Did you know a top-down shooter game called Crimsonland? If you like that one, you might like this one too. This game is the same genre as Crimsonland, from the same developer, but with its own unique-ness and experience.

Tesla-inspired gadgets and technologies in video games? We've seen that a couple of times before, maybe so many times. But the inventor--Nikola Tesla--himself? He's a character we rarely see in video games nowadays, right? Let alone playing as him. But now we can play as Nikola Tesla in this fun top-down shooter I just got my hands on. Better yet, he got wicked cool inventions such as Quantum Teleportation, Tesla-Mech, and much more to fight eldritch horrors summoned by H.P. Lovecraft.

Tesla vs Lovecraft

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Indie developer 10tons Ltd have made a couple of top-down twin stick shooters that they probably a fan of this genre, and Tesla vs Lovecraft is one of them, their latest release in the genre. It brought you the experience of an intense twin stick top-down shooter with a handful of weapons, abilities, arenas, and enemies to zap! 

Less Talking, More Shooting and Teleporting

Gameplay: Electrifying!

It starts off so easy that you don't see how it's "intense", but as you go through the levels to the next difficulties it gets more and more exciting. You play as Nikola Tesla armed with a handful of weapons and unique abilities, versus hordes of Lovecraftian horrors. But even so only a "handful", Tesla vs Lovecraft is still a lot of fun because of how it effectively uses these "handful" of weapons, abilities, and perks together.

In each level you level up quickly and you can choose between two perks. I find myself paused for a moment at times when choosing because the offered perks are pretty much equally awesome in different ways. The perks upgrade ranging from increase your movement speed and health regeneration, to very satisfying abilities like extra barrel that makes you a bullet hell-Tesla, and lightning bolt that randomly hit enemies every 8 seconds.

^{The level up menu. These are the perks that will applies for the duration of the level (arena).}

There is the permanent leveling up system too that you can upgrade using the Aether crystal you collect from the "Kill these many X" sort of objectives, the daily objectives (that pretty much the same), and from the ones you pick up in each level, in which the upgrades will improve the temporal perks and abilities permanently, like, start a level with a random perk, or upgrade the Tesla-Mech armor, etc.

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Mech and Teleportation!
The short-distance teleportation device and the kickass mech is Tesla's main gadgets and I love it so much. You can teleport up to three times. When the enemies are overwhelming, and they will, perfectly timed teleport over walls or holes can save your life. The Tesla-Mech can be summoned after you collect its 6 parts, but it replaces the Quantum Teleportation with a directional dash that damage enemies.

Audio: Very well done.

You will hear a mix of electronic(?), rock, and dubstep, with horror-inducing orchestral choir when you play without the Tesla-Mech. And when the mech is deployed the music suddenly change to more... "aggressive" with rock guitar play without the choir which makes it feels a lot different from playing with and without your mech. 

None of the sound of each weapon, enemy, and everything in between, sounds out of place. The weapons maybe similar to each other, Tesla-based weapons with electricity power, but they have distinct sound effects fitting for their types. The SFX and the vibrating camera works together really good, it makes you feel the impact and more satisfying.  

Story: OK.

The story is not so complex, but for this type of game it's not bad. In fact, you could say it's good. Nikola Tesla amaze the audience on the stage by his new discovery of the power of electricity, something that H.P. Lovecraft claims to be a dangerous power that Tesla don't really understand. So with the eldritch knowledge, Lovecraft summon a variety of horrors such as the Deep Ones, Polyp, Shoggoth, and more, to stop Tesla. 

Both thinks that what each other's do is wrong, and despite the simple story it would be cool to know deeper about what each have in mind, that makes it a little bit of a minus point to this game that we cannot play as H.P. Lovecraft.  

Visuals: It's good, but may or may not "please" your eyes.

I think the hand-painted graphics style is the right style for this game, with the visual effects that blend with it nicely. You know how it's hurting your eyes when there's too much bright color of visual effects on the screen. You can see it in this game, but I can see how they minimize those flashy effects as much as possible. 

One thing that bother me a bit is the change of the art style for the cutscene, as you can see in the story part above. It's shown in 3D art style in the first cutscene, but then it turns into 2D like the second image for the rest of the cutscenes. I don't know why they decided to make it that way, it's not much of a problem, but if they stick to the 3D it could have been better.

Conclusion

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The game don't have so many things to offer, but it give everything it have in the most fantastic way possible and I really enjoyed it. I like the temporary perks, weapons, and gadgets, because I find starting with a hand gun and slow movement where you can progressively level up and pick your upgrades in each level is fun. The soundtrack and SFX have a great role in shaping up the atmosphere while you enjoy the fast paced massacre gameplay with controls that never fail you. What I, and many other people expect to see is that a mode that let us play as Lovecraft. 

Is it good?
Good? It's a great top-down twin stick shooter. Tesla vs Lovecraft is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, and Android. 10tons Ltd, everyone.

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Images source: 2, 4