Lords of Exile is an indie title in the vein of 8-bit games of yore. Inspired by the numerous 2D side scrolling platform games, Lords is a love letter to this genre, especially Castlevania.

Lords of Exile is an indie title in the vein of 8-bit games

The story is slight, but then it always was for this format. You play Gabriel, bent on revenge following the death of his beloved, you traverse the various levels, killing enemies and avoiding traps.

Combat is straight forward, with a sword being your main weapon, though you can have axes and knives that you can chuck at the enemies. Whilst we may be in a familiar country as far as the mechanics go, Lords does add a few touches of its own, like the ability to slide. The game also employs a shadow system. When your shadow meter is full it allows you to summon extra help in the form of formidable allies.

The game has an in-game purchasing system. As you go through the puzzles you can collect gold which can be spent at the various shops, scattered within the game, or gambled at slot machines.

The real strength of this game is in its art design

Playing aside, the real strength of this game is in its art design, capturing the real feel of an old 8-bit game. This only falls down with the pixilated text, which when blown up on a 60-inch TV can be somewhat difficult to read.

Gabriel is sluggish in his movements and whilst this is taken account of in the level designs, it can lead to more deaths than needed. Die and you get sent back to the beginning of your most current section.

I did find that some of the button prompts were not intuitive. It took me a while to work out Gabriel's jump attack, which is probably the most fun attack he has for most of the game.

As you finish each of the eight levels, you will confront a boss, defeat this boss and Gabriel gets a new skill added.

New skills are added each time you defeat a boss

What faults the game has been largely addressed after you first playthrough when you get access to a female ninja called Lyria, who’s speed and movement style felt refreshing after the rather slow Gabriel.

You also unlock a Boss Rush Mode and a Speed Runner Mode, which all add to the replay value.

Small faults aside, the music, presentation and gameplay all came together to give a satisfying retro game.

8

Charles Packer