Shantae and the Seven Sirens [Xbox]
WayForward’s Shantae and the Seven Sirens follows on from their previous title, Half-Genie Hero. Shantae - along with five other Half-Genies - has been invited to an event on Paradise Island: the Half-Genie festival. Before the event can even begin, something strange happens - the five other Half-Genies disappear! As the only one left, Shantae must go on a quest to find them all and get to the bottom of what’s going on behind-the-scenes.
As you progress through the story, you’ll gain abilities as you rescue each of the Half-Genies, via Fusion stones - these abilities range from taking on new forms to enable travel to new areas of the map - which is presented in a metroidvania style with certain areas inaccessible prior to having these forms - including a frog to swim through water and a newt to climb up walls to name just a couple; to learning special dances that can Refresh dried up plants and revive stone statues (as well as replenish your health); Quake to deal decent damage to your enemies as well as shake treasure loose and open up secret passageways, and more.
Visually, Shantae is gorgeous in its 2D platforming appearance, with great use of colours and well detailed, easily distinguishable areas. Character designs and animations are fantastic, with series regulars such as Risky Boots returning, as well as new characters and enemies that all fit the very recognisable Shantae style perfectly. Each of the Seven Sirens are very unique, and have appearances tied to their method of attack. Typically you’ll come up against Sirens after gaining new abilities, so that’s always a little hint to what might prove effective against them. There are also animated cutscenes throughout, which work well to progress the story and make me really want a full animated series of Shantae’s adventures. The intro was even done by Studio TRIGGER, helmed by Hiroyuki Imaishi (creator of one of my all-time favourite animes: Gurren Lagann) and known for Kill la Kill and I’d totally be down for them to do it. The music throughout the game is fantastically done, with lots of upbeat, energetic tunes that change to fit which area of the map you’re in. There’s limited voice acting, with only some lines being said out loud for emphasis and effect, and whilst most of the dialogue is done through written text, there’s an absolute tonne of humour all throughout. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and makes plenty of fourth-wall breaking jokes and self-deprecating jabs, including a subtle nod to getting through the ratings board, despite the not-so-subtle costumes and fan-service moans when you die.
Not only does it look great, but it feels great too. Getting to play as Shantae, and utilising all of the different forms she unlocks and make full use of them during Siren fights is really enjoyable, and whilst you will find yourself using some more than others (both the alternate forms, and dances you learn), they all prove to be useful and necessary to traverse through certain areas of the map. There are collectible cards that you can gain from defeating enemies as well as by trading Nuggets to certain people in the villages you visit. These cards add an extra layer of customisation to your gameplay as you can equip up to three at any one time, and these will provide buffs such as reducing the amount of damage you take to certain types of attack, taking no damage when falling into pits, or allowing you to convert red gems into health. Collecting one of each card type is not enough as you need to defeat a certain number of these enemies to activate the card, although some cards (such as Sirens) are activated straight off the bat.
There are a bunch of purchasable weapons to have at your disposal also, which I neglected to purchase for waaay too long as I hoarded my gems. Gems max out at 999, so taking the plunge on these became obvious and I found that some actually were way more useful than I’d anticipated, especially when fully upgraded. You can also purchase upgrades in the form of shampoos and hair creams to improve Shantae’s hair whip, both in speed and damage dealt.
Overall Shantae looks and feels great, and whilst there were a few moments of frustration where I lost a fair chunk of progress due to not saving in a long time (purely my own stupid fault), or had to repeatedly attempt the timed segment towards the end, as I wasn’t using the Newt dash ability to its full extent, it remained a lot of fun throughout, and didn’t have me pulling my hair out. There’s also plenty of collectibles in the form of Heart Squids (that can be exchanged to increase your health meter) or Nuggets that you can trade, as well as different achievements to unlock to encourage further playthroughs if you haven’t nabbed it all the first time around. The main ones I’m focusing on next are the timed ones, although I can already feel the anxiety filling me.
In the end, we decided to give Shantae and the Seven Sirens the Collecting Asylum rating of 9/10.
Have you played Shantae and the Seven Sirens yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to WayForward for the Shantae and the Seven Sirens Xbox review code!
