If I had a dollar for every action roguelike that I’ve played in the last year featuring an imposing god-like creature, a series of ever-mounting challenges, swappable weapons & equipment, and incremental progress through a cycle of death and rebirth, I’d have three dollars; now that isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened three times. It’s also strange that it’s in dollars, given I’m British.
Following the recent trend of roguelike action games, Savara stakes its claim on the genre with its own set of mechanics, style and confusing lore that will likely send you down the rabbit hole of a 2004 French MMORPG; that last point is entirely optional, but it goes a long way to explaining the events of the game – don’t worry, I’ll come back to that shortly.
It might be trite by this point to compare it to games like Hades and its sequel, but the truth is that Savara wears that inspiration firmly on its sleeve – many of its core concepts radiate directly from the foundational gameplay that Hades built, but it also manages to stand out in numerous ways. Taking a more cartoonish approach to its design (for reasons that will soon become apparent), it is definitely more playful in tone, but don’t mistake jollity for ease – you’ll still be dying over and over again.
Before I delve into the ins and outs of Savara’s gameplay, it’s first prudent to talk about where it came from – a story that is both as strange as it is silly. In 2004, a tactical turn-based MMORPG was released in France by the name of Dofus – it enjoyed moderate success and was given a few accolades, particularly after its 2005 English translation, but faded into obscurity over time; or, to be more accurate, it should have faded into obscurity, but instead became the launching point for an entire franchise – the updated version of the game with modernised graphics even won a 2025 award for Games as a Service!
Following the success of Dofus, we were then treated to an animated adventure in 2010 by the name of Wakfu; this has since received translations funded through Kickstarter support and is held up by a loyal fanbase which has even funded an upcoming fifth series – this in itself led to another video game appropriately titled Wakfu which in itself has also spawned a sequel by the name of Waven. It’s a long and storied history that I made the mistake of hopping into the various forums to read up on, ending up in a tangled web of weird lore and interconnected characters.
All of this is to say that Savara takes place in that universe and features a number of familiar faces – don’t worry, you won’t be expected to learn an extensive history of Wakfu lore to get in and swing your blade; you’ll only need to know this: there’s a big god, a big gauntlet, and a lot of monsters between you and victory. It’s this gauntlet where you’ll be spending most of your time too, as the game doesn’t waste time on preparation – crafting new gear and purchasing skills toes the line of simplicity and complexity with astounding ease, giving you the freedom to build your character however you see fit without wasting your time.
As with Hades and Lost In Random: The Eternal Die, you have a few different weapon types to choose from, each with their own unique abilities and respective drawbacks – the difference is these weapons are designed to be fully interchangeable based around a weakness system: each creature is vulnerable to a certain type of damage, whether that be slashing, stabbing or bludgeoning. Each weapon comes with its own affinity for a certain type of damage, but this doesn’t leave you tied to certain weapons – each has its own branch of craftable variants, meaning you could well be bringing a set of dual-bludgeoning blades and a slashing hammer into the field.
It’s also important to mention that you are not forced to stick with any single weapon either – crafting materials are abundant, meaning you can very quickly change your weapon preferences between runs, but the game also focuses heavily on switching between two weapons in each run. As well as each type of weapon having their own different abilities and specialities, they are also built around synergy with other weapons – one may be better suited to stunning enemies, meaning you can partner this with a damage-heavy weapon to take advantage of these. The possibilities are endless, with each switch also giving you renewed stamina and an introductory strike. Switching is integral to making a run successful, so practice is very important.
The game is also incredibly stylish, though it can suffer from some repetitive design elements at times, especially as areas don’t seem to evolve in design or change too dramatically; the charm of this game lies entirely in its gameplay. Even after completing the gauntlet, you are offered the chance to play through again with the prestige system, a set of modifiers that create ever-increasing challenges for the player to deal with on each new run; this is great in principle but doesn’t resolve the fact that the levels and music will stay fairly similar in each round.
The game performed spectacularly well on PS5, with load times being practically non-existent, a boon for a game that relies so heavily on constant restarting, but the only time I did experience issues with the performance was in the opening cutscene – for no discernible reason, the game stuttered and sputtered, freezing up in a way that left me concerned before it suddenly became a dazzlingly smooth game. It’s an unusual bug, but one that thankfully has minimal impact.
Stamina is also a point of contention, as the only way to maintain consistent stamina is through switching weapons often and keeping your distance from enemies – sadly, stamina is also tied to both your dodging and attacking, meaning you will be constantly running out. Mechanically, this seems to be intentional, with stamina levels also being something you can upgrade on a per-run basis, but it also makes the earlier runs feel sluggish.
That being said, Savara is still an incredibly fun experience with plenty of replayability – if you can live with the visual repetition, you’ll soon come to enjoy the core loop that keeps this roguelike fresh.
