{"id":113570,"date":"2020-05-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/shantae_and_the_seven_sirens"},"modified":"2020-05-29T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T15:00:00","slug":"review-shantae-and-the-seven-sirens-back-to-basics-brilliance-leads-to-a-must-have-metroidvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/29\/review-shantae-and-the-seven-sirens-back-to-basics-brilliance-leads-to-a-must-have-metroidvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Shantae And The Seven Sirens &#8211; Back To Basics Brilliance Leads To A Must-Have Metroidvania"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5ba521d77387f\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5ba521d77387f\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\" readability=\"2\"><a title=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105467\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105467\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-handheld\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>About 20 years ago, few probably could\u2019ve guessed that the <strong>Shantae<\/strong> series would be firing on all cylinders by now. The initial release of this charming <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2020\/05\/feature_best_nintendo_switch_metroidvania_games\">Metroidvania<\/a> series saw a release <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gbc\/shantae\">late in the life<\/a> of the Game Boy Color and never received the spotlight it deserved, but after about a ten-year hiatus, the series came back and has been seeing a new entry every few years. The latest of these is <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/shantae_and_the_seven_sirens\">Shantae and the Seven Sirens<\/a><\/strong>, a sort of \u2018back to basics\u2019 entry in the series that sees a return to previous series staples like an interconnected map and themed dungeons. Through taking such cues from the handful of games that preceded it, Shantae and the Seven Sirens demonstrates in abundance that WayForward has nailed down what makes this series so enjoyable.<\/p>\n<p>The story picks up with Shantae and her crew taking a vacation to a tropical island paradise, where a half-genie festival is being thrown in which Shantae and five other new half-genies are the guests of honour. Shortly after the curtain rises on their first belly-dancing performance, a sinister force swoops in and kidnaps everyone but Shantae. It\u2019s soon revealed that their disappearance was linked to the eponymous Seven Sirens who live beneath the island, and it\u2019s up to Shantae to save the day and hopefully still have time to get some sun on her much-needed vacation.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\" readability=\"2\"><a title=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105483\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105483\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As expected for the series, the storyline itself isn\u2019t anything particularly memorable, but nonetheless remains consistently excellent due to the strong writing at play. The plot is treated with a kind of snarky irreverence that shines through in some fashion in nearly all the dialogue, which keeps the tone lighthearted and bubbly. It\u2019s a given that not <em>all<\/em> the jokes land quite the same, but it\u2019s tough to not become enamoured with the constant barrage of self-aware humour and fourth-wall-breaking jokes. Shantae and the Seven Sirens doesn\u2019t take itself seriously at all and it\u2019s stronger for it, leading to some deliciously absurd subplots that are sure to delight.<\/p>\n<p>Gameplay takes the shape of a standard Metroidvania, with you slowly unlocking access to more of the map as you gain more transformations and abilities for Shantae. You\u2019ll spend most of your time traipsing back and forth throughout the map in search of new secrets and collectables to strengthen your combat prowess, but the storyline will also route you through several dungeons that play out a bit like the sort you\u2019d find in older <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2020\/05\/feature_best_zelda_games_of_all_time\"><strong>Zelda<\/strong><\/a> games. These dungeons are easily some of the highest points of Shantae and the Seven Sirens, as they feature the perfect blend of self-contained exploration, puzzle-solving and combat, along with a new upgrade of some sort that\u2019s required to finish the dungeon and beat the boss at the end.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\" readability=\"2\"><a title=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105473\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105473\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>When not crawling through a dungeon, the overworld still has plenty of solid platforming challenges and light combat, but part of what makes it all such a dream to play through is the new approach to transformations. Taking a cue from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/shantae_and_the_pirates_curse\">Pirate\u2019s Curse<\/a><\/strong>, transformations are now a simple matter of pressing a button or holding a direction to instantly activate the necessary ability. It may not sound like a major change, but the freedom of not having to pause and perform a dance <em>every single time<\/em> you need to climb a wall or break a block proves to have a surprising effect on the overall flow. Fans need not worry that the dances have been completely dropped, however, as they now take the shape of one-off spells that manage to still be helpful while not needing to be triggered on <em>every<\/em> screen. WayForward did an effective job of listening to fan feedback in this respect, as transformations are now easier to use than ever before, and each one feels like it\u2019s properly utilized throughout the whole adventure.