Review: TEVI

destructoid.com:

Metroidvanias and bullet hells hold a special place in my heart for contrasting reasons. One is great for an explorative and relaxing experience that’s typically a one-and-done. The other, meanwhile, provides an adrenaline boost that gets many repeat playthroughs in vain attempts to scratch the skill ceiling.

From this perspective, examining CreSpirit and GemaYue’s latest collaboration TEVI seems contradictory but not unwelcome. It advertises itself as a Metroidvania/bullet hell mash-up, and it’s a concept I adore, despite my mindset on both genres. The cute anime art style and developer’s existing pedigree with Rabi-Ribionly served as the icing on the cake. TEVI is even sold as Rabi-Ribi‘s successor due to having the same genre mash-up and GemaYue’s return.

While I never played Rabi-Ribi, my time with TEVI might have sold me on it. Although TEVI suffers from a fairly uninteresting plot early on, the fantastic gameplay and progression system make it a joy to blast through.

TEVI (PC [reviewed], Switch)
Developer: CreSpirit, GemaYue, and Ein Lee
Publisher: CreSpirit and Neverland Entertainment
Released: November 29, 2023
MSRP: $29.99 (PC), $34.99 (Switch)

TEVI‘s hook is pretty simple. Players control the titular lead, a girl on the hunt for Astral Gears. These objects are filled with a powerful energy called mana, and Tevi collects them to help her rabbit-obsessed father’s research.

Joining her are Celia and Sable, an angel and demon who are both created from magitech. They mostly follow her journey inside her orbiters, tiny floating orbs that shoot off various ranged attacks. Of TEVI‘s narrative choices, it is neat seeing something like magitech recontextualized as an entire race of people with distinct subraces.

Unfortunatel