Vive le Roi – Review

Vive Le Roi (‘Long live the King’ in French), is set in the year 1793, Revolutionaries are about to guillotine King Louis XVI of France and your job is to save him by climbing up ladders, pushing buttons and levers in stealth mode while trying to avoid the gaze of guarding revolutionaries.
Gameplay
Now it’s not a hard game to play in terms of learning.  You point your mouse to where you want to go and your character will follow.
The trick is not to get caught by the guards as you stealthly make your way through each level.
Moving your character in ‘Vive le Roi’ has to be made made strategically.
This means waiting patiently for guards to turn so you can sneak past them or make noises in strategic positions to get guards to go to certain areas.
I got through 8 levels before I raged quit and started looking for clues to get through to the next level.
Vive le Roi has 30 frustrating levels, which as you progress through the game get harder.
Honestly, it’s a frustrating puzzle game sure to annoy the shit out of you, yet will keep saying “just one more” as stubbornness overcomes and maddening exasperation sets in.

As xxlilmissvixxen put it “People play games to unwind and shiz the hell is this.”

It was the most eloquent quote to go with this game, considering the other comment that best summed up this game was “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCK”, followed up by “just one more”.
Would I say I enjoyed this game?
Well you can see for yourself on my first ever twitch stream below

Watch live video from HashtagMEcrew on www.twitch.tv
 
Yes I did, I was frustrated and stressed as I tried to work out how to open doors but in a self-deprecating way, this was what I liked about it.
Game design
This is an indie game developed by Sylvian Seccia which after playing this fun yet the frustrating game will now refer to as the devil.
The devil for all its devious and frustrating strategic features within this game does have great artwork it’s a really nice-looking game.
The artwork is very indie though, not that it’s a bad thing. artwork viveleroi
Indie games do tend to be more beautiful, and the devil’s game is no exception.
But the design of the game in its entirety is better suited for android or IOS devices rather than on steam as a PC game.
It looks like a tablet game.
Which leads me to the price.
Pricing and availability.
Vive le Roi is available on the Windows Store for $3.99USD (4.59 AUD or $5.55 NZD) .
The game is also on Steam (Windows/Mac/Linux).
On iOS and Android, the game retails for $2.99 USD (3.75AUD or $4.16 NZD).
And this is my pain point, if I was hardcore into these puzzle games I would totes recommend this.
But the price for just 30 levels, especially for those in Australia and New Zealand makes this game a bit too pricey for my liking.
Overall
Gameplay is frustratingly fun, has an easy learning curve and all ages are able to play ‘Vive Le Roi’ designed by the devil himself.
The artwork is typical indie artwork which let’s face it translated into English means it’s pretty.
It’s available now on Steam, Windows, Android, and IOS should you tend to lean towards masochist tendencies.
I give it 2.5 stars – if the price was less I would have given it a 3.
Originally published on HashtagME.co.nz