I picked up Revita for the Nintendo Switch because I was in the market for a casual game that didn’t require much commitment. The game features cute art, a fantastic soundtrack, and promised gameplay that seemed manageable with my current skill level. Revita delivered on most of my expectations. The game is a fun casual journey through a cute world that I will continue to pick up.
Revita is a unique twin-stick shooter roguelite with procedural dungeons. There is a story, but it serves more as flavor rather than creates the game’s identity.
The gameplay loop for Revita is simple. You start each run with a set amount of life and fight through the floors of enemies until you either clear the tower or die and start again. Each floor is randomly generated, making each attempt feel unique. The RNG isn’t always fair, but you can easily and quickly restart without losing your progress.
What makes this game unique is that it uses life as a currency. You can trade life for randomly generated upgrades at shrines or stores to give your character an edge against the monsters and bosses. There aren’t many chances to regenerate life. Life in Revita is a precious resource and the source of many difficult decisions. How much life will you be willing to sacrifice for power?
Revita is a game where you will die a lot by design. As you play the game and collect resources that you can use to buy permanent upgrades that make future runs easier. This game has a grind, but it doesn’t feel soul-crushing. The gameplay is a bit repetitive, but I found the repetition relaxing. That said, this isn’t a game I can main or no life because the loop gets stale after a while. This is a game you pick up in quick bouts when you don’t have enough time to game or are just looking for a quick and fun distraction.
I had a lot of fun with Revita. The art is great, the soundtrack is amazing, and the gameplay is solid. While I don’t necessarily regret my purchase, $17 is a bit too much for this game. Unless you know you are going to love this game and will be putting hundreds of hours into it, I would wait for it to go on sale. You can pick up Revita on Switch and Steam for $16.99. It is currently on sale on Steam for $11.04 until August 7th.