Video Game Review: Smelter

Strategy and Side-Scrolling Platformer

Developer: X PLUS Company Limited

Publisher: DANGEN Entertainment

Nintendo Switch

Smelter is an odd little hybrid of strategy game and side-scrolling platformer where the main characters are Eve (you know, from the Bible) and a weird little green thing named Smelter, who’s kind of like one of those things from Kill la Kill but with more personality and without the creepy shots of teenagers. The game opens with Eve being cast from Eden and separated from Adam, then stumbling upon Smelter, who immediately reveals himself to be an overconfident megalomaniac during a very one-sided conversation that results in the two of them teaming up to help Eve look for her boyfriend and Smelter expand his empire.

Though Smelter is technically a hybrid of strategy and platforming the two genres are clearly demarcated from one another, with each having its distinct segments. Platforming happens in relatively short levels chock-full of secrets, collectibles, and special challenges, all of which can then be used to upgrade things on the strategy side. Meanwhile, certain actions in the overworld (where the strategizing takes place) increase Eve’s platforming and combat ability, creating an effective symbiotic relationship between her and Smelter gameplay-wise even as the story feels more concerned with Smelter.

Platforming in Smelter starts out fun and only gets better as time goes on. Over the course of the story, Eve unlocks three different “styles” she can switch between almost at will with distinct traversal options and attacks. Each one feels fun and fresh when you first get them, and the more skills you unlock within each style the more fun and fresher they feel until you’re getting through long platforming sections switching between them on a dime as the situation calls. I do have a minor nitpick about switching between them, which is that you can’t cycle from one side of the style bar to the other with just one button press, but once you get used to it it’s not a huge deal. The controls are tight and level well designed, so with very few exceptions dying is a learning experience rather than a point of frustration. I do wish the bosses felt a bit less spongey, but they’re not actually all that hard, so again it’s not a huge deal.

The overworld gameplay, by contrast, is much more mediocre. While it initially gives the impression of being an RTS, it’s actually a lot closer to a grid-based tower defense game, and one with very few tower options at that. In between managing population and food resources, players can expand the amount of territory they can build on and place either ground melee units or archers, which are also capable of attacking airborne enemies. Like with Eve’s styles, progressing further into the game unlocks some specialization options for either type of unit, but that comes very slowly, as do upgrade options for any structure. As with the platforming, the difficulty level is low, but while that doesn’t detract from the fun in Eve’s sections, Smelter’s end up a bit dull for it. Most of the time there will be no enemies to speak of, leaving you free to expand, build, and re-organize at your leisure, and the occasional story events which feature slightly more involved defense segments had me watching the clock not because I was nervous about holding out but because I couldn’t wait to be done and move on.

Though Smelter’s pixel graphics are well-detailed and generally good looking (as well as evocative of the classic era of gaming without being obtrusive and in-your-face about it), they’re hit-or-miss in terms of memorability. A few enemy and character designs stuck out to me as being really cool and creative, but for the most part they – along with the environments – felt like I’d more or less seen them before. The slapstick comedy of the game’s writing and dialogue is certainly a point in its favor, one which gives it a nice little kick of personality, but in today’s game market indie games need to work harder than ever to distinguish themselves from everything else out there and it feels like Smelter could have done more in that regard.

I may not have loved every second I spent with Smelter, but at the very least there was never a time I thought to myself “I hate what I’m doing here”, and that has to count for something. I respect the dev team for taking risks, because some people in the games industry have to, and even if it didn’t totally pay off they still made something pretty enjoyable.

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