<\/p>\n<p>Shantae\u2019s combat prowess is more effective than ever, too, as you can now depend on both the traditional shop system and a new collectable card system for buffing her up. As per usual, gems can be spent on new sub-weapons and upgrades to your hair whip, giving Shantae plenty of room for growth while also expanding her repertoire to a rather diverse offering. Most enemies don\u2019t require much more than a few quick whips to dispatch, but having the extra combat options goes a long way towards giving the gameplay more variety.<\/p>\n<p>Defeated enemies will also occasionally drop cards, of which there are several dozen. These can do things like increasing certain movement speeds and raising the effectiveness of some tools, and you can equip up to three at a time on Shantae to utilize their benefits. Though not game-changing by any means, it\u2019s satisfying how this adds a light means of creating a \u2018build\u2019 for Shantae, and the number of available cards practically guarantees that there\u2019s always something new to try out as you keep progressing.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\" readability=\"2\"><a title=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105479\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105479\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Shantae and the Seven Sirens clocks in at around ten hours to beat on your first playthrough, but you\u2019re encouraged to keep re-running it via New Game+ and speedruns, with new win screens being unlocked for hitting certain objectives. Some may decry the relatively short length, but we\u2019d argue that this is a great example of the \u2018less is more\u2019 principle in play. Those ten hours are a <em>good<\/em> time, and we found ourselves jumping back in for another run immediately upon the first clear. There\u2019s something to be said about a game that\u2019s designed to be all killer and no filler, offering up a somewhat brief but consistently great experience that\u2019s not concerned with wasting your time.<\/p>\n<p>WayForward decided to splash for some flashy animated cutscenes this time around, and they add a great deal of production value to this short but sweet adventure. Upon booting up the game, you\u2019re greeted by an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/07\/studio_trigger_reveals_its_stunning_opening_animation_for_shantae_5\">opening movie produced by none other than Studio Trigger<\/a>, and various short scenes will also play at key moments in the story as you progress. These scenes are each impressively well animated, and they match the 2D art style beautifully. WayForward has tossed out the 3D backgrounds and environments of Half-Genie Hero in favour of an all-2D approach, and it\u2019s a change for the better. Though the old look was excellent in its own right, this slightly adjusted art style gives the adventure an overall more coherent feel. Each screenshot looks like a piece of concept art in the best of ways, and WayForward takes full advantage of this with the varied and colourful island setting it\u2019s chosen.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\" readability=\"2\"><a title=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105484\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/105484\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"generator nintendo-switch-docked\">Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Unfortunately, the legendary Jake Kaufman didn\u2019t return to compose the soundtrack for Shantae and the Seven Sirens, but we\u2019re pleased to report that the music hasn\u2019t suffered a major dip in quality in his absence. The whole soundtrack consists of an energetic mixture of chiptune and pop music, and there are plenty of catchy tracks here that\u2019ll stick with you even after you\u2019ve put down the game. Alongside this, voice acting remains top-notch across the board, with each character putting on a suitably hammy and over the top performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>In many ways, it feels like Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the culmination of everything WayForward has learned since that initial release a little less than two decades back. Shantae and the Seven Sirens pulls some of the best elements from the titles that came before it \u2013 such as the dungeons and fast transformations \u2013 while adding in several cool new ones too, like the collectable cards and lovable new characters. A short but sweet runtime, well-drawn visuals, a catchy soundtrack and a well-designed map make this one an easy recommendation to anybody looking for the next must-have Metroidvania for their Switch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked) About 20 years ago, few probably could\u2019ve guessed that the Shantae series would be firing on all cylinders by now. The initial release of this charming Metroidvania series saw a release late in the life of the Game Boy Color and never received the spotlight it deserved, but after about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}