Armed with Wings: Rearmed is a flashy, fast-paced 2D hack em’ up/platformer game with a sleek, new approach to the genre. Previously released as a Flash Game in 2008, Rearmed slices its way onto Steam with this updated and addicting slasher. Playing as a lone samurai, the striking silhouette swiftly glides across the levels, slashing through the many enemies thrown in your direction. Equipped with your trusty blade harnessing the power of lightning and your faithful Eagle, you’ll embark on a furious journey to stop the evil tyrant’s – King Vandheer – overpowering authority.
Daniel Sun of Australian based animation studio, Sun Studios, has created a samurai adventure that adds extra value to the platforming genre. Entering the world of Blackmist, you run through short levels wiping out any opposing soldiers who will try to cut your blade-swinging life short. Coming across, (sometimes rather tedious), puzzles, your Eagle companion will lend a wing to fly to areas unreachable by man. Retrieving relics, scouting ahead or even acting as a useful distraction are all vital elements accompanied with your screeching ally.
Though many levels have you gracefully slashing your way through various enemies, other levels, later on in the story, are strictly platforming based. Calling on the Eagle to find and carry orb keys to unlock gates blocking your path, methodically using jump pads to clear dangerous hazards or completing a series of enemy waves coming from either direction, a solid dose of challenges keep your samurai journey feeling fresh all the way through.
The combat with your lonesome samurai warrior is fluid and swift, allowing easy button inputs to dodge and cut your way through surrounding enemies. Harnessing the power of thunder and lightning, you’re capable of dealing a charged strike downward, unloading a great deal of ravaging damage. The push of a button allows a ‘dance’-like skill to leap around your enemies, making you feel like a true, untouchable samurai warrior. This defensive mechanic is significantly helpful when dealing with tough soldiers/bosses further in the game. No jump action is present through most of the game – your player will automatically leap from ledge-to-ledge when running straight through – though additional skills may add this ability as you progress.
Tons of weapons become available to help aid you on your expedition, each with their own traits, and some even with exceptionally useful bonus skills, like health regeneration or the tactical advantage to ‘Jump’. There are all different kinds of blades from classic katanas to broad swords and hook swords; Rearmed gives plenty of variety and stats to base your combative decision on. Found throughout the game when dropped by fallen foes, you’ll also unlock more weapons with score points earned by collecting glowing bubbles (also used as health) and dealing with enemies in both Story and Survival modes.
In Survival Mode – like a few levels found in the campaign – waves of enemies spawn in timed fashion, leaving you alone to deal with them before they’re able to deal with you. Though, much tougher than the wave trials found in the main story, these survival waves offer a chance for more points, in turn giving you the ‘edge’ in combat later down the line. Everything from your standard grunt enemies to elites and even bigger boss-type monsters appear in Survival Mode, so being prepared with the best weapon load out proves useful when conquering the next fierce wave.
With dozens of unique weapons fused with unique skills and traits, two more bonus playable characters to unlock and an addictive style gameplay, Armed with Wings: Rearmed brings stylish 2D action to the lucrative platforming table. Short, to-the-point levels (some offering multiple ending points for enhanced replayability), Survival and various two-player modes like one-on-one weapon battles and tournaments, there’s a good helping of content to feed your samurai hunger.
A solid helping of hack ‘n’ slash vengeance mixed with unique puzzle solving mechanics, Armed with Wings: Rearmed brings beautiful carnage to the platforming genre.
Review copy provided by Sun-Studios.
Motion control via the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers is also shown off. We see the player use a sword and shield and then a bow and arrow, all seemingly activated by moving your hands about. Great – if it all works as fluidly as shown! (Although I can’t imagine doing this in bed).
