Whenever we get a new game from Inti Creates, known for the likes of Gal Guardians and Blaster Master and Azure Striker, it's almost guaranteed to wind up on my Steam wishlist. The retro anime game powerhouse has another shoo-in out next month – Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark – and it's got a demo in this week's ongoing Steam Next Fest. Act surprised: this Metroidvania follow-up seems great. It's the top-ranked Metroidvania on the Steam Next Fest charts, and that comes as no surprise.
Servants of the Dark follows 2023's similarly delightful Gal Guardians: Demon Purge, and plays almost identically at first blush. You play as two demon maid sisters this time – Kirika and Masha – on a quest to restore the demon lord they serve, blasting and slashing through 2D levels and bosses as you go. This is a game overflowing with anime girls in maid uniforms, and some of the monsters are just giant women who'd be right at home in the likes of Momodora, but it's all very much safe for work and, crucially, fun. If you, like me, initially mistook it for a different character-swapping Metroidvania on Steam which is very NSFW, put those worries aside.
It's an understatement to say the demo for Servants of the Dark is classical Metroidvania action. It approaches the genre with almost literalist zeal: one girl has a whip to cover Castlevania, and the other has a gun for a side of Metroid. (I imagine Castlevania 2 would've been much easier with a bottomless machine gun!) You can swap between them at any time, which lets you approach combat in different and interesting ways while budgeting your overall health pool. You'll fill out the sisters' kits with collectible items like throwing daggers, deployable spiders, and big swords. Collecting and crafting sub-weapons is a big part of the game, reinforcing the sense of customization that's come to define Gal Guardians.
Kirika and Masha instantly feel good to play. Jumps, dodges, slides, and myriad attacks play off of level and boss design that encourages careful positioning and timing over headlong aggression. Pixel art is sublime throughout, with thickly detailed levels hiding secrets upon secrets in almost every screen right from the start of the demo.
This being the second game in the series, and in a style that the studio excels at, Inti Creates has clearly had more time to iterate and refine. Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark is one of my favorite Steam Next Fest demos so far, and an instant wishlist addition ahead of its March 26 release on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch.
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