them all having a distinct personality, and it all fitting into the game’s story and evolving world made this game feel more personal when listening and talking to characters, rather than me feeling like I am just looking at characters and nothingness.
In conclusion, I am stunned. I am a developer myself, so I understand and know the trials and tribulations of game development and, most importantly, the challenge of making a quality game. Nowadays, games are so easy to make on the surface. We can see that with Steam’s Early Access Program, tons of games are nowhere near finished, which can leave you with mixed impressions. But here, with Guidus Zero, it flips that script hard.
It is a game that is in early access, but it has the quality of a game released in its final build. The game is filled with content from what I have played, and I can’t wait to continue to dive in and play more. When playing Guidus Zero, you can immediately see and sense the quality it harbors and how deep it can get from not only one character but multiple characters with such distinct playstyles. This, combined with its deep gameplay, makes it an easy recommendation.
I was most impressed with the game visually. From how cinematic the game looks, even with its pixel art style, to the character dialogue images to the world art around you as a whole while you play, Guidus Zero looks like a high-quality package from the jump. When it comes to the characters themselves, I have not yet encountered a character that takes me out of the world the game is trying so hard to immerse the player in. The same can be said about the environment of the world and dungeons. As with the world, the art might be the stage setter, but the music and the characters all blend and work so well together. You can tell the team over at Izzle really took their time not only developing this game but also putting love and care into it.
Guidus Zero is a high-quality game that is one of the most pleasant surprises I have had this year; it’s a real treat to play. As it is in the early access program, I am looking forward to whatever improvements come to this already excellent game, and with Thanksgiving coming up this week, I am looking forward to playing more of this game.
Disclaimer: Com2uS Holdings provided Final Weapon with a PC (Steam) copy of Guidus Zero for review purposes.
