Shantae and the Seven Sirens - Review

Ret-2-Go on vacation!

Console: Nintendo Switch

From the endearingly positive and self-aware tone to the wonderfully quirky characters with their colourful and splashy designs, the Shantae series just oozes with sheer fun. It's the gaming series that turned me around in the Platforming genre and successfully introduced me to the Metroidvania genre. Metroid: Samus Returns was just a bit too much for me at my first attempt. It's because of all of this that I'm the proud owner of the entire Shantae series on my Nintendo Switch. 

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the fifth and (as of writing) the most recent game in the series. After Half-Genie Hero went full platformer in an effort to make the series more approachable to newcomers Seven Sries goes back to its Metroidvania roots. For the better but also, in a way, for the worst. 

Let's dive in.

Shantae is invited to Paradise Island for the half-genie festival, bringing her friends Sky and Bolo as well as her Uncle Mimic along so they can turn it into a vacation. Upon arrival, Shantae meets and befriends the five other invited half-genies. The festival goes pretty smoothly until, during the half-genies big performance, everyone but Shantae disappears. It's now up to Shantae to find and rescue the other half-genies and uncover the dark secret of Paradise Island. 

A still to show the games artstyle and graphics.

The story of Seven Sirens is entertaining, though nothing we haven't seen befre. It's the rather standard 'travel the world and defeat ... bosses' but spiced up by a bunch of seemingly unimportant side-quests that end up giving you exactly what you need to overcome your current obstacle. Maybe in part because of this, it feels like Seven Sirens is just going through the motions at times. Like the story is on auto-pilot.

Even so, the story was still entertaining due to the humour and tone. That typical Shantae atmosphere is in full swing and as enjoyable as ever. It's a mix of older pop-culture parodies alongside self-referential humour and 4th wall breakings shenanigans. All done in good fun. The game even references parody characters and plots and, if I may get ahead of myself here a little, brings back older elements from the series such as the Squid-Smith. This all helps create a world, an atmosphere, that is so strong that it smooths over the story's kinks.

Keeping the positives a-rolling, Seven Sirens production values are the highest it has ever been for the series. The game starts with a high-beat animated opening that is animated by none other than Japanese animation studio Studio Trigger responsible for anime such as Delicious in Dungeon and BNA: Brand New Animal. Not only that, but the game has brief animated cutscenes throughout the adventure as well. The game smartly takes the general style and graphics of Half-Genie Hero and expands on it to make it feel grander. Makes it feel like a bigger Shantae game.

A still image from the animated opening.

The game retains the same character designs and models of Half-Genie Hero, yes, but it reintroduces many old enemies in this style as well as bringing in plenty of new ones. The backgrounds are fully 2D now instead of the 2.5D of Half-Genie Hero. The 2.5D backgrounds never bothered me personally but it was heavily requested by the Shantae fan base and I can't deny that it looks really good. 

The only area that feels like a step down in this department is the soundtrack. It's not bad, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it also isn't as good as previous entries. It relies too much on previous compositions and is, all in all, not as snappy nor catchy.

Another department where the developers listened to player feedback is the animal transformations. Instead of pushing the dance button and then selecting the transformation they are now activated instantaneously, with just the push of a button. It´s just like the pirate equipment from Pirate's Curse and it´s all the better for it. I never found the ´you have to stop to transform´ approach that problematic but I admit that it´s a lot more convenient this way.

The animals themselves are OK. Just OK. The Dash Newt sticks to walls and dashes, essentially being the new Monkey transformation, while the Tortle is the new Elephant with an added speed element. The Gastro Drill and Sea Frog are essentially the same, just that one is to get through dirt and the other is to swim through water. The Jet Octo is by far my favourite. It's just a simple triple jump but it works wonders and is just so very useful.

Dashing with the Newt transformation.

Dancing is now used to activate the brand-new fusion transformations. By combining her magic with that of the other half-genies, Shantae can transform into new forms. A good idea that I think the game should've gone further with. 

The use of these transformations are limited. They either open up new paths, like the normal animal transformations and/or do lots of damage to all enemies on screen. It's an OK use, if not a rather bland one. The concept has a lot of potential which the game doesn't utilise. Perhaps make them new forms of Shantae that have completely different move-sets and playstyles? Something that you can use as the core mechanic of Shantae 6 if you ask me.

Back to this Shantae game. The last thing I really need to talk about is, well, the gameplay and the levels. As I said in the opening, Seven Sirens goes back to its Metroidvania origins and it's actually the most approachable Metroidvania I know of. 

Paradise Island is a well designed, good mix of exploration and platforming with the pure platforming sections that connect the various labyrinths. The game has some very strong level design. If only the map would allow you to place checkmarks, would've made the entire experience even that much better.

Sadly though, I can't give the same praise to the bosses. They are a clear step down in more ways than one. While the animated cutscenes are wonderful to have, they completely replace the introductory dialogue and buildup. They're still just as well designed as always but they lack personality. There's thus nothing to really latch on to with them. The fights themselves also disappoint. The boss patterns aren't that interesting or creative. The fights are either over before you know it or drag on for too long. Even the final boss has a core concept that the series has done before.

Shantae also has a lot of tricks at their disposal. Magic items such as the pike balls, bubble shield and fire blasts all return using the same magic system that was introduced in Risky's Revenge. You also have a skillset system in the form of cards. Defeated enemies can drop cards that, when equipped, will give Shantae certain buffs. More defence, reduced magic costs, that sort of thing. 

Combine this with the animal transformations and the fusion dances and you have a lot of toys in the toybox to play with. It makes the game easier if you wish it so.

Too easy I can say. I play Shantae for the fun of it, not the be particularly challenged but even I thought the game became too easy at the end. You can, if you invest abit in the upgrades, just run through the levels without having to worry to take damage. In terms of combat, the merged forms are too powerful. Too much of a screen-nuke that can cut down even the most challenging of enemies. It makes the game approachable, yes, but also makes it so you can run through the last few parts of the game practically brainless and that isn't something a game should strive for.

Conclusion

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is a good Shantae games, though arguably not the best. It combines many of the quality of life and accessibility upgrades of the pure platformer Half-Genie Hero with the series' Metroidvania roots alongside listening to fan feedback such as the simplified transformations. It is also perhaps too accessible, as the difficulty can easily be broken in half and the game feels like it's running on auto-pilot more than once. Even so it's a game that Shantae fans will enjoy as its heart remains the same and serves as the best entry point in the Metroidvania genre.