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Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review


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1428702869_ShantaeSevenSirenslogo.jpg.9cf474294ca8171a787654294ec12a70.jpgAfter all her hard work saving Scuttle Town, Shantae is off on a well-deserved vacation to Paradise Island when, wouldn't you know it, danger strikes and it's up to the half-genie hero to save the day. Shantae and the Seven Sirens puts a few new spins on the dance-based magic that the series is known for, but the core gameplay is the same sleek side-scrolling action. Even if there isn't much evolution to the formula, Shantae's gameplay is just as charming and engaging as ever.
 
Shantae is on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Paradise Island, where several half-genies have been invited for a special celebration. Shortly after Shantae meets the other half-genies though, they're spirited away in a sudden kidnapping, leaving Shantae to rescue them and discover the secrets of the island. The plot is fun and serviceable—you don't need much more motivation in an adventure like this than "go explore a part of the map you haven't been yet"—and like past entries in the series there's a lot of humor thanks to the tongue-in-cheek writing. The new characters are fun but it's the returning cast of allies and enemies where the bulk of the writing's charm lies.
 
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Seven Sirens mostly plays more like a traditional Metroidvania rather than being segmented into separate stages like past Shantae games, but the essentials are the same: Shantae can use her hair like a whip to fight, attack with magical items, or transform into animals in order to explore. This game streamlines the dance-magic concept that Shantae is known for. Now she can transform into animals with just the press of a button, and the dance is only for special spells. You also don't have to dance for longer to use a different spell, now you just press a direction on the control stick/D-pad to select what spell to use. Shantae's dance transformations were charming, but the fast-paced gameplay of Seven Sirens feels so much smoother and snappier. Transitioning from a lizard to climb a wall into a frog to swim through water happens in a split second and the flow of gameplay is better for it. More importantly, all of Shantae's transformations and spells feel well used here. Instead of being one-use abilities like in some of her past games, most of her abilities have uses for combat and exploration, making her arsenal more well-rounded and less like a checklist of skills.
 
Seven Sirens also has an entirely new feature: Monster Cards. Defeated monsters sometimes drop cards which Shantae can equip, granting various abilities such as faster climb speed or less magic consumed when using the fireball item. There are fifty cards in all but you can only equip three at once, so you'll need to be choosy. The cards' effects can feel somewhat unbalanced though—some are useful only in specific circumstances while some are so overwhelmingly useful that it seems silly not to use them. Still, a little customization is a nice touch for Shantae.
 
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Seven Sirens should only take around eight hours to complete, though like past Shantae games you can challenge yourself to complete the game faster or with 100% item collection for added artwork rewards. Thanks to how smoothly the gameplay flows now, these speedrun challenges feel more manageable. Since its original release, Seven Sirens has received some updates for extra modes as well, including an easy mode, a definitive mode with rebalanced difficulty, and a mode that allows you to equip more than three Monster Cards. Even the definitive mode feels pretty easy though. This game regularly throws healing items and money at you, so outside of the first thirty minutes or so it seems like it'd be difficult to actually die. Perhaps to compensate for this bosses tend to feel like damage sponges, taking dozens and dozens of hits to die and giving you a reason to use up the plentiful health items you've collected. It's not a terrible difficulty balance but it still feels like it could've been handled better.
 
It's also worth mentioning that post-release updates fixed one of the big complaints at launch: the map does a better job of pointing you in the right direction and reminding you of points of interest, specifically caves that often contain health upgrades. You still have to do the work for 100% completion but it's less of a chore now.
 
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The game's presentation is as sharp as ever with stunning 2D artwork, charming character/monster designs, and a handful of fully animated cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game. The cartoonishly colorful scenery is the perfect backdrop for a Metroidvania adventure like this, and the bubbly character design and animation gives Shantae her classic buoyant personality. The cutscenes are mostly pretty brief but they add some nice flourishes to the story. The soundtrack is also solid, though it doesn't have quite as many standout tracks like past games.
 

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is another finely crafted 2D adventure from developer WayForward. The little quality of life changes and updates naturally fold into the Shantae formula and help streamline the gameplay without losing any of the personality or charm that the series is known for. The Monster Card system is perhaps not as in-depth as it could be, but an extra little touch of customization is nice nevertheless. In the end, Metroidvania fans will be charmed by the distinctively fun, cute style of Shantae and should love exploring everything that Paradise Island has to offer.

 
Rating: 9 out of 10 Sirens
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