Product Info

Platform

Switch, PC

Publisher

PM Studios

Developer

CreSpirit

Genre

Action, Adventure, Bullet Hell, RPG

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

1.5 GB

Release Date (NA)

Nov 30, 2023

Purchase From

Amazon

eShop

Steam

TEVI is a pixel art indie game that shines brightly for the Nintendo Switch and PC. It has a great mixture between gameplay styles, likable characters and lots of in-game secrets for players to uncover.

Grasping the Story

TEVI’s storyline starts off at a slow pace but picks up hours after playing. When starting, players witness the fall of a kingdom 30 years past. Then, we fast forward to the game’s heroine, Tevi, who is a genius engineer who lets herself be captured on purpose to retrieve the Astral gear. Its powers are unknown but it contains energy (mana) that can be used in various ways for good or evil.

You’ll explore the world of Az, where there are three main races that you’ll interact with: humans with magic, beastkin (humans with animal features such as ears and tails), and biomechanical machines called magitech. You’ll also encounter other beings such as angels and demons on your travels. However, not everything is peaceful.

Just after your first boss fight, you’ll enter a long dialogue scene between two unexpected guests (Celia, the angel and Sable, a demon) who join you on your adventure to retrieve the remaining Astral gears. Afterwards, it feels like the dialogue goes on too long and could have been shortened. It feels like the dialogue about a robot wanting to make the best waffles took too much time away from the game.

The main cast, Tevi, Celia and Sable are a great combination, each with their own personalities that work well together. Vena, Tevi’s arch-rival, has a child-like temper that works with her design. Tevi’s father, who is obsessed with rabbits, is a laid-back, comical character but does have some seriousness when the time comes. Character voiceovers in Japanese are done well to capture the character’s dialogue and their facial expressions.

A Mixture of Fun

This 2D adventure has a variety of gameplay styles that are fun and will grab player’s attention, making it difficult to put the controller down, even if the boss battles are intense. TEVI uses a variety of genre styles and they blend together very well. For example, taking a page out of role-playing games (RPG), your character can level-up and upgrade equipment items and skills based on items in your inventory. It’s unfortunate that the game doesn’t show a level-up gauge where you can see your progression. It’s another tool to motivate players to explore more. Unlike a typical RPG, your character gains levels by exploring new territories and defeating bosses.

Your angel and demon pals play their role as a support unit that you can control. Both travel with Tevi in her orbitars, the floating spheres that stay close to her. They can shoot projectiles in various skills, based on how much your energy gauge has saved up. New skills are learned while adventuring.

Exploration is much like a metroidvania style game, where players are guided on a two-dimensional layout that’s set up as a side scrolling adventure where players can maneuver in these directions: left, right, up, down. Additionally, there are a lot of hidden areas that can be found by using bombs to uncover new areas or jumping towards walls that then become transparent. Many of these secret areas uncover new items such as boots to increase your jump or potions to increase your character stats. More of a reason to revisit areas and explore every inch in the world of Az.

Additionally, players can collect skills and equipment while exploring to help improve the character’s combat abilities and stats. The ability to let players equip skills freely and upgrade when necessary is a nice touch. Exploring is a big key to your character’s growth and not just leveling up. Players can craft healing items and more while adventuring; no need to go to a specific shop to purchase them. The majority of the craftable items are found while exploring. Unfortunately the ability to craft during a boss fight isn’t available. Be sure to craft enough healing items before battle!

Battling takes a different approach. It uses a mixture of elements such as damage numbers that pop-up when attacking or being attacked like role-playing games. Enemies shoot large numbers of projectiles on the screen, requiring users to dodge for minimal damage, just like bullet-hell games. Some battles are more tedious than the others, especially if you don’t have a platform to jump on to escape attacks. Expect to perish a few times to get the gist of the enemy’s attack patterns, but it’s a fun experience and winning feels just as good.

If the battles or exploration are too much or not challenging enough, the game offers the ability to adjust the game’s difficulty in the same game file. No need to start a new adventure.

A Pixelated Good Time

The indie game is designed in a colorful and detailed word in pixels. The characters are designed in a chibi-style (large head and smaller body) form. The background uses more realistic styles but in greater detail than the game’s characters. While both the characters and backgrounds are designed in pixel art, there are enough differences between the two so that they don’t blend together.

The game’s soundtrack is a delight with various styles too, composed by a variety of artists such as: Oli Jan, Triodust, 3R2. Most scores are whimsical but many have a variety to them such as a chorus and additional instrument. “Valhalla’s Breath” is an example of that. “Ulvosa” is a heavier and faster piece that is quite catchy. The boss battle’s score is upbeat and techno-like which adds more intensity when dodging projectiles.

The Final Gear

TEVI is a delightful, 2D pixel adventure that makes exploring and boss fights a challenge and fun at the same time. While the dialogue goes on too long, it’s a game you want to add to your gaming library.

A review code provided for this review and gameplay footage. TEVI is available now for the Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam).