Netherworld Covenant Review: Smart Combat System Carries the Experience | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Steam (PC)

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Is Netherworld Covenant a roguelike soulslike or a soulslike roguelike? Either way, the game introduces some neat mechanics that I haven’t seen done in either genre. And for those concerned that roguelikes and soulslikes are typically extremely punishing, I’m happy to report that Netherworld Covenant, while challenging, doesn’t feel like it’s out to punish players. With a bit more polish, the game could have easily landed among my top roguelikes.

I’ll say this, though: the story wasn’t what hooked me, it’s the gameplay that truly stands out in Netherworld Covenant.

The story behind Netherworld Covenant is pretty basic. The protagonist dies on a battlefield and wakes up in the Netherworld, where they become the lantern bearer and must venture out to free the souls of their fallen comrades and vanquish evil. That evil takes the form of different bosses scattered across the underworld. It’s not a bad premise, but it’s also not doing anything particularly new. I’ll say this, though: the story wasn’t what hooked me, it’s the gameplay that truly stands out in Netherworld Covenant.

Netherworld Covenant is a roguelike, so progression is based on gathering resources, bringing them back to base, and leveling up different aspects of my character, and the game does a pretty good job here. There are two main currencies used to level up my hero. The first is purple shards, which are used to unlock abilities in the skill tree, buy new characters to play as, acquire weapons or armor, or purchase purgatory armor, which is very expensive but also very cool-looking. Then there are coins, which are used to unlock more powerful weapons and armor, as well as ghost abilities (more on ghosts in a bit). Purple shards are fairly common, earned by defeating enemies or finding them in treasure chests. Coins, however, are much rarer and only drop from powerful foes. What I love about the roguelike aspect of Netherworld Covenant is every run feels meaningful, whether I’m upgrading stats after each delve or saving resources for something bigger.

By far, the coolest part of Netherworld Covenant is its ghost system.

Combat is easily the game’s biggest strength. I can choose from several different characters: a knight, berserker, mage, and more, and each one plays a bit differently. Berserkers, for example, don’t have much in the way of ranged attacks but deal heavy damage up close, while the mage focuses almost entirely on ranged abilities. Each character also has access to a dodge (or blink, in the mage’s case) and an interrupt ability. This is where the soulslike influence really comes into play. Enemies have clear tells before attacking, and if I time an interrupt correctly, it will daze them. I can’t just spam these abilities, though, since they consume stamina points. I start with three stamina points, but can earn more as I progress.

By far, the coolest part of Netherworld Covenant is its ghost system. During my dives into the dungeons, I’ll come across rooms containing my fallen comrades. These encounters act like miniboss fights, and if I’m able to defeat them, they join me as ghost abilities. I can equip two different ghost abilities at a time and mix and match attacks from different comrades. For example, one that performs a shield strike and another that unleashes a rain of arrows.

Landing normal attacks fills a meter that allows me to summon these ghosts, which prevents me from simply spamming these powers. Beyond their attacks, I can also teleport to the ghost’s location. This is extremely powerful. I can send a ghost in to damage a boss, wait for it to do its work, and then blink behind the boss and pile on even more damage. I can’t tell you how many bosses I beat this way. The system works incredibly well, and it’s a huge part of what makes Netherworld Covenant so much fun to play

While the combat shines, the level design doesn’t carry the same luster.

As I progress through the dungeon, I’m constantly making choices between rooms that grant my ghosts new abilities, provide auras like protective spells, or offer relics that boost things such as attack power. I can only carry two relics at a time, and like the other bonuses I find during a run, they’re lost when I die.

While the combat shines, the level design doesn’t carry the same luster. Each dungeon eventually starts to feel the same. While the environments do change, the basic setup of each room becomes repetitive over time. Each room starts to feel the same, not with just character placement, but with room design as well. More care put into level design and making each area feel distinct could have pushed the game over the edge, from good to great.

The same can be said for the bosses. The boss battles themselves aren’t bad, some are even creative, but the voice acting is rough. Honestly, I would have preferred no voice acting at all. Most of the voices sound similar and lack polish, which ends up hurting the presentation more than helping it. I also noticed a lack of visual detail. There may be intricacies in the boss designs, but because the characters are fairly small on screen, any fine detail in the art is largely lost in execution.

Final Grade: B

I had a fun time with Netherworld Covenant. The combat and ghost abilities are what make this game so enjoyable to play and keep me diving back into the dungeon. Unfortunately, the lackluster level design and voice acting, even though there isn’t much of it, hold the game back. If the same amount of care had been put into these areas as the combat and ghost systems, Netherworld Covenant could have been a contender for one of my favorite roguelikes.

Review code provided by Stride PR