Classic arcade action is elevated by a few contemporary mechanics.
Goliath Depot
Developer: Vidvad Games
Publisher: Flynn’s Arcade
Release date: May 30th, 2024
Price: $6.99 via Nintendo eShop
With titles like Donut Dodo, Cashcow DX, Annalyn, and Bumpy Grumpy making an appearance, it seems as though the heyday of arcade gaming never ended. All of these games successfully pare things down to the essentials by eschewing contemporary features like a protracted campaign and narration. And this new wave of minimalistic pleasures might be refreshing, especially in light of the quantity of bloated blockbusters coming out of publishers. Furthermore, it’s particularly satisfying if you’ve had enough of expensive experiences that come with a ton of DLC.
With the exception of a few contemporary features, Goliath Depot almost perfectly replicates the thrill of operating an arcade machine from the mid-1980s. Like a lot other games from the past, the objective of this one is quite clear: to advance to the next level, you must complete each duty in each stage, which involves shutting all open doors.
The Excitement of Enticeing an Opponent to Die in the Environment
To travel throughout each single-screen collection of platforms, ladders, and elevators, you are initially given a basic moveset. In addition to using a button to close doors, you may also conceal yourself behind openings, which is reminiscent of Namco’s Rolling Thunder’s evasive tactics. Goliath Depot periodically allows you to go on the offensive, dispatching irritable enemies, as slamming a door sends enemy-stunning shockwaves to the right and left. However, vanquished adversaries frequently reappear, encouraging you to create a basic pattern to reduce vulnerability.
The variety of the game’s environments can be one of the first current features you notice. Goliath Depot offers a journey spanning forty playfields, in contrast to Donkey Kong’s cycle of four distinct stages. You’ll be required to battle a boss every tenth stage, which is also unusual for platformers from that era. And this is where Depot makes its one big error. Even if you can make it through a world’s first nine stages without getting hurt, these showdowns can rapidly drain your hit point supply. Upon becoming familiar with the distinct actions and cues of each monster, you will surely improve on later playthroughs. However, those initial meetings are intimidating. Rather than coin-ops, I would contend that home games invented genuinely difficult bosses with protracted health bars.
Unpredictable Help
Still, you benefit from Depot’s other anachronisms. You can buy permanent power-ups that allow you to dash, double leap, and spring downward by gathering the coins that are strewn around each level. Vidvad Games, the developer, wisely restricts your ability to break the game to just one assist. Coins can also be used as an alternative means of continuing.
Additionally, a substantial number of goods are unlocked. In addition to being able to alter the appearance of George, Georgette, and the other five playable characters in the game, you’ll also unlock a speedrun mode, a more challenging difficulty setting, and a randomizer where you’ll encounter levels that are created randomly. The only real missing feature is leaderboard functionality, which was present in Depot’s initial Steam release.
Extremely Relevant
The game is entertaining and possesses a lot of the elements that would propel an arcade game to popularity both critically and commercially. It gradually expands its stages to include new types of threats. “The Warehouse,” the game’s first area, has an opponent that shoots projectiles at the player from the top of the screen and a bouncing pursuer. Subsequent enemies include police officers with shields who will tempt you to slam doors at just the right moment.
Future worlds become much more hostile due to increased enemy density and new natural threats. There are several allusions to other games with gimmicks like color-coded keys, ice stages, and gravity inversion. That makes sense, too, since arcade designers would frequently draw inspiration from one another. Hopefully, this new crop of coin-op titles will continue to foster that kind of involvement. Though arcade is on the verge of extinction, their legacy endures in titles such as Goliath.
Using a review code that the publisher sent, Goliath Depot was played on the Switch.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 85%
Controls – 80%
Aesthetics – 75%
Content – 80%
Accessibility – 75%
Value – 90%
81%
GOOD!
Summary : Constructed on the premise first shown in the much-maligned CD-i title Hotel Mario, Goliath Depot presents a fairly lavish makeover. As a result, you get an arcade-like experience that is both familiar and unique enough to stand alone.