Pets Survivors is one of another dozen roguelike arena shooters released this week only this one is published by EastAsiaSoft, only cost five smackers, is very simple, and is unbalanced in favor of the player. This is a survivors clone that will only take a few hours, at most, to clear at 100%.

Taking control of basic house pets with murderous intent, the goal is to survive for ten consecutive minutes from a never-ending throng of mindless enemies. Reaching the ten-minute mark will then unleash a simple blob boss and defeating it will reward the player with some gold which can be used to upgrade stats and abilities. It is a loop everyone has played a million times but all unlockables will be earned well before the game is complete. This unbalance means the player will be able to smoke through each gauntlet, never really offering a threat. In fact, it takes effort to even absorb a single hit. Since the difficulty is so low, the action is mindless, repetitive, and can be feel like a chore if just trying to farm all the cheevos.

Unlocking all the purchasable abilities quickly isn’t the only way this low-cost digital download is unbalanced. Like most other survivors, the player gains a new ability with each level but these extras do not always apply. There are multiple playable characters, each outfitted with their own abilities, which is good for replayabililty. However, nothing happens when selecting the “make bullets bounce” feature when using a character wielding the knife. Or, there is no point in choosing to increase the strength of the offensive special move when that character’s special ability is defensive based. Still, even with these enhancements that might not apply, the difficulty remains a breeze.

Unfortunately, there are only two levels but they play exactly the same: one is just in the forest while another is in a snow land. Stages quickly loop and there are no hazards or interactivity.  There is not much variety in the enemy types either. They are mostly just mindless blobs that charge at you without thought. Having only one stage ending boss doesn’t help with repetition either. The biggest issue is not having an option to turn off the rumble though as it gets annoying feeling every shot from the weapon in use.

Pets Survivors is a very basic, mindless, roguelite that doesn’t offer much depth or variety but that doesn’t mean it isn’t playable or enjoyable. In fact, I appreciate the low difficulty with short run time. With the market overcrowded with so many games in this genre, Pets Survivors honestly doesn’t stand out, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the five bucks and few hours of gameplay. Plus, there is a Dagger Froggy cameo.

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

X/Twitter: @ZackGaz

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