Side scrollers can be some of the hardest games to build a world in due to the limits of the 2D world that a narrative is held within. Saviorless has a story to tell with a twisting tale that needs to be told in a very engaging way to come across effectively. Empty Head Games certainly had lofty goals when it came to expressing this story. Empty Head Games are described as truly indie, being made with no studio, no government, and no internet. The reliance on graphic novel styles and a hand-drawn art style are all evidence of this and Saviorless is a true testament to the skill it takes to succeed in this inventive mixture of mediums.

Saviorless tells its story in a very unique way. Upon booting up a game most would expect to be thrown into the action, maybe shown a tutorial, or at the very least be given the opportunity to meet the protagonist who will lead the player through the tale. Even stories that start in the middle tend to give you some sort of context or backstory. However, Saviorless does not do this. Instead, the game opens with three characters who are introduced to us only as the Narrators. 

Narrator Tobias is telling the story of Antar, a hero who will never be allowed to meet his goals according to Narrator Len, Tobias’ niece who wants to see the protagonist reach his goal. She complains to him that no one ever makes it to the Smiling Island and that Tobias is telling stories in a way that doesn’t allow for the protagonist to have any autonomy, meaning they can’t change the story with their own choices. 

This creates an instant air of intrigue with the player not knowing what will happen in the story and how much they will control it. It is a really fun opening that adds instant depth to the story. Antar is the player character, well one of them, and he follows the story laid out for him by Tobias. The first collectible that we encounter in the whole game is one of the pages of Antar’s own story. This page states that Antar pulls a lever, breaks a cage, and picks up a page. These are the exact actions Antar has just done. 

Saviorless is teaching the player mechanics while they are also adding to the cryptic narrative that is being woven. While not being the most exciting and action-packed introduction most of us will experience in gaming, it is perfect for this game. The quiet intrigue allows the players to understand what they are getting into. The type of story that is being played and the overall tale will be a little slower, but it will be very interesting. 

The narrative picks up a lot as the game goes on. It appears that Antar’s story is fairly simple. He is following a heron while trying to make it to the Smiling Island. His tale takes him through mines that are infested with worms, as well as chasing the heron while he is above ground. The dueling narrative, which reminds the player of what the narrators are doing, is referenced back to by Dasein, a chronologer who is writing what Antar does and keeping track of the pages that the player can collect. It is a fun addition that makes sure the player is always reminded of the narrators and the tale they are trying to tell, the one that has no protagonists make it to Smiling Island. 

Narrator Len talks Narrator Arimbo into telling his own story. Narrator Tobias, who has briefly stopped his tale for a nap after a particularly thrilling section, isn’t awake to stop the pair from their scheming which allows his niece and nephew to take over the narrative for some time. Arimbo’s character is Nento, a part human, a part monster who is immediately introduced to be very different from Antar. Rather than the more passive fighting style of Antar, who can not attack and instead has to dodge and use the environment, Nento is immediately about to swipe at his foes.

This break in the narrative to take on a different character comes at the perfect time. Antar’s story is in no way boring, but it is limited by the type of puzzles and combat that can take place from a fairly basic character. The takeover by Arimbo and Nentor is a brief jump to a new story that is placed at just the right moment and works very well to raise the stakes. Nentor, realizing he is in a story, wants to take over his own narrative and becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea. This is taken to another level when Savior is introduced, who is still more intense than even Nentor.

The gameplay in Saviorless is kept very simple while playing Antar, the first of the protagonists that the player will experience. You have a few very simple movements. Run left and right, jump, crawl, and an interact key. This is a very simple set of controls that serve the initial gameplay very well. Immediately the player will experience the movements, learning from the off that you have a cling and climb ability to add to the repertoire of moves available to you.

The movements are pretty tight and the keys are very responsive which prevents a lot of the frustration many might find with 2D platformers. However, these issues are not completely alleviated. One of the best mechanics in the game is the cling and climb that allows you to make a jump you may not usually be able to. The jumps can sometimes feel like they are perfectly within the jump distance, however, they will not make it, with the cling and climb not activating for seemingly no reason. Now this is very rare, not happening with every jump, but it happens often enough to be worth noting as it can be a little annoying. 

