Venture to the Vile Preview: a Victorian-Inspired Metroidvania with Layers
“Vile to the Vile” stuck in my mind when I switched layers for the first time to solve the puzzle. I tried to go to the lever that opened the door in the back, but there was no lever where I didn’t push it, and there was no lever that opened the door. I then remembered that one of them was extending a bridge into the background area. So I walked back to the bridge, moved to the background layer, made my way to the lever, and bingo. He had one door open. I love it when plans come together.
Venture to the Vile is a 2D Metroidvania with a twist. Set in a 3D world, you can switch between foreground and background areas as long as you can find your way to get there. See something cool? You can probably go there. Development studio Cut to Bits wants Venture to the Vile to emphasize a sense of exploration and wonder, and judging by my experience of being a part of it, I think they’ve done a good job of that. .
Part of the charm of Venture to the Vile is the world itself. Adventures into Vile takes place in and around the town of Rainybrook. There, a mysterious substance called The Vile corrupts everything, transforming the inhabitants of a fascinating and colorful world into terrifying monsters. Rainybrook takes its cues from the Victorian era, and you can see it in the architecture of the town itself and the masks worn by its characters. Speaking of characters, the cast of Vile to the Vile is full of personality, from Dr. Crow trying to dissect you, to a friendly town butcher, to two shady guys who never want to hear their conversation. there are a lot of people Raineybrook is at the heart of “Vile to the Vile.” Other characters will give you quests and you can visit the town’s many shops to upgrade your abilities.
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Venture to the Vile also features dynamic weather and day/night cycles, making it more than just a show. The weather and time of day affect where your character is, the monsters that inhabit the environment, the quests you can choose to complete, the stories you experience, and the upgrades.
Of course, the actual gameplay begins there. In the adventure to Vile, an unnamed hero wearing a deer mask is searching for his missing friend Ella in the Vile. Entering the Vile is dangerous. It decomposes everything it touches, including plants, animals and humans. However, the deer-masked protagonist has several ways to fight back. You can attack the enemy with the telescopic blade that comes out of your arm, parry the enemy’s attack with a telegraph, and double jump. I was in the early days, so my ability set wasn’t as solid later on, but it felt good and suited the environment I was exploring. You can save at camp to replenish your healing items, but you can also revive defeated enemies, allowing for interesting risk-reward decisions if you have to backtrack. Naturally, if you want to see everything, you have to. Vile’s dynamic weather and day/night cycles are unlocked. What I enjoyed most about Venture to the Vile was switching between different layers of the world to solve puzzles, fight his corrupted Vile-Monsters, combine basic platforming abilities with environmental additions like ziplines, etc. , when asked for a little bit of everything.
In fact, I was so into it that I didn’t realize I was stepping into a boss battle with the world’s most angry grasshopper until it started. Like the rest of Venture to the Vile, this fight was a mixture of platforming and combat. I spent most of the fight avoiding grasshoppers. The grasshoppers attacked from different angles, spawning Vile on platforms to limit my movement and forcing me to dodge AoE attacks. A stormy attack. The fight wasn’t complicated, but it was enough to brace myself and I barely won. My reward was a dash ability.
As you know, defeating enemies with Vile reward currency, which can be used in Rainybrook, will allow the protagonist to absorb its abilities as well when defeating bosses like grasshoppers. Absorbing Vile means it becomes more and more like the monsters you’re fighting, adding an interesting hook to your story. I was excited to try Dash for myself, but the playable section of the demo ended there.
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But I got to know what Venture to the Vile was like a little later, thanks to a private screening by Studio Cut to Bits. In it, the protagonist wearing a deer mask was exploring a windmill infested with bile. In addition to the dash I unlocked (which can be used on the ground as well as in the air), he also had the venerable Metroidvania ability of wall-jumping, and tentacle arms that let him jump to nearby grab points. The windmill had more layers and was more vertical than the environments we’ve seen before. Traversing it means using those abilities, riding conveyor belts, hitchhiking vehicles to grapple points, squeezing through environmental obstacles and battling Vile-infested spiders and rats, as well as making wooden jumps from Vile. It meant to operate the internal machinery of the windmill by releasing the gears.
This segment ended with a multi-stage boss fight with giant tentacle eyes. It’s a complex battle, with players having to deal with stage hazards, moving conveyor belts that can change direction, points to grab with ropes, as well as eye attacks. I can’t wait to play it myself.
To be honest, this last sentence sums up my feelings about playing and watching Venture to the Vile. Studio Cut to Bits is developing a unique, literally layered Metroidvania with beautiful art and a captivating world. We can’t wait to see what awaits us in the future and what the deer-masked protagonist will transform into.
Will Borger is a Pushcart nominated fiction writer and IGN freelancer. His work has also been featured on TechRadar, GameSkinny, DigitallyDownloaded.net and Into the Spine. He specializes in fighting games, action games, strategy games, and first person shooters. You can chat with him on Twitter @bywillburger.
