Part 1 (Sep 2023) · #7 of 9 in that tierWatch the moment (1:53:24)
Revita
- Developed by
- BenStar
- Published by
- Dear Villagers, Doyoyo Games
$16.99
In this fast paced twin-stick roguelite platformer, you play as an unnamed child ascending an ominous clocktower in pursuit of their lost memories. Harvest and sacrifice souls to grow your power in order to challenge procedural encounter rooms and intimidating bosses!
Consensus
A78.5/100
Steam players81.1% positiveVery Positive2,438 reviews
Metacritic ↗78/100Users: 8.1/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈73.2K copies · ≈$831K gross
What creators say
Ranked Jun 2023 · #9 of 11 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
Ranked Apr 2023 · #9 of 15 in that tierWatch the moment (2:03:54)
What players say
A twin-stick, pixel-art roguelite platformer by BenStar in which an amnesiac child climbs a clocktower and spends their own health as currency for relics and upgrades.
Revita is well liked by the players who stick with it: Steam sits at Very Positive (about 81% of roughly 2,400 reviews) and Metacritic shows 78 from 11 critics, with a user score of 8.1 from only 14 ratings. Praise centres on the tight twin-stick feel, the risk/reward health-as-currency loop, the art and music, and deep unlock-driven replayability. Detractors find the rooms claustrophobic, the weapons short-ranged, items weak or flat stat bumps, and progression slow and RNG-heavy. The game is effectively abandoned: the planned 2.0 update was halted in late 2023 due to money problems, but a 2.0 beta branch on Steam contains much of the finished work and is widely recommended. It is a recognized hidden gem that rarely appears on big roguelite lists.
Players love
- Health-as-currency loop: you pay HP for chests, relics and upgrades, which makes every hit and every purchase a real risk/reward decision
- Tight, responsive twin-stick movement and shooting that several reviewers say feels snappy and satisfying
- Pixel art, atmosphere and soundtrack are repeatedly called beautiful; some compare the mood to Hollow Knight
- Steady drip-feed of unlocks, relics, tickets and secrets, plus relic synergies that keep runs unpredictable
- Ticket system lets you opt into more difficulty for more power, plus ascension-style (shard) difficulty ramping
- Cryptic, interesting lore and a true ending that keeps some players hooked across many runs
- Polish and respect for player time: snappy transitions, light hardware demands (runs on integrated graphics), very cheap on sale
- Critics (GameCritics, GamingTrend, Nintendo World Report, PLAY! Zine at 80) praised balance, satisfying combat, smooth platforming and fresh-feeling runs
Common complaints
- Claustrophobic, chokepointed rooms; some later rooms and boss arenas make enemies hard to reach or avoid
- Short weapon range, bullet spread and self-knockback make aiming feel imprecise and damage feel cheap
- Poor visual clarity: semi-transparent foreground elements hide bullets, traps blend into levels, and some enemy attacks have weak tells
- Many items and upgrades are flat stat boosts (a few percent damage or fire rate) that do not change gameplay
- Heavy RNG and snowballing: chests reveal contents only after you pay HP, and taking damage early can leave you unable to buy anything
- Controller support criticised: right-stick aiming feels off, confirm/back buttons follow Nintendo layout, reported gamepad complaints on PC
- Bugs and rough edges reported: cannot quit from main menu, accidental return-to-metro wipes a run with no confirmation, some max-health mechanic reports, a startup-screen ad for a plush no longer sold
- Development abandoned, so these issues will not get official fixes beyond what is in the beta
Can feel tedious
- Slow meta-currency accumulation; most run items are locked behind it, so early runs feel limited
- Getting the true ending requires repeated clears, which some find exhausting
- Obscure, niche secret-unlock requirements for late content that feel undiscoverable without a guide
- Being starved of HP or starved of items; any damage reduces what you can buy, so careful no-hit play is required to progress
- Boss fights described as health sponges, and difficulty ramps slowly for some players who quit around shard 2
- Bleak ending in which the player character dies, which one reviewer found off-putting
What's unique
- Your health bar is your currency: you convert souls into permanent max HP, then spend HP on relics, chests and upgrades
- Twin-stick shooter combined with 2D platforming and wall jumps in a roguelite structure
- Soul-harvesting and sacrifice theme in a clocktower tied to the five stages of grief, with cryptic lore and a bleak true ending
- Ticket system that trades extra difficulty for power before each run, plus shard-based ascension difficulty
- Secret alternate biomes unlocked by obscure conditions (for example breaking hidden beehives), plus a fishing minigame
- Curses you can stack that restrict you only in specific, circumventable ways
Players want
- Faster early meta-progression so varied, powerful builds arrive sooner (several positive reviewers also say this)
- More interesting, gameplay-altering items and more distinct weapons instead of small numeric boosts; more than one character and few choices per run is a recurring gripe
- Open up rooms and boss arenas and improve visual clarity and enemy telegraphing (the 2.0 beta reportedly addresses claustrophobic rooms)
- Better guidance on secret progression, such as the post-Shard-5 alternate biome unlock conditions that players say they only found by googling
- Polish controller aim and button mapping, and add confirmation before abandoning a run or quitting
- Faster transitions and loading between rooms; some players call the lift/loading/spawn waits too long, though others praise the transitions
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Action RoguelikeTwin Stick ShooterDungeon CrawlerRogue-liteLooter ShooterPvEPixel GraphicsAction-Adventure2DRogue-like
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Revita is a 2D action dungeon-crawler roguelike where your health doubles as currency, so every purchase costs HP. He loves it and calls it one of his favorite roguelikes these days, plans a 100 percent achievement run, and thinks it deserves far more attention. He stresses it is packed with content and builds, but is not for everyone since it demands comfort with action roguelikes. Bugs and broken item interactions hold it back from topping Gungeon.
Liked
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