Ravenswatch Review (PS5) – Your Watch Begins

In the blink of a raven’s eye, it’s been a year and a half since I first reviewed Ravenswatch in Early Access. At the time, I was impressed with Passtech Games’ initial hatchling of a rogue-like. Well, mostly. While the graphical presentation and combat fundamentals excelled, the lack of content, story and repetitive structure made this dutiful watch more Game of Thrones’ Castle Black than a royal honour.

With the seasons having passed and the young birdling of Ravenswatch having the time to fully develop, has it blossomed into a fully-fledged feathery foe? More heroes, additional chapters, new gameplay elements and a host of incremental improvements would suggest this raven’s bill has become a rather sharp weapon. Time to dive in amongst the worms and scrap for the morsels of worms we can uncover.

King (Wu)Kong

Ravenswatch has been hard at work recruiting a variety of fable inspired action heroes. The roster now stands at nine, with appearances from Sun Wukong, Geppeto and Carmilla. Fret not, for the Early Access cast of Scarlet, Aladdin, Beowolf, The Pied Piper, The Snow Queen and Melusine all return, too. Passtech Games have done a wonderful job translating each of these unique personalities into playable characters, linking both thematically and mechanically to their fables.

Scarlet, for example, will transform into a rather big and bad wolf at night. Grandmas everywhere in Reverie beware, this beast has no absolutely no chill. As a primarily solo player, Geppeto became a quick favourite, thanks to his hard-hitting strikes and ability to deploy multiple dummies. Pretty exceptional dummies too – they can whack opponents AND tank damage. The only dummies here were the creatures triggering explosion after explosion while doing absolutely nothing to me.

Ravenswatch’s roster is fulfilling to explore and they provide a variety of playstyles for any would-be hero. As you earn XP with each one, you’ll unlock pages of their diaries, fleshing out their backstories in the main menu (something that was desperately needed from the Early Access build). Finding out more about their stories and experimenting with their abilities is a big draw of the game and I can easily foresee players finding their favourites pretty rapidly. Who knew The Pied Piper would have such a redemption arc?

Geppeto Here!

The Pied Piper isn’t the only rogue roaming about looking dashing either, as Ravenswatch is both a rogue-like and involves a lot of said dashing. You start each run at chapter 1, working up to chapter 3 and, on harder difficulties, two epilogue chapters. Each section has a 20 minute timer, indicating when the Master Nightmare will awaken, and you’ll be forced into a boss battle. Think a Pirates of the Caribbean Kraken or Davy Jones tentacle face on steroids and you’re there.

Those 20 minutes are therefore, gold dust. You need to saunter around the map, fighting off mobs and completing a handful of objective types. There’s a side-quest for each chapter, alongside tasks that weaken the Nightmare, churn out new upgrades for abilities or feature mini-bosses. All of them provide tangible rewards for in-run XP to power up your character and improve their base kit of moves.

What this ends up translating into, is bee-lining it like a wasp in heat towards certain activities more than others. Completing the side-quest and killing the mini-boss provide legendary boons for example, whereas finishing a time-gated Tome offers an incremental stat boost. There’s a definite hierarchy of value in the tasks you can accomplish, which means you’ll spend a lot of time skipping non-objective fights and prioritising the same map icons, which diminishes some of the fun.

Keep Carmilla and Carry On

Having said that, Ravenswatch does develop a kind of familiarity that worms its way into you over time. Knowing where to go, what objectives to prioritise and how to build your character in each run is gratifying. The early portions of a run are underwhelming, particularly with certain characters, but what once was weak and feeble can become unstoppable with the right upgrades. Stick out even troublesome early starts and you may find a hidden spark.

Much of this will also depend on whether you approach Ravenswatch solo or in co-op. I attempted the matchmaking for my pre-release version and couldn’t find anyone, so I was stuck on my lonesome Red Hiding Hood. Straight up, while you can play this game on your own, it’s not the intended experience. Firstly, some characters feel like they are massively disadvantaged, as their abilities are built around maximising a squad. Secondly, some of the enemy types and bosses are more brazenswatch than Ravenswatch.

