Valfaris: Mecha Therion Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Released in 2019, Steel Mantis’ Valfaris impressed me with its high-octane, thrash metal-infused take on the run and gun. Building on their first game, fantasy hack and slasher Slain (one of my first reviews on this site back in 2016) and improving on it in almost every way, it remains one of my favourite action titles of recent years. Now, four years later, Steel Mantis are back to continue the adventures of Therion but they’ve taken a surprise turn in genre and approach. Aesthetically, this is still very much within the world of Valfaris but rather than the platforming run and gun, here we have a more traditional horizontal shoot-em-up. Does this bold change pay off or does Mecha Therion blow up in the devs’ faces?

The story of Mecha Therion directly follows on from its predecessors. The hero Therion seeks out his tyrannical father, Vroll, in a quest for revenge. Therion is armed with the mighty sword Bathoryn, a blade that contains the soul and essence of his brother who was the hero of Slain. Having located the planet where Vroll is now living, Therion sets out to battle through the armies of foes his father sends to attack him. This narrative is pretty traditional revenge stuff but perfectly suits the heavy metal aesthetic and provides plenty of context for the action.

Graphically, Mecha Therion is very much a continuation of Steel Mantis’ trademark aesthetic. Everything feels like a pixel take on classic heavy metal album cover artwork but with a distinctive neon colour scheme making it all pop. Both Therion himself and the many enemies he faces are big and chunky character models, ensuring that this isn’t a pixel-perfect bullet hell shooter but an intriguing combination of traditional shooter and the series’