Embody a disgraced Egyptian god of chaos, grab a shotgun, crossbow, or rocket launcher, and wreak havoc on a legion of Apophis’s evil-doers in this short but well-done boomer shooter roguelite by newcomer developer Chaotic Games. When you pick up a game like Seth, you’re hoping for a tightly-executed gunplay experience paired with a growing set of challenges that reward learning how to best take advantage of your combat options, along with the roguelite element encouraging additional playthroughs. Seth executes the gameplay aspect quite well, but left me wanting more in regards to content after finishing my first couple runs. That’s a credit to how fun blasting through the rounds of enemies was in the dark, techy Egyptian surroundings the game takes place in.
The Gist of Being a God
Seth is pretty straight-forward when it comes to gameplay: pick one of three types of weapons, enter an arena that fills with a certain amount of enemies, take them out, and repeat until you reach a boss to defeat. Do this twice by beating the two bosses and you win the run. Fail and you restart anew, but with the ability to use earned coins from the run to purchase valuable upgrades. Along the way you’ll be blessed by mythological beings with temporary powers and upgrades, just like any good roguelite. These can do things like improve your weapon, spells, or melee, but sometimes also carry negatives that you have to weigh the pros and cons of before choosing them. That’s the gist of Seth, and the narrow scope allows for a quick satisfying bite of a game.
Doing the Deadly Dance
You’ll use a few select methods to dispatch the pre-set number of enemies for each stage. There’s a punchy shotgun with limited ammo that I tried first. I felt it required precise decision-making when it came to how I timed reloading and firing off spells and melee to defend myself or finish off baddies. This was the opposite feeling of the rocket launcher, as I was able to scoot around all over the place whilst firing off killing blows like a bat out of hell. Lastly was the crossbow, which in comparison to the other two, just felt like a handicap. Each held its own, and not having to constantly shuffle between different weapons during runs was a positive. You also get to employ a “spell” during combat, which could be used to fire off a burst of long-range splash damage by default, or switched out during a reward choice after finishing a round to something like a launchable shield, or homing arrow, to name a few. Your final choice of damage-dealing options was a melee attack that was most effectively used to dash towards and finish off close-range enemies near death.
As you kill each enemy, they drop a bit of shield shard that will give you some limited-time protection against any projectile, pulse, or bash that may have otherwise damaged you, as long as you reach it before it disappears. This method of encouraging quick and up-close combat kept things moving naturally and did a great job of driving the gameplay to be intense. The gunplay is fast-paced, ala DOOM, and a bit more forgiving than I expected with this shield system and with the various upgrades you can choose from. You can beat the whole thing in about an hour or so if you’re experienced in these types of games, and unfortunately there isn’t a scaling difficulty or additional mode to continue playing. The leaderboards are based on your fastest time completing a run with each of the three weapons, and that’s pretty much it. I was about to unlock everything within 2 hours, but did fully enjoy my time with the game. The variants of enemies were a bit lacking as well, and with only two bosses to defeat (with limited movesets for each of them) mixing up the types of battles you had to face would have definitely made the runs feel more fulfilling with repeat tries.
An Enticingly Alternative Egypt
Visually, Seth is a beautiful mix of dark caverns and Egyptian hallways, all with a sharp, technologically influenced vibe that exudes golden brooding opulence that is stylized enough to be noticed but not too jarring as to be distracting during combat. This is important in a game like this one, as visual design when you’re dashing around and moving a mile-a-minute can be a big hindrance on the overall experience if it’s trying too hard to be shiny and eye-catching. The moments after combat when you’re able to slow down and appreciate the enemy-laden floors and pathways give you a chance to breathe and take in the environment. However, I wish there were more than a few types of environments to blaze through, as the design of the levels is precise in its simplicity and ability to understand. Some levels have portals that you can pass through to pop out on the other side of another portal, and these become invaluable during intense firefights, and there is a nifty use of colorful auras that show up on the side of the screen to helpfully indicate your proximity to these warps. It’s touches like these that help you progress through Seth and just make the whole experience feel satisfying overall.
When it comes to audio, the music is a highlight. Lively Egyptian musical melodies and motifs flow throughout the runs and moments of peace, mixed with thumping, driving beats punctuated with heavy guitar, plenty of electronic influence, and a nice audio design that does a good job of mixing levels of music with important sound effects or audible indicators of danger. Boomer Shooters as a genre are known for their sound design and Seth fits into that mold admirably while using its chosen theme as a fantastic source of inspiration. Weapons, melees, and other sound effects do an effective job of adding an extra “oomph” to your actions, but can sometimes feel a little hollow and similarly leveled to other less important sounds.
Another slight disappointment is the lack of more voice lines and dialogue within the surface-level story that Seth employs to frame the action of the game’s protagonist. The selection of other Egyptian gods and goddesses you meet along the way, embodied simply as gorgeously drawn 2D art pieces with a few basic movements, do have a voice line here and there, but could have really been expanded to add some more weight to the actions you’re taking. Luckily we do get to spend a bit more time with the god of chaos Seth, and his visage is one that caught my eye and had me interested in the game originally. These stylized characters would’ve been really awesome to see more of.
In Conclusion
In the end, Seth is a well-designed snack of an action roguelite boomer shooter that doesn’t have much shelf life, but is a treat while you’re enjoying the meat on its bones. Sure, not all of the weapons will be for everyone, and not all of the roguelite upgrade choices seem worth ever choosing, but overall I had an enjoyable couple gaming sessions with the game and look forward to where the developer goes with their next idea, or if they’ll build upon the experience gained with building Seth and go down the boomer shooter path again.
Thanks to the Developer for a Review Key | Seth is available on Steam
