Elsie Review – Mega Man with a Twist

Growing up there were few games that could match Mega Man. These experiences were hard, yet pushed players to learn the inner workings of each boss to mitigate problems. Over time the franchise fell off, with the concept largely dying off. Like so many other Indies, Elsie hopes to approach the core concept with its own twist. Pairing the proven Mega Man formula with the dynamic nature of a roguelike is certainly intriguing, though is it enough to stand out?

In essence, Elsie‘s narrative isn’t far off from a Mega Man game. Dr. Grey made a number of robots that surprisingly went rogue. Her final creation, Elsie, needs to ultimately deal with these threats and save everyone.

As simple as it sounds, there are a couple twists that add a lot to the experience. It never becomes an amazing story, but certainly evolves beyond good robot beats bad robots in exotic locals. The only downside is progression is kind of annoying.

Since Elsie features roguelike elements, progression is RNG based. As near as I can tell, players need to get lucky and defeat both bosses for a given location before the narrative progressing boss appears. Since there are five stages, and a run features like three total, it sounds worse than it is. That said, it still requires enough skill to routinely get to these bosses, and more importantly overcome them.

The first couple of runs act as a tutorial of sorts. A few rooms will explain how to shoot, use Elsie’s special attack, rush forward, power jump, parry, and counterattack. While this is an okay approach to the genre, it assumes players will not encounter a mechanic before it’s explained. This happened to me on one run where I was forced to restart, only to have said mechanic explained to me.

Even if the core gameplay loop is rather straightforward, I am not entirely sure what kind of experience Elsie wants to be. Certain stage arrangements are incredibly easy, with other versions almost guaranteeing players will take some damage. I found stages that required Elsie’s assisted jump especially bad due to them pushing her to one of the sides. Any time these were required it was almost guaranteed I’d take some damage due to the accompanying traps.

Another mechanic I really dislike is dash. Traditionally games use dash as a quasi-dodge. Something is getting ready to attack me, I dash through it, invincibility frames protect me, and then I launch my counter attack. Unfortunately, Elsie does not utilize invincibility frames, opting for a comprehensive parry system.

When timed correctly, Elsie can parry anything that deals damage besides a fall. It gives players a way to deal with a lot of problems, though it’s a separate input from dash, and is often needed to break shields with a counterattack.

Fun for All

Where it gets weird is the accessibility system. Under gameplay I can increase the parry window, and under accessibility I can enable colorblind options, make enemies clearer, remove backgrounds, and even enable invincibility (falling still deals damage). What makes it weird is two things.

The first is no option for invincibility frames when dashing. I really feel like it’s such a staple that I’d love to enable that over having to learn how to coordinate dash, and parry at their respective correct times. Something that really stands out given I can disable damage outright. Another odd choice is the lack of adjustable deadzones.

This genuinely surprised me because I noticed drift with my HexGaming Phantom controller. Seeing that after roughly 3 months of use was unexpected, and while I was able to correct the slight drift, I imagine this is going to be something that frustrates a lot of players.

Game Changing Stuff…

As far as gameplay goes, Elsie is what I’d consider the worst type of roguelike. Most perks are mere modifiers. Some are pretty cool, such as sometimes firing a rocket, though many simply offer life when buying something, or kill enemies for more attack. There are also a couple weapons, but they need to be unlocked, and later obtained to actually get that marginally different experience.

Stages have a similar problem. There are a distinct set of enemies, which have their own flavor in each world. So one location might have a blue enemy that shoots three bullets forward, whereas another location has the same enemy in green with three curvy bullets.

Many mechanics also lack depth. Challenges are a handful of Super Smash Bros. style break the target stages. Shrines are a couple different modifiers that can be obtained for a cost. Even stages have a repetitive feeling to them.

The main saving grace are bosses. Each boss feels distinct, offers a welcome challenge, and occasionally even its own unique mechanics. I appreciate this because these foes act as true run killers. Sometimes I can have an overpowered build that makes a certain challenge incredibly difficult, whereas another time the fight is over before it began.

Elsie Review Verdict

Editor’s Note: Elsie was reviewed on PlayStation 5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.