| Checkpoint Gaming |
Alex Beaty |
6.5 / 10 |
05-30-2022 |
Loot River is certainly a roguelike unafraid to explore new waters, but what it lacks is a refined loop. Constantly repeating the run, even in different dungeons, isn’t an easy concept to float. However, the game’s unique movement mechanics and visuals do a lot of work to sell the experience. If you’re looking for a roguelike that’s going to punish you, then check this one out, but try not to be too shocked when you realise there are no life jackets provided. |
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| Eurogamer |
Christian Donlan |
Recommended |
05-06-2022 |
You know that moment in a good roguelite where you’ve overextended yourself, but you’ve also won riches that you don’t want to lose before you can bank them? This is what Loot River is built for, ultimately: I race around the world, dashing from one tile to another, breaking off from a little continent, an archipelago of burning wood and then searching, searching for the level’s exit as I eye my tiny health gauge with fear. A procedural dungeon-crawler where you can rescramble the once-scrambled levels? Gary Chang would be proud. |
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| Game Informer |
Jill Grodt |
8.5 / 10 |
05-03-2022 |
It took me a little over six hours to get my first victory screen, but that wasn’t the end of the game. Unlocking everything, uncovering secrets, and piecing together the lore are all a part of the almost inexhaustible experience. It can be acutely irritating to fall victim to a first-level foe after nearly making it to the last boss in the previous run, but the game is hard to put down. Loot River reimagines some of its inspirations’ best elements, offering players a chance to sail cleverly through each environment, grow powerful enough to slice up once-impossible threats, and unravel a story that smartly weaves into its gameplay. |
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| Gaming Nexus |
Elliot Hilderbrand |
8 / 10 |
05-04-2022 |
Loot River has a lot of good features. Controls, artwork, music are all very nice. The combat, while not bad, does nothing to move the genre forward. The unique Tetris-like platform moving is enjoyable, but nowhere near the complexity or difficulty of Tetris. I can see the potential for a great experience, but it just isn’t quite there. Occasional difficulty spikes that knock me for a loop and put me out of the mood to make another run leaves Loot River as a good, not great, game. |
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| God is a Geek |
Chris White |
7.5 / 10 |
05-03-2022 |
Loot River offers a challenge for the most sadistic of players. While the combat elements are enjoyable and the moving platforms give it a new spin that really works, I just always felt cheated with the lack of progress I was making. |
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| GRYOnline.pl |
Karol Laska |
6 / 10 |
05-03-2022 |
Moving blocks and traversing pixelated waters of Loot River is fun, and I hope the developers will show the game’s full potential in the future. But right now, they need to fix it and make the gameplay more diverse. |
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| Hardcore Gamer |
Jordan Helm |
4.5 / 5 stars |
05-03-2022 |
Even occasional bugs and minor inconsistencies on challenge do little to sully a terrific first try for straka. |
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| Hobby Consolas |
Alberto Lloret |
80 / 100 |
05-03-2022 |
An entertaining roguelite that will catch you not only for the original of its “Tetris” mechanics, but also for the great fusion with the soulslike style, its beautiful aesthetics and the number of “runs” that you will have to overcome to discover all its secrets. If you like the genre, you will like it, despite the flaws it has at the moment. |
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| IGN Italy |
Andrea Giongiani |
7 / 10 |
05-03-2022 |
A strange mix of various different types of games. If you are looking for something unique and different you might find some solace in this little game, but beware the less than ideal graphics and enemies that are lacking in the uniqueness department. |
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| New Game Network |
Joe Cabrera |
56 / 100 |
05-18-2022 |
For all the promise that Loot River held with its amalgamation of gameplay features, they, unfortunately, don’t gel together well. This is compounded by the technical issues making for an experience that is more frustrating than it is fun. |
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| NoobFeed |
Yagmur Sevinc |
70 / 100 |
05-17-2022 |
Loot River is a soup of so many genres: It is soulslike, roguelike, puzzle, and platformer. Therefore, it appeals to a very small group of people, which is completely fine. Loot River is much more promising than what it appears to be on the surface: The ability to essentially create a map for yourself is a very obvious feature and yet it is rarely ever used. It is a strange mix, but it just works out in the end. |
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| RPGamer |
Ryan Costa |
2.5 / 5 stars |
05-17-2022 |
Loot River‘s mileage will vary, with refreshing timing-based combat it can feel like a fun distraction or a listless drift down the river. |
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| Screen Rant |
Leo Faierman |
2 / 5 stars |
05-03-2022 |
It’s unfortunate that Loot River feels like an Early Access product in its current state. A scarcity of content and a thoroughly unfinished, unsatisfying feel to the combat, movement, and item discovery makes this title very hard to recommend. The best action-roguelites require rock-solid fundamentals to stand on their own, and a few game-breaking bugs combined with the limited equipment and incorrect item descriptors is cause for concern. Its scant bosses range from easily exploitable to insta-kills, and a deeply unsatisfying core gameplay loop essentially asks players to take on a series of failed runs, with repeat runs betraying how little the game’s procedural generation affects these randomized maps. Loot River is a frustrating experience which clearly needed more development time, but hopefully the game finds its footing post-launch. |
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| SECTOR.sk |
Decain |
8.5 / 10 |
05-06-2022 |
Loot River from Slovakia is proof that the souls genre can still be refreshed with something new and unconventional. This time in combination with Tetris and rougelite elements. |
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| TechRaptor |
Will Quick |
8 / 10 |
05-04-2022 |
A roguelike that a combo of solid combat and sliding block puzzles, but prepare to be broke a lot. |
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| The Escapist |
KC Nwosu |
Recommended |
05-03-2022 |
Video Review |
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| The Games Machine |
Daniele Cucchiarelli |
8.5 / 10 |
05-03-2022 |
Dark Souls meets Diablo and spices it up with a bit of Tetris in this original “shifting” action-roguelike that will test both your combat skills and your wits. |
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| Twinfinite |
Anthony Jones |
3.5 / 5 stars |
05-03-2022 |
In light of Loot River’s shortcomings, it’s still a worthwhile title to play. Flicking Tetris blocks through an astonishingly fluid river is so satisfying. And while I have issues with the combat, the weapons and spells are fun to use when they work. If Loot River gained a roadmap of good changes and content to add to the pile, it could stand toe-to-toe with some heavy-hitters leading the genre. |
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| Video Chums |
A.J. Maciejewski |
6 / 10 |
05-04-2022 |
If it featured more deliberate combat and less ambiguous visuals, Loot River would have been an awesome game due to its uniqueness. |
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| ZTGD |
Terrence Johnson |
7 / 10 |
05-11-2022 |
Loot River is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination; it, like many new IP’s just needs some tweaking to iron out some of its technical issues and I have no doubt that with its truly unique blend of traditional roguelikes with a dash of a block puzzler, that Loot River will quickly carve out a place for it on the ever-growing roguelike mountain. |
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