The third chapter mini-boss for example, is nigh-on impossible in a solo match, unless you have a perfectly optimised build specifically just for it. Secondly, anything above the first difficulty becomes a tedious chore thanks to the buffed enemy health bars and armour being a chore to chip away at. It’d be like trying to knock down a house, armed with a wooden spoon. I had a modicum of success on Twilight with a couple of characters, but it wasn’t the best time, at all.

Unkindness of Ravens

All of which is entirely mute if, as I expect, the game launches and the matchmaking works well. Ravenswatch becomes an entirely different experience in co-op. Powers blasting everywhere, synergies wiping out mobs and XP being shared around like a harvest of worms in a ravens nest. Have a squad of like-minded hunter birds on hand and you’ll have a great time swooping across the map and laying waste like the fabled harbingers you are.

A typical run to the end of chapter 3 takes just under an hour, which works brilliantly in terms of time investment. Long enough for it to feel meaningful in terms of committed stakes, without being so long as to be demotivating when losses inevitably occur. Passtech Games have done an exceptional job fine-tuning the game since its Early Access days, and the addition of new content, heroes and balance tweaks have made this whimsical tale a welcome parable of action.

As mentioned earlier, finding your role with the right character and right build feels awesome. I hated Pied Piper at first, but when one run had me level him up and lay waste to everything in front of me, I was sold faster than a Black Friday deal. If there’s one part of the combat that still feels slightly off, it’s the dodge/dash animation I-frames. Ravenswatch isn’t always consistent with what damage lands, doesn’t hit and what attacks are straight up undodgeable in the first place.

Are You Watching?

I mentioned it in my Early Access review, but it’s worth chirping on about it for a second time too. Ravenswatch looks amazing. It’s very similar to Hades’ approach to aesthetics, only instead of Greek Gods, it’s old-school fantasy fables. The world of Reverie is awash with moody reds and doomsday harkening greys. The Nightmare eyeballs you slay are gloriously dark, while the enemy types vary from apparated witches to ghoulish skeletons and angry boar-like townsfolk.

Ravenswatch is just a wonderful visual feast of dark fantasy creativity. The character designs for each of heroes ooze ingenuity and flowing animation work excels. Pied Piper’s musical notes float across the screen, deftly slaying foes as he slays his tunes. Sun Wukong flies across the arenas with an agile grace before bonking a whole group of demonic creatures on the head. Hits feel impactful and the flair with which you unleash specials makes for quite the colourful treat.

The procedural generation of each seed doesn’t do a whole lot to keep up a sense of variety and you’ll become very accustomed to seeing the same three locations over and over. Even so, the repetition never really detracts from Ravenswatch’s gorgeous look. If it’s a good outfit, it still looks great no matter how many times it’s been seen before, right?

Don’t Be Craven, Become a Raven

After a dozen hours playing Ravenswatch for this full release, alongside the hours in Early Access, I can’t help but come away impressed with what Passtech Games have achieved. There’s a definite caveat that rears its head in the shape of the solo-only experience, but excusing that, this is a well-crafted and finely tuned rogue-like with an exceptional visual style and an appealing fantasy universe. The sheer concept of remoulding these fabled characters into action heroes is cool.

If you’re likely to be going it alone, I’d advise caution and lower your expectations somewhat. However, if you’re happy to matchmake or find a squad via the game’s Discord (or alternatively, actually having friends), you’re in for a blast of a time. There are still some elements that need ironing out, like the inconsistent hit detection and expanding the use of the different objectives in a run. Though, given the improvements already made, I have faith the developers will keep expanding this brooding fantasy world successfully.

If you’ve ever wondered how Aladdin, Little Red Riding Hood and The Pied Piper would fare in open combat with a group of giant crabs, you need not wonder anymore.

Ravenswatch is available November 28th on PlayStation 5 (review platform), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Nintendo Switch.

Developer: Passtech Games
Publisher: Nacon

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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