QCF: Elsie

t’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of the dispiriting limbo that Capcom has planted the Blue Bomber in, the iconic robot’s absence has encouraged multiple studios and visionaries to step up and deliver an experience not all too dissimilar to that of the Mega Man effect. With the rare exception of 2018’s Mega Man 11, the super fighting robot has been mainly relegated to nostalgia collections or vanity cameos, and the weight of his “pew-pew” gameplay has been carried on by a variety of indie developments or community efforts.

This new influx of games, however, has also encouraged studios to do more than a superficial spin on the trademark Run’nGun formula, with select titles really showing off the timeless potential of Mega Man-inspired side-scrolling action. One of which is Elsie, an independently developed adventure starring a larger-than-life, mascot-pilled android made by Knight Shift Games and published by Playtonic's new publishing branch, “Playtonic Friends.” As the fourth game to be supported by Playtonic’s offshoot publication label, Elsie offers many familiar dynamics that more resemble the feel of the Mega Man X series than its 8-bit counterpart, only with a Rougelike twist on the setup. While this territory isn’t exactly uncharted with 20XX and 30XX making waves in the subgenre, Elsie sinks its teeth more into the character-driven spectacle its inspiration is famous for, with a side of frenetic bullet action that blends into something like Mega Man X meets SuperGiant Games’ Hades.

I say this with my whole chest and every heavy breath huffed in—words really can’t serve justice to what Knight Shift Games has done with those mechanics—I genuinely believe that Elsie breathes a whole new sense of life into some admittedly fatigued concepts by delivering an immaculate sense of game feel and presentation that I haven’t experienced in years.

The marriage between something like a side-scrolling Mega Man and Rouglike game where nothing is ever the same doesn’t seem too far-fetched when you look at the tale of the tape, right? Both styles of gameplay hinge on a non-linear loop where certain paths and abilities have their own measured sense of risk or reward based on the choices made during the action—it sounds so natural when you compare and contrast the traits between the two models of play. As alluring as the mix-up may seem, the real hitch to the giddy-up in a Mega Man experience is the deliberate and thoughtful level design laid out with a crafted purpose that stands as the antithesis to the randomized concept; an everlasting shuffle element like this sounds impossibly conceivable within the conceit of the classic side-scrolling shooter’s formula.

Well, it didn’t take long for my fears to be put to rest, because Elsie blends these conventions together like a fine mimosa, with a punch-drunk kick that keeps the action heavy and random without sabotaging the trademark pace it’s aiming for.

After the obligatory preludes to the story and the hub world (more on that later) players will take Elsie into the introductory level that starts every run of its gamut, the Eclipse Skyport, and it’s here where the familiarity of Mega Man X’s Highway stage will start to creep in, and not just aesthetically either, but fundamentally as well. Like any roguelike, success is earned through a mix of perseverance, luck, and the right skillset against whatever the given obstacle may be in that generated course—and the key component to that list is perseverance because  the odds of victory is slim to none on those first few runs, and it’s here where Elsie takes full advantage of that fact.

In the same vein, Capcom’s trademark introductory level steadily paced players through carefully crafted hurdles to teach the basics of gameplay. Knight Shift Games applies a similar approach to their tutorialization of controlling Elsie. In the first few runs, players will be shown a new mechanic to use in their repertoire of abilities, and even though the lesson is nowhere near as subtle as the SNES classic is, the subsequent elements of the stage layout after that new instruction is completed, is conformed to test the player’s grasp on the principles of that newly acquired skill or move. This touch may not seem like a big deal, however, it’s the execution of it that really hooked me into my start with Elsie because, despite these invisible micro trials, the hallmark chaos of randomized level  design that defines what roguelike never felt compromised.  The sense of cohesion these dynamics offered stems from a formula that thoughtfully marinates the player into its specific take on a wonted flavor.

These mechanics in question are a parry skill and energy cooldown because, unlike a certain left-handed arm cannon, Elsie doesn’t have an unlimited burst of lemon-shaped bullets to eternally fire off at her disposal, as her rapid-fire shots have limited trigger-squeezes that can be exhausted and leave the metal heroine vulnerable for a limited time if it’s completely depleted.  The finite resource for rapid-fire is admittedly a bit of a learning curve for a play style that was founded on intensive button-mashing, the change-up will force players to rely on their reflexes to parry enemy volleys in between cooldowns, demanding far more than simple “jump ‘N Shoot” tactics to get far.  It won’t take long for this rhythm to set in, and a lot of that is attributed to the responsive control offered on hand. Elsie controls with an immaculate button and directional input that’s executed at the stop of a dime. Navigating the Fighting-Robot through the ever-changing set pieces is a smooth exercise thanks to how responsive the movement and combat is, and in turn, gives an ebb-n-flow that while difficult, can still properly challenge player skill in a way where the punishment feels earned and the triumphs feel rewarding.

