Disclaimer, this review is for an EARLY ACCESS product, this means the review should be deemed provisional, and will change as the game evolves over time. Key supplied by developer.


Seraph, from the developers of Ironcast, a rather interesting game in its' own right, is in essence a side on shooter where you play an acrobatic angelic/human host, bound up in a prison explicitly designed to hold said angel, for reasons unknown, and at the start of the game, your prison is opened. The guards are well, they're not doing so good, you collect a pair of pistols from the ground, and set off to find answers.

As an angel in a human host, you have access to miracles, most key of which is the ability to despatch demonic invaders with a flash of your wings and a touch of your hand. This requires you to be in -close- proximity. Considering that everything in the local area wants you dead, and you've a limited time to make this happen, this can be rather dangerous. You also have your rather human tools to hand - guns, lots and lots of lovely guns. They come currently in two flavours, the default twin pistols, which can be aimed at two seperate targets, and primary weapons, which range from the straightforward (Autopistols, shotgun, submachine gun, AR) through to the nutty (Railgun... RAILGUN?).


These primary weapons are categorically more powerful than your plink plink pistols, but they have limited ammo, and as a consequence you have to budget your use of these powerful primary weapons carefully, saving them for the much more powerful demons that can regenerate, and the multi stage demonic champions that require multiple smites in order to bring down.

This arsenal is all fine and well, but it doesn't touch on the signature element of Seraph's core gameplay, a "smart targetting" system that takes the hassle of finding enemies for you. Seraph will auto-lock the closest threat and direct her fury at them with whatever firearm you've selected whilst you focus on moving, using miracles, and generally not dying. The not dying is important, see, these enemies will throw a LOT of nasty attacks your way, and as the difficulty ramps up, the attacks not only increase in damage output, they'll also increase in variety.

Enemies gain -new- tricks as your difficulty dynamically cranks up, matching your skill as you go. Finding things too easy? As you mill the enemies, you'll see the difficulty counter in the bottom counter begin to race upwards, and before you know it, your opponents will have new toys to play with, will hit harder, and need more ammo to bring down. The reward however is more components, and more experience.


Currently the game only offers a subset of the possible blessings, oaths and miracles that will be in the full version, we've a lot more to look forward to, but the moment to moment gameplay is absolutely excellent, providing a good cross between spectacle shooter and bullet hell where your management of the blink resource and your positioning proves more vital than targetting and dealing damage. This is a game that rewards good placement and evading your foes, before surging forward to deliver lethal strikes in a real hurry. You need to be fast, elegant and acrobatic.

Graphically, for a two dimensional game it is highly reminiscent of ACE's Abyss Odyssey, but with a very futuristic touch, and a matching soundtrack to boot. The soundtrack having a very electro-industrial feel puts you in mind of things like Equilibrium and the Matrix, which is very fitting given the gunplay involved.

There's also suggestions and bug fixes being worked through by the developers, and more good things will hopefully be on the way.

At this point my final judgment is -

Verdict : Highly recommended

[i]Disclaimer, this review is for an EARLY ACCESS product, this means the review should be deemed provisional, and will change as the game evolves over time. Key supplied by developer.[/i] [H1]So here's an interesting idea, when is a twinstick not quite a twinstick. When you ramp up the incoming fire to near bullet hell levels of difficulty![/H1] Seraph, from the developers of Ironcast, a rather interesting game in its' own right, is in essence a side on shooter where you play an acrobatic angelic/human host, bound up in a prison explicitly designed to hold said angel, for reasons unknown, and at the start of the game, your prison is opened. The guards are well, they're not doing so good, you collect a pair of pistols from the ground, and set off to find answers. As an angel in a human host, you have access to miracles, most key of which is the ability to despatch demonic invaders with a flash of your wings and a touch of your hand. This requires you to be in -close- proximity. Considering that everything in the local area wants you dead, and you've a limited time to make this happen, this can be rather dangerous. You also have your rather human tools to hand - guns, lots and lots of lovely guns. They come currently in two flavours, the default twin pistols, which can be aimed at two seperate targets, and primary weapons, which range from the straightforward (Autopistols, shotgun, submachine gun, AR) through to the nutty (Railgun... RAILGUN?). [H1]Spend your bullets carefully, you don't have infinite numbers...[/H1] These primary weapons are categorically more powerful than your plink plink pistols, but they have limited ammo, and as a consequence you have to budget your use of these powerful primary weapons carefully, saving them for the much more powerful demons that can regenerate, and the multi stage demonic champions that require multiple smites in order to bring down. This arsenal is all fine and well, but it doesn't touch on the signature element of Seraph's core gameplay, a "smart targetting" system that takes the hassle of finding enemies for you. Seraph will auto-lock the closest threat and direct her fury at them with whatever firearm you've selected whilst you focus on moving, using miracles, and generally not dying. The not dying is important, see, these enemies will throw a LOT of nasty attacks your way, and as the difficulty ramps up, the attacks not only increase in damage output, they'll also increase in variety. Enemies gain -new- tricks as your difficulty dynamically cranks up, matching your skill as you go. Finding things too easy? As you mill the enemies, you'll see the difficulty counter in the bottom counter begin to race upwards, and before you know it, your opponents will have new toys to play with, will hit harder, and need more ammo to bring down. The reward however is more components, and more experience. [H1]An early taste of the angelic offerings[/H1] Currently the game only offers a subset of the possible blessings, oaths and miracles that will be in the full version, we've a lot more to look forward to, but the moment to moment gameplay is absolutely excellent, providing a good cross between spectacle shooter and bullet hell where your management of the blink resource and your positioning proves more vital than targetting and dealing damage. This is a game that rewards good placement and evading your foes, before surging forward to deliver lethal strikes in a real hurry. You need to be fast, elegant and acrobatic. Graphically, for a two dimensional game it is highly reminiscent of ACE's Abyss Odyssey, but with a very futuristic touch, and a matching soundtrack to boot. The soundtrack having a very electro-industrial feel puts you in mind of things like Equilibrium and the Matrix, which is very fitting given the gunplay involved. There's also suggestions and bug fixes being worked through by the developers, and more good things will hopefully be on the way. At this point my final judgment is - Verdict : [b]Highly recommended[/b]