On playing House of Lizards it’s easy to come to the conclusion that developer, Ancient Russ, had foraged the wrong kind of mushrooms before settling in to develop the game. With its madcap weaponry and outright bizarre pickups, the whole game carries an aura of off-the-wall randomness that’s at first strange to behold, but quickly becomes one of the game’s defining aspects.
Having been lucky enough to receive a key for House of Lizards, I write to give my honest and unbiased opinions surrounding this recently released gaming treasure.
House of Lizards – Storyline
It’s not easy to discern any real storyline from House of Lizards, other than the fact that the various battlegrounds have been infested with bipedal humanoid lizards and it’s your job to rid the lands of the scaly vermin and fight to stand triumphant in a sea of sickly green blood. All the while, picking up useful (and some not so useful) items to help you in battle. If you’re unfortunate enough to be caught by the lizard people, they will perform a ritual to turn you into one of them.
Sadly, this is when it’s “GAME OVER”. It would have been great to have the chance to play as the enemy and this could have paved a path for some interesting multiplayer modes that the game currently lacks.
Playing House of Lizards can be a Confusing Fete
As fun as House of Lizards is to play, it comes with very little instruction regarding what you actually have to do. The result of this is being thrown to the lizards with no idea about your goal, your story or how to fight. While most of this becomes increasingly apparent the more you play, I can’t help think that a short tutorial level would have worked wonders for shedding this unnecessary uncertainty any new player is bound to feel.
Yes, many of the controls are self explanatory, with the standard WASD keys for movement and other keys used for varying attacks. However, there’s nothing to tell you what the different pickups do, or why you’re even picking them up. A short tutorial would perfectly serve to answer the many hanging questions and to provide a little backstory into an otherwise plot lacking game.
The Whacky Weaponry of House of Lizards
The weapons at hand can often make or break games of this ilk and House of Lizards goes above and beyond to make sure they have the weirdest arsenal in modern gaming. From my two to three hours of gametime, I had the pleasure of using my magical vape pen to incapacitate lizards and to to gain a little health boost; crushing my enemies between what look like a pair of huge asses and using a “Slavic mile barrage” to knock my foes off their feet. I also had the pleasure of setting off a Slavic nuke, much to the displeasure of my computer’s resources.
There’s an abundance of these weird and wonderful weapons to find along the way and I, for one, can’t wait to delve further in to what House of Lizards has to offer in terms of inventive ways to fight the invading lizard people.
House of Lizards Summary
The crazy weapons and fun pace of play more than make up for the lack of great graphics or storyline. House of Lizards is one of those games that’s so quick to play (at my skill level, anyway) that you end up playing for hours beyond your intended limit.
Sometimes simplicity is key and this Ancient Russel title is testament to that very fact. Fun, comedic and bizarre. What more could we ask?
RATING
OUR RATING - 7
7
SCORE
Sometimes simplicity is key and this Ancient Russel title is testament to that very fact. Fun, comedic and bizarre. What more could we ask?