Bite-sized Review:
Floramancer

By Chris Picone, 05 March 2024

Floramancer is a cute top-down shooter with some exploration and farming elements.  The core gameplay is simple; find seeds, plant them, harvest the growing flowers, and use them to cast spells to fight off the robots that are threatening your glorious forest. 

Aesthetics

Gorgeous retro pixel graphics - very bright and colourful, full of life.  The world is sprawling and you will find yourself traversing forests, plains, swamps, mountain ranges, ice fields, industrial areas, and archipelagos.  There's also a good range of enemies - turrets and robots, but some are walkers, some are more like balls, and some resemble dogs.  The variety keeps the game feeling fresh as you play through.  And if you're into the retro scene, it looks great.

Gameplay

I've already described the core gameplay loop - plant, harvest, do battle.  And of course as you fight harder enemies you discover more powerful seeds and spells so you can beat even harder enemies for even better spells.  But what really made this game fun for me was the exploration.  You see, your spells aren't just used to fight robots, you also use them to interact with the environment - earth spells destroy rock barriers, fire spells burn down obstructing trees, water spells douse lava tiles, and air spells can be used on water to create ice.  While some of the game is permanent - your home base, for example - other areas are randomly generated every time you enter them.  You'll be required to collect resources to expand your garden and unlock new areas, which lead to boss fights. The boss fights are probably the best part of the game.  The bosses have stacks of HP so you'll often need to plant and harvest mid-battle while dodging an array of attacks as well as minions. It's pretty fun.

Verdict

Floramancer's one of those games with a really simple premise that just seems to keep getting bigger as you play it.  New areas, new spells, there always seems to be something new unlocking.  The constant reward system makes for an addictive experience.  The boss battles can be tough but otherwise Floramancer is a lot more chill than most shooters. Kid-friendly. 

Links: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2259300/FloraMancer__Seeds_and_Spells/