It is also very hard to change directions mid-jump. While running the player can turn on a dime, however, in the air, it feels as though you are falling to your doom unable to switch tracks and save yourself. Saviorless also has a crawl function that most of us won’t have seen in games for quite some time. Rather than having a button to crouch and then move from there, as is the case with most modern games, Saviorless has a more old-school version of pressing down on the D-pad or pulling down on the thumbstick. This can make moving forward while being low to the ground a little frustrating as you attempt to balance the buttons.

There are sections of the game that require staying low for extended periods and the tricky buttons can cause issues in this section. It is not game-breaking, I must express this, but it is very annoying when you are murdered by a heron’s screech for the third time because you weren’t pressing down enough and accidentally stood in the way of harm. The other main mechanic is picking up or interacting with objects. These both work very well and appear to have no issues, although it would be nice to auto-pick up key items and pages. While not a necessity, it would be a good quality-of-life upgrade. 

While playing as Antar you have 1 hit point. If you are hit by anything, whether it be a spike, worm, or heron, you will die. This is not the case for all the main characters. Nento has a health bar and also the ability to attack. This shakes up the gameplay and keeps the interactions feeling fresh as you now have new things to do. This attack mechanic is introduced through a mini-boss, which also shows how to heal, by breaking pots around the map. Saviorless is still completely 2D, yet the world has still opened through the game mechanics. It is a great way of doing this. 

The rest of the gameplay is puzzles that can be solved through the classic 2D methods of backtracking and manipulating the landscape to help get to new areas. Some particularly fun puzzles such as the heron shrine one. This involves moving a cart to the furthest possible point you can jump to so that when you activate half of the puzzle and spikes pop up, you have somewhere safe to jump to. Another has the play manipulating the agro of a small creature to make it run toward some spikes and impale itself. The puzzles are a lot of fun, complicated enough to be interesting, but not too hard making them frustrating. 

The graphics in Saviorless create a gothic, fairy tale land that is equal parts whimsy and nightmarish. The different designs of the protagonists also help make their stories feel like more of a deviation from one another. The characters also all have unique movement animations that help with this still further. While being small it is a very nice addition that helps round out the world, making it feel like each character is completely different from each other. Some stand taller or take up more of the screen. It is a great characterization and shows true artistic talent coming from the devs. 

The world of Saviorless is also very well rounded with different areas feeling like a distinct location. Saviorless has a very clear aesthetic for the underground section, versus the more airy and lighter colors of the Smiling Islands. Suddenly moving from the deep purples and navies of the caves to the pale pinks and lavender of the upper world sounds as though it could be a little disconcerting, however, it is not. Empty Head Games has done this in a seamless way that makes perfect sense as you move through it. 

The parallax scrolling of the background moving slower than the scenery in the foreground also helps round out the 2D world. A side scroller can feel very, pardon the pun, two-dimensional and hard to feel immersed into. However, parallax scrolling can help with this as it gives the world more depth. Saviorless pulls this off perfectly and even has some rocks and waterfalls in the foreground that add to this even further.

The sound is equally effective as the sound effects of the world around you are very realistic. Dripping sounds and wind moving through the caves add to this rounded, full world Saviorless is based in. The music also builds and softens in conjunction with the rise and fall of tension when appropriate. There are no voice actors in Saviorless, instead, they use text on the screen to express what characters are saying. Due to having limited dialogue this is effective and doesn’t drag the player out of the narrative while they are reading it. 

Saviorless is a fantastic game. Coming from a small studio, using a mixture of Midas that are not normally seen together, the success Saviorless has to its name is a wonderful underdog story. The gameplay is really fun with issues being minimal and none of which are truly frustrating or game-breaking. The story being told is complicated and intertwined perfectly with the merging narrative. The graphics are fun and show a great artistic eye from the devs with beautiful scenery and fun characters. 
 

Mariella Deadman (@MariellaDead)
Editor, NoobFeed