- Developer: Heartbit Interactive
- Publisher: Heartbit Interactive
- Release Date: 19/2/20201
- Price: $11.99 / £10.79
- Review code provided by Heartbit Interactive
Introducing Doom & Destiny Advanced Switch Review
There is something special about a 16-bit RPG. From Super Mario RPG to Chrono Trigger to Earthbound, almost every one of them brought that special sauce to the table. It could just be the nostalgia talking since I grew up with these games, but I love the aesthetic and design of that era of RPGs. All this led me to get excited about Doom & Destiny Advanced, which had many of the above-mentioned traits. Does retro callback have what it takes to become a new classic?
Super Friends 4eva
Doom & Destiny Advanced sees four friends who have come together for a long night of drinking and D&D when something amiss happens. Their fifth friend, the one who is hosting the event, is nowhere to be found! After searching, our heroes discover that his basement has become an ancient labyrinth. Undeterred, either by courage or booze, they explore until the group meets Solomon Steel, a weird scientist creeping around the corridors. Solomon abruptly kills them and the journey ends.
Just kidding! Our characters awaken naked, in the ethereal plane to the knowledge that they are, indeed, dead. It’s now your job to find other warriors from the past and connect their essence to yours so you can fight off the menace that is threatening your world and whatever world you have been transported to! The other adventurers that you find are essentially classes that each character can use. We can get to that later, but your journey starts anew, and it will feature many twists, turns, and some head-scratching.
The story never takes itself too seriously as there is always another pun or pop culture reference around the corner. I enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone else, and there were some moments that really made me chuckle, but some of it felt a bit too forced. The cast of supporting characters felt really fleshed out and made the story that much more entertaining.
Holy Flying Spaghetti Monsters Batman!
As mentioned previously, Doom & Destiny Advanced is turn-based RPG built around a class system. If you have played any similar game, you know what you are getting into. The classes feature unique powers that can be leveled up using collectible crystal fragments. Each unit needs a different type, such as Earth, Fire, Wind, etc. Once you unlock more classes, managing which ones get upgraded will depend on your play style. I relied heavily on the Knight class and it used the same resources as the Barbarian, so I needed to take turns upgrading them.
The combat felt frustrating, which dampened my experience greatly. I enjoy a good grind fest in an RPG if the combat feels fluid and makes me feel like a hero. Even grinding in the early areas felt like a slog. The number of resources retained from each battle doesn’t feel like it really makes a dent in the grand scheme of things. From someone who normally loves grinding to get the best equipment and tons of items, I found myself struggling to keep any money because I used it all to heal at inns.
The boss fights were a different story completely. Each one felt like I had to use all my available skills and abilities. In the later chapters, the fights became more intense, and I died quite a few times. When the fights seem impossible, you need to grind more, and then the problems rear their ugly heads again.
Retro Inspired
The design of Doom and Destiny is heavily inspired by many of the classics of the 16-bit era. The character and enemy sprites are drawn extremely well, with my only qualm being some of the headshots for the characters. They aren’t bad, but I just found them not to be my style. I did get a good chuckle though when one of the side characters’ frame shots showed nothing but cleavage. Yes, it was juvenile, but the main characters are extremely immature, so it was in character for them to not look her in the eyes.
The music faired well, it was somewhere between 16 bit and 32 bit. They didn’t have a definitive focused style, but I enjoyed it for what it was worth. The tracks never got old, except for some of the battles. The battle tracks got old quickly due to my excessive amount of grinding.
Blue Screen of Doom!
I would love to say that other than the design choices, I had no other issues with this title, but I would be lying. Doom and Destiny Advanced crashed on me more times than I could count. Thankfully, the game autosaves often, but it was still quite dreadful getting a black screen about every 30 minutes to an hour.
Final Thoughts
Doom and Destiny Advanced is quite a literal mixed bag. The humor has moments that truly shine as it eagerly takes jabs at RPGs and pop culture alike. The battle mechanics are also solid and the classes themselves offer quite a bit of difference to make each one feel unique. Sadly, the level progression and standard grinding battles did not feel rewarding. The boss battles felt fully realized, but they were not enough to keep me fully invested. This game is a hard one to recommend with all the top-quality RPGs and indie gems already available. If you are a truly hardcore RPG fan, this isn’t the worst one I have played, but I would wait until the bug fixes have been ironed out.
Pros
- Humor is nice
- Faux 16-bit Graphics
- Tons of classes
Cons
- Glitches Galore
- Grinding is slow and tedious
- Humor can be a bit low brow
Verdict
Doom and Destiny Advanced is a game built on good ideas that sadly gets lost in a sea of glitches and grinding.
