Ravva and the Phantom Library Reviews

[h1]A pleasant little hoot[/h1] This and Ravva 1 (Cyclops Curse) are perfectly fine little afternoon distractions that feel a little held back by...I don't want to say a lack of ambition, but I feel like they could be just a little more than they are, even given how Galope Studios is just a 2 person team. They're short in a way that leaves you wanting more - almost too much so, and you can see the potential that's there if they just leaned into it. Unfortunately, it just doesn't seem like there's enough there to set it apart from other 'retro revivals' to give it enough attention and love to afford that? The games are fun, simple, short and sweet and don't last long enough to feel repetitive or make their problems feel worse than they are. The music is solid, the NES-styled art is colorful, contrasts well and is and charming, and I like that each of the different familiars sorta have their own little personality, even if it's subtle. I think it'd be worth leaning into that more in the future - you have decently cute character designs, lean into that and maybe even give them dialogue. The main problem with Ravva as a series so far is arguably the yellow bat familiar and what it does to the game design, which is supposed to reveal secrets. It's a really bizarre mechanic that just leaves you constantly spamming it whenever you're not attacking or breaking tiles to reveal powerups and coins, with that squeaky ping noise going off over and over and over. It's a neat idea, but the execution is frankly pretty bad and there HAS to be a better way to handle this, if not just completely dropping the idea entirely and just putting secrets behind actually exploring the levels and finding hidden paths on your own. I THINK in Ravva 1 you could sometimes use it as a shield, which was nice? That's a better use for it than this. I can appreciate a game for keeping its scope small and not trying to be anything more than it is, but Ravva feels like it could be so much more - a few more mechanics and some rethought ones could go a long way. I wish I had more to talk about, but there really isn't much there - these are just short and sweet little games.