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Given that the Wii U is on considered dead I thought I’d see on hitting it up to see if I could find a hidden gem of a game to try out this year. Years prior I posted about Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, which would seem to be the pinnacle of what can be offered for excellent horror gaming on the system. Though I had to admit I have found some lesser titles offered for the system, be it on the system itself or some offered digitally be it a Virtual Console offering and from the eShop exclusively. I did find some titles I thought could fit my Octoberween mood for this year but I passed on them for a variety of reasons. I might revisit those choices in the future but for today I wanted to focus on today’s choice for my Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles of 2018: Lost Reavers on the Wii U.

 

Now this might seem like a weak choice for an Octoberween game pick, and for the most part it is, yet at the same time my Top 5 Game Title lists are not just for the heavy hitter games that’ll be on everyone’s list. My picks are also a chance for certain games to get a chance in the spotlight: A chance for the game to shine when most reviews/coverage has already written the game off as no good. This blog series I wouldn’t consider being called game reviews of any sort but a means to show some of the good in certain games when it is mired in so much bad. Especially if your able to get the most bang out of your buck.

Plus it doesn’t help to cover a dying game on a dead system that many may not be able to play in the near future but that just adds more charm overall.

Lost Reavers is a Free-to-Play, Online Only downloadable video game from BandaiNamco developed under the title Project Treasure back in the hayday of the Wii U. It does it’s best to have some kind of plot consisting of humanity running out of natural resources to sustain itself and finds an alternative organic energy source called Relic. But finding this near inexhaustible power supply has it’s hang-ups like being super lethal to a majority of humans who approach it, either killing them outright or possibly turning them into zombie like creatures. Thankfully it turns out that there are a handful of humans who are capable of tracking down Relics and are immune to the adverse effects. Once the power of Relics was established plans were soon put in place to see on using them for time travel (because why not) since it been learned that Relics have been around throughout human history. The organization Pleiades is established and once time travel had been achieved (because figuring out time travel is easy) teams are sent into the past to locate and retrieve Relics, along with recruiting other members to the organization in different time periods who have the same ability to track and handle Relics.

The setting of the game tries to make the game sound more epic than it is for in reality it’s just another four player dungeon-like crawler romp fest. You get to choose 4 pre-set character types: Sayuri, an Asian school girl who doesn’t believe in wearing pants or a skirt, Dwayne, a black man who carries more weapons than Hammer from the Castlevania game Aria of Sorrow, Victoria, a Nina Williams-like lethal feme fatal with similar outfit and Shadowstalker, a demon mask wearing bad boy who I guess you could consider the games main Edge Lord.

You get to place as any one of these characters as you meet up in your personal hideout, customize and equip in any way you see fit and partake in various level based missions to gain Relics, EXP and a means to upgrade your character in the best way possible to make them stand out among the 4 player times. Depending on whom you choose to play as you’ll get a different fighting style. Sayuri for example uses a katana for melee attacks and a one handed submachine gun for ranged attacks while Dwayne (The Rock) uses dual carry weapons for mid to long range attacks only, complete with rock launcher. One appealed to me in trying this game out is because it reminded me of how one played Phantasy Star Online back in the day: Choose a part of 4 (or less) as you visit three different areas with a varying degree of difficulty, depending the level’s setting, and venture forth to collection EXP and gear. The enemies you face off with vary depending on what level you try out. This is where I get a bit of an Octoberween vibe to this game as each level has its own personized baddie to take down. The South American research lab has undead like zombies; the demon castle has resurrected Japanese style baddies like resurrected samurai, and desert area that deals with mummies, skeletons and giant ants. All in a quest to find the relic in that area which is of course locked away behind secret doors and locked doors that some characters in your team will have to hack/unlock as other team members guard you’re back from enemy attack. Once you find the relic you team is then tasked with one person to carry it back to the beginning of the level as your team mates guard the relic holder for they are unable to use weapons at that time. Though there is no voice chat function there are pre-message text bubbles you can use to chat/give commands with akin to similar games like Castlevania: Harmony of Despair or Phantasy Star Online.

Say what you will about the lack of variety in your character selection, even if you can’t create your own character, the few levels offered give a nice variety in which you will be facing off in each level. As mentioned depending on your character’ level you’ll be able to take on harder level difficulties of difficulty where the levels get more elaborate and enemies are tougher to take down. Thankfully you’re able to upgrade yourself with different outfits and weapons depending on what you can find in the level. You do have a shop to visit after each mission but that’s mostly used to buy healing items, ammo and the free to play reason to give them your hard earned money: analysis chips. This is the game’s currency that allows you to research item chests you find in each level to be able to unlock new weapons and outfits. You can earn/find these chips as well when you go hunt for relics but given that each item chest has a time limit before it’s replace with a new one, your given a reason to grind away to unlock a certain chest or shell out your hard earned cash to get those analysis chips which of course come in two varieties: regular (good) or silver (better).

It’s a game you really don’t need to sink a lot of time in to enjoy; especially given how the three level varieties is only enhanced once you level your character up to higher levels. I was able to level my Sayuri character up to level 10 in one sitting, making myself ready to try out different level difficulties later on. The lag can be bad in certain rooms depending if you play on an Asia or European room but thankfully you can still find a North American game relatively easy with all “players welcome set up.” It’s not completely difficult to be able to get the hand of playing this game, it offers a good variety of tutorials to get you well acclimated and oddly using the gamepad wasn’t that clucky to get use it. It’s a nice touch that you can actually play the game off the Wii U’s gamepad if you even so choose. It’s how I’ve been able to enjoy playing this game during this Octoberween given that my Wii U is hooked up to the family Game Rig.

Now you’re probably asking yourself why would this be an Octoberween game title to try? Especially given that the Wii U is a dead system? To be honest it would be a hard sell given what is offered out there for Halloween gaming on the Wii U. But if you don’t get your expectations too high and you enjoy a good four player dungeon-like crawler with some spooky themed levels this game could fit the bill for some great quick play Octoberween goodness. Going up against generic zombies, undead samurai, mummies and skeletons fits the mood quickly as you traverse various levels with your fellow partners. Sure it won’t be enough to keep you entertained for very long but this is the kind of game that is great to enjoy in small bites. Much like Halloween candy this game is best enjoyed here and there than trying to go out in one play session. Lost Reavers may not be a major hit by any means but it’s not actually garbage either. Much like Halloween candy you won’t feel too guilty sinking your teeth into this game but will probably get sickening if you overindulge yourself.

If your one for free to play four player co-operative games with limited character customization and levels that fit an Octoberween mood for a few hours then this game may be right for you. It seems only fitting that it can only be played on a system that is slowly taking an exit from Nintendo’s hardware offerings. There is no word if this game will be ported over to the Switch and given that it’s still free to play this game online on the Wii U, the only thing you’ll be short out of in trying out Lost Reavers is some memory space on your Wii U and some spare time on your heads. Sure you could do better but honestly Lost Reavers is far from the worst. And seeing that it’s only a matter of time before the game or the online service on the Wii U will get unplugged eventually, like on the Wii, now is a good time as any to give it a try. Even if it’s just your first time look me up online if you’re up for a game!

My Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles for 2018

5) Murdered: Soul Suspect – Price: Free with Microsoft’s Games With Gold offer on Xbox One.

4) Lost Reavers – Price: Free to Play on Wii U.