Anvil: Vault Breakers PC Preview

Anvil: Vault Breakers has a lot of promise thanks to an addicting gameplay look and intense random level design. Players drop onto an alien planet and must survive multiple random arena-style areas. The intense combat is complemented with random beats of increased difficulty along with the player deciding what upgrades to choose from the limited array of options. Anvil: Vault Breakers combines all the best elements of a top-down shooter along with the challenge of a roguelike for some addicting gameplay. This is a game where you say, just 1 more run.

Anvil: Vault Breakers has players choosing from an array of Breakers, soldiers capable of specific talents. Each one has strengths and weaknesses from heavy hitters, balanced, to glass cannons. Each Breaker can be upgraded using Relics but these are earned by playing. You unlock slots with each galaxy conquered but the preview only limited us to 2 Relic upgrades.

The Breakers look fantastic but the cosmetics are limited. There are 9 to choose from and each one can be earned by playing, either by unlocking them through the Season Pass or by purchasing them by earning in-game currency. Breakers are separated into shooter, fighter for melee, and technical who uses handguns and focuses on skills. Each has a series of weapons that can be picked up during each run that are separated based on rarity.
 

 

When on the planet you'll face hordes of dangerous insects, mammals, and other threats. Each run is different since the player is funneled into a random path that could have NPC allies from turrets to robots. You'll have to stand in a specific area to activate these but the true test comes from the disturbances.

These random threats increase the enemy's health, damage, or speed and will sometimes spawn powerful enemies. Bosses are not excluded from this and you could end up losing easily during these situations if you don't exercise caution. Bosses are random and each one is incredible, such as a sand shark or robotic sphere. Each one has different phases and things will get hectic towards the end, requiring perfect dodging if wish to survive and maximize your return. You'll get to keep what you've earned but losing means you'll have to start the gauntlet over. I did wish the health bar was a bit bigger and was placed in a specific part of the screen. Since your avatar is constantly moving and sometimes swallowed by the many things happening on the screen seeing your health can become problematic.
 

 

During each run, the player can earn temporary upgrades ranging from purchased upgrades that improve your stats earned through killing enemies or major bonuses that boost your existing skills. It's up to you whether you want to take these or artificially increase the difficultly. 

Anvil: Vault Breakers has that addicting gameplay loop that many love from these types of games. Even when faced with failure you're constantly moving forward with new things. There are still small things that need polishing such as the occasional frame rate drop during the menu but this is a small issue. Anvil: Vault Breakers is looking to be a great indie gem you don't want to miss out on.

Preview Copy Provided by Publisher.
 

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed