Rose & Locket

Often times, when somebody really likes a movie, they’ll say that they couldn’t wait to watch it again. They’re so excited to relive all of their favorite moments. That’s how I felt right after beating Rose & Locket, the debut release from Whistling Wizard, a two-person developer based out of New Zealand. This incredible game is filled with amazing, over-the-top moments that I couldn’t wait to replay time and time again. And I did just that. Right after beating the game, I went right back in and played the first stage all over again, because it was so much fun. Yeah, this game is that good. This is my review of Rose & Locket.

Set in a western-themed underworld, this is the story of Rose, a tough-as-nails cowgirl who is ready to kill literally everybody in the after life in order to save her daughter. Unfortunate for our hero, Rosebud’s spirit has been trapped in a locket, forcing her mother to take on Envy’s evil mission to kill the other six deadly sins, including Pride, Lust and Greed.

It’s a badass bounty hunter tracking down the seven deadly sins. That alone is a recipe for a great action game. But where Rose & Locket takes this idea to the next level is by telling the story in the most stylish way possible. It’s like a comic book come to life, complete with different panels to fight through, across and into. We see this early on in the way our hero treks through the wasteland, quickly giving us a glimpse of what she’s going through from different perspectives. Just a few minutes later, the panel is used in a completely different way. As we platform puzzle our way through a tiny frame, we can’t help but be intimidated by the massive tower looming above. It’s yet another reminder just how small we are in the grand scope of this underworld.

Simply put, the goal is to make it to the next level alive. Many of the stages of short and bite-sized, giving the first-time developers a chance to really show off how inventive and stylish they can be. Some levels are more about the action, giving Rose a good reason to use her three guns. We start out with a trusty six-shooter pistol, only to quickly find an incredibly useful rifle. While the rifle doesn’t hold as many bullets, it does have a much longer range and does more damage. And then there’s a shotgun, which doesn’t have much of a range, but definitely clears out the western-themed enemies in a hurry.

After you’ve taken out the enemies, you might go on to another extremely cool platforming puzzle, or perhaps you’ll be whisked away to something completely different, like a stage where you’re flying on a skeletal bird dodging guillotines. Or maybe it will be one of the exciting stages where you’re seemingly falling to your death. It might also be one of the many fantastic bosses, each not only based on the different deadly sins, but split up into a bunch of really cool parts.

A good example of that is the first boss, Wrath. We start out this battle by riding on the top of a flying coffin, shooting at the ghost boss in what appears to be a very tall church. This leads directly into a single-room confrontation with the boss, followed by a final showdown in a very narrow panel. This could have been kept to just a shoot ‘em up battle on a flying coffin and that would have been cool enough, but the game goes that extra step (and then, just for good measure, takes another step) every single time. And that is one of the reasons why this game is so damn great.

And then, when you least expect it, the game completely changes its art style. We go from old west panels to an incredibly reflective Japanese setting. You’re suddenly forced to pay attention to not only the enemies above the water, but also the ones in the reflection. Another mission will take you to a river filled with toxic waste, forcing our hero to use a boat (and some well-timed double jumps) to stay above water. Every stage offers something new and unique, each themed around a different deadly sin.

What makes the world come to life is the storytelling, both with the back-and-forth conversations between Rose and her daughter, and also the short flashbacks we see of our hero’s past. The game hints early on that there’s something in Rose’s past that she’s hiding, and it’s fun seeing the pieces of that come together over the course of the adventure. This all adds up to a fun story that plays with both western and supernatural cliches, giving us a cool hybrid that doesn’t look or feel like anything else.

And yet, if you were to strip away the story and style, you would still be left with a fun action/platformer. No matter if you’re fighting a ghost cactus or a bunch of totem heads, you’re going to need to be on your toes if you want to beat these undead enemies. This is the kind of game that expects you to find the best strategy for each type of villain. For example, when you see a zombie cowboy ambush you, you know that you’ll need to be quick and shoot him before he gets you. And that samurai headed right at you? Shoot him with a shotgun and then roll to his vulnerable side to get the kill shot. All of this would be fun on its own, but the western styling takes everything to a whole new level.

More than anything else, what I love about this game is its variety. I’m not just talking about how different it looks from one stage to the next, but also how they shake up the action depending on which type of sin you’re going after. This is the kind of game where you have no idea what you’re going to see next, or even how it will be presented. You can tell that a lot of thought went into making every bit of this game, no matter how small, stand out in some way. There are some truly gorgeous moments that are over in a blink of an eye.

There’s a confidence to this game that I find irresistible. The developers know how cool this character is and they lean in with moment after moment that show her being a total badass. The western underworld is constantly changing and visually dazzling, full of creative framing and camera tricks. The fact that this is the debut release from Whistling Wizard is astounding. It’s rare to come out of the gate this strong.

As I played through Rose & Locket, I promise you I looked for things to dislike and nitpick. I was ready to complain that the levels are too easy, only for Lust to make me eat my words with a challenging maze filled with love and obsession. I also worried when the game started to recycle the bosses, but even this old trope is tackled in a clever and unique way. When it comes right down to it, my biggest complaint with this game is that it doesn’t let you warp straight to your favorite sin. What the second playthrough needs is a level selector, like in Mega Man.

As you can no doubt guess by my reaction, I was blown away time and time again by Rose & Locket. It’s a game that took a well-worn genre and tackled it in a wholly original way. Between the western theme and the comic book style, this game gave me an experience I’ve never had before. It’s a visual tour de force that doesn’t lets up, filled with big action moments you’ll want to revisit over and over again. If this is where Whistling Wizard starts, then I can’t wait to see what comes next.