Elsie

Game feels premature. The game is fun and the art is cute. But the game goes black whenever I attempt a 3rd run. I had to delete the save game thinking it was a corrupted save, and then it happened again. There's other weird quirks like new items being dropped near the NPCs, you can't press "use" to pick it up because you're close to the NPC so it begins a talk. It feels like the game hasn't been tested at all.

Elsie is a stylish action roguelite developed by Knight Shift Games and published by Playtonic Friends and H2 Interactive. Combining elements of run-and-gun shooters, bullet-hell action games, and procedurally generated roguelike progression, it delivers a fast and demanding experience that places constant emphasis on movement, reflexes, and adaptation. Rather than focusing on exploration or deep storytelling, the game is built around intense combat encounters and an endless pursuit of stronger builds, making it particularly appealing to players who enjoy action-heavy gameplay with a high skill ceiling. The adventure takes place on the technologically advanced world of Ekis, a planet protected by a group of powerful guardians created to maintain stability and defend against recurring disasters. When these guardians mysteriously disappear, chaos begins spreading across the world. To investigate the situation and restore order, Dr. Grey activates Elsie, a highly advanced android equipped with extraordinary combat capabilities. The narrative remains relatively straightforward throughout the campaign, but it provides enough context to support the action while introducing a cast of col…

I have played this game for over 60 hours on Playstation, and as someone who grew up loving Mega Man-style games, Elsie immediately clicked with me. The movement is fast, the combat is chaotic in the best way possible, and the game does an amazing job at feeding into that “power fantasy” feeling. Instead of constantly feeling weak and struggling to survive like a lot of roguelikes, Elsie lets you create absurdly overpowered builds that make you feel like a complete menace by the end of runs. The soundtrack is incredible, the pixel art and animated cutscenes are full of personality, and the writing has this cheeky, sarcastic charm that gives the game a ton of identity. The recent updates have also improved the experience a lot. New chest systems, better progression options, Overdrive Mode, item scrapping, collectibles, and overall polish make the game feel even more rewarding and replayable than before. My only real frustration has been the grind for 100% completion, especially farming Arc Light Coins to unlock everything in the shops, but I know that’s pretty normal for the genre and the newer updates help smooth that out quite a bit. You can tell the dev team genuinely cares a…

Game slaps. Tricky to get started, but worth it if you can understand the parry. I don't do many reviews, but this one deserves the thumbs up.

It's a megaman roguelike, and it's beautiful! The unlocks are kinda rough around the edges, and I didn't enjoy the stamina system, but if you love the Megaman X series, it's definitely worth giving it a try!

Elsie is a game I feel bad for. Rarely have I seen a game with this much effort and surface level polish get such a negative review score. Not to mention, the fallout of the Completionist clearly had a massive impact on the marketing for the game. So I kept my eye on it for a few years in hopes it would improve from its buggy launch. I’m happy to report that I didn’t see any bugs in the hour I played. I likely should play more… but I don’t think I will. I’m getting a refund. That sounds bad, but I do want to clear that the main reason for doing so is how overstimulated the game is. Like, the colors and action overwhelm me in a way that makes me feel weird afterwards. It’s hard to explain, but playing makes me need a break after a bit. I also don’t think runs have save points, so if I can’t play a whole run at once, I have to reset the run and get nowhere. The other major issue is lack of communication about what anything does. There are a lot of terms that were not explained when I started, and I don’t know what any of them do. I kind of figured out a few, but proper teaching or a reference guide would have been nice. But the rest of the gameplay works. Shooting, jumping, and e…