Extremely Powerful Capybaras PC Review
Summary: A colourful and joyful take on the Vampire Survivors formula only let down by lacklustre audio.
3
Light-hearted
The rather uninformatively titled ‘Action Rogue-lite’ genre has exploded in recent years, and Extremely Powerful Capybaras falls into this category, at least according to Steam. It would be far simpler and more accurate to call it a Vampire Survivors Clone. I don’t mean for that to sound reductive however, the developers, Studio Bravarda, have put their spin on the formula and tried to make it their own.
The gameplay sees the player picking from one of six classes, four of which are available from the start, with the two others being unlocked later. Each of these classes has its own unique starting weapon and stats, and because of this all of the classes feel significantly different in how they play, at least initially. Levelling up through the collection of experience orbs dropped by defeated enemies grants new attacks and passive abilities, with a maximum of 8 being available in a run. This should sound very familiar to anyone who’s played Vampire Survivors because it’s more or less the same system. Players are tasked with moving around the surprisingly small arenas, defeating enemies, and levelling up to defeat a boss at the end of the run all with no control other than moving around the arena.
Being a rogue-lite, any upgrades obtained during the 15-minute runs are lost upon death or completion of the stage except for any ‘Capy-coins’ that are acquired, these being Extremely Powerful Capybaras currency. It can be obtained through two methods, firstly during a run at set intervals, a pot will spawn at some point on the map and if the player sits in the area around it for a set amount of time, they’re bestowed with an upgrade for their unique weapon and some Capy-coins.
Secondly, if a character hits the level cap of 40 during a run, any experience orbs that would be dropped from that point, become Capy-coins. The latter of these is by far the best way to get money in the game, the pots only award 300 coins at a time, with thousands being available when at max level. These coins can be used in the hub between runs to upgrade the various abilities and weapons three times, gradually increasing their performance. Classes too benefit from these upgrades, improving their base stats, and making future runs on harder difficulties more manageable.
The entire game can be played in up to 4 player co-op, both online and locally, the latter isn’t seen a whole lot these days, especially on PC, so it’s a nice inclusion. My testing with multiplayer was limited due to it being a pre-release copy, however my wife and I got to spend some time with the couch co-op and I’m happy to report that it’s a great way to play the game. The balance seems to be more or less intact, difficulty remained consistent with that of single player and no compromises have been made to the core experience.
Perhaps the most immediately noticeable aspect of Extremely Powerful Capybaras is the art style. Studio Bravada has gone for very bright and colourful visuals that are reminiscent of Flash games from the noughties, it wouldn’t look out of place on Newgrounds sitting next to Alien Hominid. Animations are simple but do a good job of conveying what they’re supposed to show for the most part, attacks stand out amid the hordes of enemies and the situation is always easy to read.
Unfortunately, all of this is somewhat undermined by the audio. It isn’t bad per se, it’s just a bit on the weak side. There’s very little in the way of impact from weapon effects and enemies, the music is incredibly forgettable, and audio mixing in general is a little on the low side. This can be tweaked in the options slightly, but it didn’t address the core problem for me.
Final Thoughts?
Extremely Powerful Capybaras doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a fun entry into the genre. While it doesn’t quite have the addictive ‘just one more run’ quality to it that other similar games have, possibly down to the unremarkable audio, it’s far from a bad game, and will continue to live on my Steam Deck for a while yet.
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