The surprising ease of new mechanics rolling out to the player within Elsie’s initial runs notwithstanding, the trademark gameplay of hectic gunfire and footwork here is just as, if not more difficult than, the contemporaries that it takes its inspirations from, but never in a way that was unfair or broken. With each progressive run, Elsie will earn scrap metal as currency that will remain with her even after she meets a fatal end in the run, and after accumulating certain amounts, players will be able to purchase new passive perks to discover in future runs. These perks can either be randomly obtained with a level up after earning the needed experience, discovered in various chests or rooms, or bartered through a risk/reward twist, stipulating a somewhat equitable disadvantage to the advantage the perk ability would grant Elsie.

In typical Roguelike fashion, however, players will soon be able to get access to earn both passive perks and permanent enhancements to juice up their odds for a successful run against the next boss. Just like the aforementioned level design, the arsenal of perks and modifiers also successfully achieves a seamless harmony between Mega Man sensibilities and the Rougelike paradigm.  As seamless as the whole thing may be, the gimmick can wear a bit thin once players are blasting towards the endgame. While the levels themselves are varied,  players with a keen eye will be able to spot some repeated obstacles, or level designs that have been repurposed in a different area, waning the sense of spontaneity of the early game outings.

The tedium is luckily offset by the game’s colorful presentation and world-building, specifically its characterization. Bordering from an homage-heavy love letter to outright imitation, Elsie is a thinking, and feeling, autonomous robot who’s starkly loyal to her creator, Dr. Grey, as her lab assistant. Dr. Grey is one of the leading minds in robotics, and makes an effort to use her talents to their fullest extent for the benefit of humankind—you can already see where this is going, right? The metal guardians that the good doctor invented to oversee the various utilitarian duties of modern civilization have suddenly started to rebel against the humans they were built to serve, and are now causing destruction and mayhem across six different regions of the world. The premise is an almost beat-for-beat retelling of Mega Man, with the exception of a much stronger representation in its female-presenting cast, and to that effect, the lady-heavy twist is a refreshing take on the derivative narrative. This sentiment is especially evident in the main hero of the game, Elsie, who manages to display a wide range of personality that teeters back and forth between a confident Mary Sue-type action hero to the scared and anxious dark horse that knows she’s got the odds stacked against her. The pacing of her character development and the various swings her disposition can have from the wave of victories and setbacks has this engaging resonance with the RougeLike pace of the game, and evokes the kind of diegetic quality to that makes her all the more memorable to the overall experience.

Consistent with everything else, the visuals are done in a stylized pixel look that juxtaposes 16-bit color and sprites against modern particle effects, much like most other retro-tribute games of its ilk. Other than the hand-drawn portraits for the characters on screen, all of the other graphics are rendered this way, and it’s fine for the vibe it’s going for, with the biggest flaw being the inconsistent quality of the sprite work. Elsie’s sprite, for example, is slightly too simple for the intricacies of her character art; meanwhile, many of the enemy machines have too much detail and a little garish in motion, and other baddies have even less detail than Elsie at times—the frozen tundra area is an especially egregious example of this. The music, however, is solid all around, with each scene delivering banger after banger of chiptune-infused electronica Rock. The composition of guitar swells and synthesized keyboard strokes deliver a dazzling vibe of irresistibly catchy tracks that faithfully glorifies the same kind of sensation that the music of the Mega Man franchise is famous for sounding off.

The secret sauce to a good RougeLike is its ability to stimulate that “One more Run” compulsion in its gameplay as organically as possible, and Elsie has that sauce. Even though the foundational designs of Mega Man and Rougelike games may sound like strange bedfellows at first, Knight Shift Games has managed to tap into the “Sword of Damocles” effect their respective gameplay loops offer, and create an incredible new game worthy of its own identity.

If you’re looking for some side-scrolling action that isn’t a linear rom or a Metroidvania quest, then be sure to grab Elsie up and dive in to its…uhh, Shuffle-Shooter action (Yeah, that’s it) right now!