Who is Stan?
That is one of many questions that came to mind when I played Phantom Trigger. This ‘Hardcore Neon Slasher’ comes to us from Tinybuild and Bread Team, the developers behind Divide By Sheep. If you’re familiar with that game then you know this is definitely a bold new direction for the developer and I personally like it a lot. I took a quick spin through one of the levels and wanted to share my experience with you.
While the game is currently in an alpha state one thing is quite clear. This game is about kicking some serious butt and looking good while doing it. People who have played Nuclear Throne or Ruin of the Reckless are going to feel right at home here. Phantom Trigger is a top down action game heavily focused on melee combos. There is a bit of a Roguelike element thrown into the mix in the form of randomized environments.
I was little cautious when I read this description of the game, as this usually indicates that level design is not really going to be focused. Thankfully I was wrong. Phantom Trigger has a story to tell and it doesn’t sometimes mind putting the action on hold, literally. As you begin your journey into the first level, you encounter puzzles, terrifying monsters, and cut scenes. These cut scenes pause the action to tell Stan’s story and show the stark contrast between both worlds: Earth and the main game itself.
The main game takes place in this strange hellish world. This world has all sorts of strange intriguing characters like an Ant girl, talking tree lady and a talking frog. You start in a base camp area unaware of whats going on. This is where the RPG elements are probably going to kick into high gear. There is someone looking for cooking spices and many empty areas that I am sure will be filled with useful NPCs. In the alpha state this served as little more than as a tease and display of the pixel art, which is fantastic.
The enemies themselves are quite intriguing looking. They remind me of an organic form of The Process from Transistor. I could be wrong, but I got the impression I was literally fighting a cancer. Then again that would mean Stan has an Ant living inside him, so who knows? One thing I did enjoy is that there are no ‘trash’ enemies in this game. These things hit hard and fast and if you underestimate them you are going to pay. Phantom Trigger ramps up the difficulty even further by adding more variety, such as ranged and area of effect enemies.
Which brings me to combat finally. The combat itself is elegant but simple. You have three weapons that all work off of each other to produce different effects: Fire gloves, Ice sword, and Green whip thing, which I assume is Earth. Each elemental weapon brings something different to the table such as freezing enemies, circle of flames and ability to whip enemies into hazards. It’s all very well thought out and I am excited to see it expanded upon. My only hope is that there is more than just the basic three weapons.
The combos are what make the action fun and having a large variety is what is going to keep me playing. One second, I am freezing an enemy and the next casting fire blades. This felt awesome and I never got tired of dashing around enemies. There was also a very fun boss fight at the end that played with that elemental combat. It required me lighting boulders on fire and flinging them at the boss to get his guard down. I loved this and want to see more of this kind of thing, even in normal combat scenarios.
Phantom Trigger needed to do something unique and different to capture my attention and it did it. It accomplishes that with its strange style, great pixel art and razor sharp combat. The story while only teased at the moment, has my attention and I want to know more.
Currently Phantom Trigger is due to release sometime in 2017. Being a two man development team though, anything could happen. You can currently check out the Alpha yourself on their website. I know I plan on keeping my eye on this game as it develops!
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