We wouldn’t rush to get a library card for the Phantom Library. It strikes from location to location on a whim, and the books are able to transporting a reader to completely different worlds. We are able to solely think about how a lot cash the Phantom Library makes from late charges.
It’s additionally very not too long ago turn out to be evil, being possessed by ghosts and hoovering up any unlucky soul who occurs to be passing by. As if we would have liked one more reason to keep away from it. However Ravva doesn’t have the luxurious of a selection: the little owl-wizard was passing by after they obtained sucked into the Phantom Library’s halls.
Ravva and the Phantom Library, you might not be conscious, is a sequel. We personally reviewed the primary recreation, Ravva and the Cyclops Curse, and have been principally underwhelmed. Whereas it provided a number of assaults, represented by summoned creatures, we latched onto the one or two we favored and caught with them. There wasn’t a lot of a recreation there both: we have been performed in a flick of a lamb’s tail, wishing there was extra. We handed it a 3 out of 5 and promptly forgot about it.
Ravva and the Phantom Library is the type of sequel that you simply all the time hope you get once you begin reviewing a recreation. Throughout each standards it’s superior to the unique, to the purpose that we’d encourage you to skip on to this one. There’s a motive that there’s no ‘2’ or ‘II’ within the title: we’re guessing that the builders need you to start out with this one too.
Issues don’t begin auspiciously. Whereas the opening story in regards to the Phantom Library grabs the eye, and every degree is chosen from a lovingly rendered library interface, we are able to’t assist however really feel that Ravva and the Phantom Library makes a mistake. It neglects to tutorialise itself, assuming – we guess – that the participant is aware of what every of the 5 completely different assaults do. As somebody who noticed the end-credits of the primary recreation, we couldn’t bear in mind these assaults, although. It had been too lengthy. And if we are able to’t bear in mind them, as somebody who performed the primary, then how is anybody else going to?
So there’s a little bit of opening befuddlement. You’re tapping buttons to see what every of the 5 completely different weapons really do. A fast rundown: there’s the fundamental bullet; a blue creature fires from above your head, clearing rainbow-coloured bricks; a purple creature fires at a forty five diploma angle above your head, hitting enemies that fly greater than you; a inexperienced creature drops bombs in a low arc, hitting issues under you; and an orange beastie emits a radar pulse which might discover secrets and techniques in an space. It’s potential to change from one to the opposite in milliseconds with a faucet of a button.
Within the opening recreation, we moaned about a few of these weapons being higher than others, to the purpose that some turned irrelevant. That exact drawback has been handled. You completely want to make use of each weapon, as blocks and enemies can’t be circumvented with out them. Ravva and the Phantom Library develops the air of a puzzle recreation, as you’re employed out which of the weapons fits the present situation. How can I bypass a flying beastie? I can do a radar pulse, discover a flying cloud-platform, after which get above it. Ravva and the Phantom Library is chock-full of those mini-puzzles.
An issue stays, as switching between weapons remains to be fiddly. 5 weapons to cycle by means of is quite a bit, and Ravva and the Phantom Library loves to search out moments the place you want to take action at pace. Bats undulate throughout the display, pushing you to navigate a display in opposition to a time restrict. Bosses want you to change between strikes if you wish to do optimum harm. Nevertheless it’s all the time awkward, by no means speedy, and we ended up questioning whether or not Ravva and the Phantom Library would have been higher with fewer of those summons.
However what elevates Ravva and the Phantom Library above its predecessor is how meaty all of it feels. There’s simply a lot extra substance right here. Ranges are not one and performed in a few minutes. They’re labyrinths, demanding fifteen minutes or so to finish and air-dropping a boss in on the finish. The degrees are large enough that checkpoints are immediately vital. We’d argue that Ravva and the Phantom Library may have performed with extra of them. Every degree solely comes with two, and we’d have doubled the quantity.
Ravva and the Phantom Library is vastly beneficiant with the way it helps you to interact with the degrees. You are able to do them in any order, selecting from volumes on the Phantom Library’s bookshelves. They roughly improve in issue in response to the numbers on their spines, so there’s a advisable order, however you’ll be able to principally dabble in response to your personal whims. Higher but, every of the degrees calls for replay. There are an enormous variety of secret areas and invisible treasures in Ravva and the Phantom Library – immediately, the radar-monster turns into extra helpful – and you’ll select to interact with them or not. No matter your selection, it’s satisfying to truly be on condition that selection. Ravva and the Cyclops Curse failed to search out its depth.
It’s nonetheless somewhat tough across the edges. A lot of Ravva and the Phantom Library is spent destroying containers to progress, and there’s solely so many thrills available obliterating cubes. Whenever you die, the overwhelming majority of those containers return, so that you’re usually clearing them repeatedly. We all know why the emphasis is on such an odd factor, as a result of completely different colored containers require you to alter your weapon. It makes switching obligatory. However did it must be so long-winded?
Nonetheless, there’s been a development to the final degree design. Not solely are they longer, however we felt like we have been being examined somewhat extra. A juggernaut-like beast was a relentless headache, whereas the bat rooms hardly ever didn’t take a coronary heart pip from us. We favored the extent of problem of the bosses particularly. Whereas they have been barely extra spongey than we’d have favored, they have been puzzles ready to be solved. Sure combos of positioning and weapons made them beatable, however the conundrum was find these combos. Ravva and the Phantom Library has developed a selected talent at creating these encounters.
Which is to say that Ravva and the Phantom Library is a big step ahead from the primary recreation. And for those who haven’t performed Ravva and the Cyclops Curse, then know that it is a puzzle-platformer with substance. It has its fiddly moments, but it surely’s additionally obtained a knack for creating dense, sprawling ranges with a fun-to-figure-out boss on the finish. Even in case you have a backlog to work by means of, this tome remains to be value testing.
