Similar to Doom Eternal, Flying Oak Games' ScourgeBringer is best described as an acquired taste for the hardcore. Casual players may be drawn in by its sleek visuals and snappy controls, but it won't be long before their pride crumbles and they're sent fleeing back to the Binding of Isaac. I don't blame anyone that quits on it either—ScourgeBringer is a punishing uphill struggle, one you'll have to rise to meet as the game will never kneel for you. Sure, there are a number of aspects that make it easier to beat than Enter the Gungeon or Noita, but it'll still require 6-8 hours to get ahold of the basics. But the trickiest part about ScourgeBringer—and what makes the game so difficult to master—is that you'll often be fighting against your own impulsive thumbs.
Expect your first run to be brutally short, as if stranded naked in the middle of the Sahara. Once you inevitably die you'll be brought before the Chiming Tree, ScourgeBringer's way of unlocking permanent upgrades for future runs. You'll find most of the upgrades to be relatively cheap too, as long as you can consistently make it to the second level. Halfway through the tree however, a gloomy realization will beset you: these aren't making the game any easier. Well, they technically are—increased max HP, item rerolls, and the screen-clearing Fury attack are all great abilities—but you'll eventually plateau in the power climb, consistently making it to stage 3 yet struggling to beat it. That poison-clouded cauldron will end many a run—and should you eke out a victory, the next two stages are waiting to dispose of you like ornery bouncers at a VIP club.
If you're a purveyor of the roguelite genre, you know firsthand that experience (typically) begets wisdom. And it's no different for ScourgeBringer; learning how the enemies behave (and therefore how to approach them) is more important than bumbling into a cache of OP upgrades. Familiarity allows you to visualize threat-level charts on the fly, zeroing in on which enemies will give you the most grief while leaving the table scraps for clean-up. This is all par for the course for games like Hades, Dead Cells, and Enter the Gungeon, but ScourgeBringer throws a quirky monkey wrench into the works: your dash provides zero invulnerability frames. That means that every new enemy, boss, and stage mechanic can prove to be alarmingly fatal, even if you've been coasting up to that point (speaking of, gooooood luck in your first fight against the Seeker of Power.)
Counterbalancing this vulnerability is an unlockable skill that's absolutely pivotal to your survival: the deflective parry. Being able to send incoming bullets back to their attacker sounds valuable—and it is!—but the problem is that ScourgeBringer has an exceptionally jerky flow to it. After every dash attack, parry, enemy death, and hit suffered, the gameplay will slow for a fraction of a second to accentuate the effect—which is great! It's a technique commonly employed by fighting games, providing some extra oomph to your blows while simultaneously pausing the action for a few frames, letting you plan your next move. But the parry suffers from both a short reach and delayed activation, meaning you'll often find yourself attempting it too early or too late thanks to stuttering beat of battle.
To make matters worse, ScourgeBringer is unapologetically slippery. You won't notice it at first, given how responsive and precise your character feels while parkouring around, but combat is another matter. Every swing of your blade sends your character dashing through an enemy at random angles, pushing them around the level as a cat might a toy. Like the jerky flow, this isn't exactly a bad thing as it keeps combat kinetic and uncomplicated, but positioning is crucial in ScourgeBringer. It would be like playing a beat 'em up where every strike warps your character around an enemy—it's fine when tackling one target, but quickly becomes a huge risk when accompanied by enemy fire or nearby traps.
It probably doesn't sound like I'm doing a good job on selling ScourgeBringer, but if you can adapt to its strange style and brisk pace, then you're guaranteed to have a blast. The Doom Eternal comparison at the start isn't an empty boast—having a firm grasp on all the tools at your disposal will transform you from a meek greenhorn into a bloodthirsty wrecking ball. Rooms can be cleared in a matter of seconds as you seamlessly transition between sword strikes and gunfire, disposing of your victims in an aerial ballet of carnage. Battles evolve from chaotic scrambles into calculable procedures, with once-fearsome foes (fall-bot, plasma saw-bot) struggling to make a dent in your health. As your skill blossoms, victory no longer becomes a question of "if" but rather "how"—and eventually "when."
The relentless rhythm of combat is by far the best thing about ScourgeBringer, but I also have to give kudos to the game's brilliant biome diversity. Stages not only vary in color palette and melody (although the whole soundtrack remains ridiculously aggressive), but also come with new enemy types, minibosses, room layouts, and environmental hazards. The hazards are definitely the most interesting bit—though spike traps and toxic gas hardly qualify as "unique" nowadays, the translucent blocks of Stage 4 and screen-wrapping of Stage 5 radically change your approach to combat. Not since the original Spelunky have I played a roguelite with such strong, distinct theming between its zones.
And like with Spelunky, you're going to need to play these zones by their rules. That often means slowing your roll and knowing when to strike—which can be admittedly frustrating in such a fast-paced game. Several enemies are designed to upset your rhythm and test your patience, from the toxic cloud of the alpha splat-fly to the screen-wide burst of the alpha quantum bomb. Bosses often set the pace of battle too, with the earliest ones (BodyBuilder, CandleMask) ironically doing the most damage if you're not actively paying attention to what they're doing. And if you manage to make it to the true final level, prepare for one of the most heinous stage hazards you'll see in a video game; either get good at ranged combat or pray you can tank your way to the boss.
Lastly, another eccentricity ScourgeBringer bears is that it's a somewhat... poor roguelite. ScourgeBringer, similar to Spelunky, has you hunting for a similar set of weapons and blessings each run, encouraging a habitual playstyle. RNG drops can enhance your abilities but they never alter how you approach the game; don't expect any dash builds, reflect builds, or gun builds, as you'll need to be using all three constantly to survive. On top of this, you'll have to fight every type of enemy a dozen times per run, and you better get used to the bosses as there's only one per stage (and not even their room layout changes from run to run!) It's better to think of ScourgeBringer as a long-lost NES game, albeit with a dash of randomness: the hard-fought path to your first victory will endow you with the memorization and reflexes required to easily earn a hundred more.
If an intense platforming-slash-bullet-parrying roguelite with phenomenal visuals and a frantic soundtrack sounds good to you, then by all means dive into the dark and unforgiving world of ScourgeBringer. But to get the most out of it, you'll have to be patient and fastidious, willing to learn from your mistakes and curb brash impulses. It's a cool game that I enjoyed a ton—so much so that I snagged all the achievements on Steam, which I don't typically do for roguelites. That said, I don't think I'll be going back to ScourgeBringer for repeated playthroughs, as it lacks the variety to warrant further exploration. However, the time you do spend with ScourgeBringer is fantastic, delivering an intense challenge that will keep you shaking at the edge of your seat. It may be a weak roguelite, but as a 2D action-platformer, ScourgeBringer proudly stands amongst the greatest.
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