At Noita, things always don’t go according to plan, which is great.
Similar in spirit
Some kind of witchcraft
In Noita, we are given the role of a nameless sorceress (the very name of the game is translated from Finnish as “witch”), which really needs to get to the bottom of a procedurally-generated cave full of monsters. And in the fight against the latter, numerous spells, potions and abilities, generously scattered across the dark catacombs, will help. The plot, of course, is not the most original, but the plot is not very important here. Noita is primarily a simulator of apocalyptic destruction.
Having bathed in the blood of defeated enemies, the character will more often inflict critical hits. So picking up a bucket from the nearest corpse in order to shower yourself before a difficult fight is a common thing.
The main feature of the game is the believable physics of everything and everyone. The developers were actively promoting it ahead of release, and this is the rare case when the trailers did not lie. Each pixel on the screen does have very specific physical properties. Any fire, even from the fuse of a bomb, creates smoke. Water freezes and interacts with other liquids (for example, does not mix with oil), vapors prevent breathing and explode, and any solid surface can be destroyed in a variety of ways. And this destruction is mesmerizing: the flame of a random torch can burn a good half of a floor, enemy shells spark, burning holes and leaving whole craters. All elements of the environment can be smashed to pieces, and the enemies are surprisingly believably scattered to pieces, bleed (though not always with blood) and lose limbs.
The spider on the left makes a tunnel under the local temple, but for some reason I will have to answer for the damage
Concentrated vandalism is a lot of fun, and Noita understands that. games actively encourages to destroy everything around to the very foundation. The procedural levels are lavishly lined with explosive barrels and vats of liquids, and flimsy wooden props hold tons of sand and rocks back. Just touch it – and everything will immediately get out of control. However, the participation of the player is not even required: the inhabitants of the caves are just waiting for an excuse to smash their own houses suicidal. There are many different types of enemies in Noita, and each has its own characteristics, which often increase the scale of chaos and destruction. Alchemists throw bottles of random potions, fire flies spit lava, dwarves with shotguns love to shoot barrels. Moreover, many opponents are fighting with each other, so there is an endless battle in the caves, in which you don’t even have to interfere too much.
Not Slytherin
Witchcraft in Noita is implemented as well as physics: in randomly generated caves, we can get, again, randomly generated staves. Each of them have their own characteristics and sets of spells that can be customized in the shrines between levels. Moreover, the differences between staves can be colossal, and when combined with spells, they often generate completely insane combinations. A salvo of five fireballs sparkling from lightning? A tentacle that turns everything it touches into whiskey (yes, alcohol)? Multiple ricocheting beams causing localized earthquakes? Even banal “magic arrows” can turn into an unguided magic machine gun.
According to Noita, bombs, shotguns and circular saws are also magic.
If you find a strong enough staff and suitable spells, then anything is possible. For a chance to build your own annihilator cannon in the magic editor, you can dig for a very, very long time. In addition, it is rare to walk the familiar paths in Noita, so you constantly have to try new combinations of properties and work with what comes to hand. I would like to bring the weapon to perfection, throw a couple more magical effects, come up with an even more cunning, graceful and deadly combination.
More on review
But even the most destructive spells do not save you from how brutal and complex Noita can sometimes be. She kills straightforwardly, in cold blood. If the first floor of the dungeon looks more like a training ground, then on the second floor it will be hard without a good staff. Then new mechanics like ice and cold will come into play, and then the environment will completely begin to shackle you with strong metal walls, which can hardly be destroyed without acid. Enemies are also not lagging behind: they become angrier, stronger, more numerous. You have to fight back with all your might – to dodge and shoot accurately in response, to use the environment wisely, to monitor the arsenal.
After the first wound, this slug begins to flood everything around with its acidic blood, and you will quickly hate him
And all this is only in order to die as absurdly as possible through the fault of some stupidity. In general, death in Noita very often comes out of nowhere, by pure chance – or because of the player’s curiosity. For example, your brand new staff may be too strong: one use – and half the level is sunk in lava. Or did you not know that the spell “turn into steam”, suddenly, acts not only on the liquid, but also on the witch herself. And you always need to be prepared for the fact that acid will pour from the ceiling at any time, since somewhere above the wall has broken. Also, a conditional enemy gnome, which you have not even seen, can stumble upon a staff with a nuclear warhead and spray you with an explosion from another screen.
Noita is packed full of secrets: she hides locations, bosses and even whole mechanics. She always has something to reward a curious player even after dozens of hours of gameplay
In Noita, things always go wrong, there are too many variables in it. Uncontrolled and ongoing chaos is the norm, and in order to get to the bottom of the dungeon, the player needs to be part of this insane ecosystem. This approach to complexity will not be to everyone’s taste, but in my opinion, without it, Noita would be a completely different game. The challenge forces you to take risks, to balance between common sense and the desire to undermine everything that is badly worth it. He motivates to pore over the creation of the most lethal and cunning, but safe spells for the character. Improvise, adapt.
And, in the end, come to terms with the inevitable series of extremely dishonest deaths.
Pleased
- physics is really exciting;
- many unique situations;
- staff editor and a variety of spells;
- highly interactive environment;
- an abundance of secrets.
Upset
- starting staves are always the same and boring;
- there is no meta-progression;
- steep difficulty curve;
- many passive abilities are useless;
- a lot of dishonest deaths.
How we played
In what: the key was bought by the author.
On what: PC.
How many: about 70 hours.
Editorial achievement
“Like Scrooge McDuck”
Suffocate, falling into a mountain of gold ..
About localization
Most of the game has been translated into Russian, but sometimes there are fragments in English.
Verdict
Noita’s unpredictable and ruthless nature is guaranteed not to please everyone. But if you take it for granted, then the stunningly implemented gameplay can give you tens of hours of absolutely magical gaming experience.
