Loki - Egyptian Demo

The hack & slash genre is dominated by Blizzard and their prized offspring, the Diablo franchise. However, there are plenty of other good game series as well, including classics like Wizardry or Descent. Although the formula seems simple, given the fact that loot and many monsters seem to be the only ingredients required, it is quite easy to fail at creating a good action-RPG.

Loki borrows most of its ideas from Blizzard’s giant as well, although it also tries to bring a lot of new stuff into the mix. However, the underlying principles are the same, since your main goal is to kill everything that breathes and gain experience to unlock better abilities. The differences are mainly observable in the theme and the story, but the latter is quite bad, so it doesn’t amount to much anyway.

In this demo, you get to play as the Egyptian sorcerer, which means that you have to rely on magic and spells in order to deal with the enemies. The other choices from the full story include a Greek warrior, an Aztec shaman, and a Norse fighter, each one of which has a unique style and requires a different approach if you want to get out alive. Since the game is quite difficult, making proper use of your character’s abilities is of capital importance.

Just like in every other hack & slash title out there, the main goal is to get epic loot and try to become nearly invincible by the end of the game. While the game provides you with all the armors and weapons you can carry, the experience is not as fun as you might believe, mainly because the action is repetitive and there’s not enough satisfaction to justify the lost time.

Thankfully, the game looks and moves great, which means that you get to admire dreamy landscapes and quite the gruesome-looking monsters. The special effects are decent as well, while the soundtrack goes well with the general atmosphere of the story. Even so, it’s pretty difficult to get excited about the graphics when the rest is not very attractive to begin with.

All things considered, Loki had the chance to be much better than it turned out to be, mostly because the gameplay is very repetitive and there’s nothing keeping you coming back for more after multiple sessions. On the other hand, it can be a decent distraction every once in a while, especially if you want to admire the beautiful landscapes created for the game.