Shantae and the Seven Sirens Review

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the sequel to Shantae: Half-Genie Hero and tells the story of Shantae, a half-genie, who’s been invited to Paradise Island for a special festival along with a few friends. Upon her arrival, our heroine befriends other half-genies. Unfortunately, during a performance, the other half-genies are kidnapped and it’s up to Shantae to find and rescue them all.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is a Metroidvania-like platformer meaning you can’t explore the area on the first go. After you rescuing a half-genie, she will grant new powers that will allow you to backtrack to a previously visited area and explore beyond the previously dead-end. While backtracking can seem like a chore at times, in Metroidvania-like games, this allows you to progress further in the levels and discover special items and treasures.

Shantae is no slouch as she takes down enemies with her glorious hair. You can attack standing up or while crouching, but oddly enough not upwards. While there aren’t that many enemies that would require such an attack, it would’ve simplified attacking flying enemies. Shantae can also purchase additional, limited, attacks in shops called Relics. There’s a boomerang, fireball, flying spiked ball; just to name a few. It’s a great way to diversify the otherwise simplistic combat and can be helpful against bosses.

Every area has its own hub where you can interact with villagers, save your progress, buy items; among other things. While it’s a nice place to recharge in between levels, it’s (recommended and) a bit annoying having to, more often than not, talk to every single NPC in order to learn new information or hints on how to progress. Thankfully, WayForward has made sure that NPCs with vital information are represented with an exclamation mark above their head. It’s a nice time saver and avoids wasting time interacting with NCPs that have nothing of importance to say.

As players progress through the game and kill enemies, players will pick up cards that represent the killed enemy. Those cards, once you pick up the required amount for each enemy, will result in a new equipable perk; for example, the crab will allow Shantae to crawl faster. Players can equip up to three perks at once. It’s actually a pretty fun and diverse mechanic giving players a bit of flexibility in “customizing” the protagonist. Perks can also be linked to Relics.

One the game’s unique feature is Shantae’s dancing skills. While at first, it seems a bit unnecessary, as you progress forward you’ll be given dance skills which will help you discover secrets and progress forward. The way to unlock new dances is to complete a quest for a rescued half-genie. As you hand over the specific item required, Shantae and the half-genie will “merge” their powers in order to give the titular protagonist a new skill. For example, the first dance obtain allows you to discover hidden secrets in different screens; it can be a platform to jump higher or additional money.

Shantae’s health can also be upgraded. As you progress through the game, you’ll come across cute heart-shaped like squids that’ll you’ll be able to collect; some are easy to pick up while others require a special power to grab. After collecting a few of them, you can visit a Half-genie in the hub area where she’ll use those adorable squids to turn into more health.

Boss fights are pretty fun and unique. Each of them has its own puzzle-like mechanic you need to figure out in order to dish out as much damage as possible. The main gripe with boss battles is that there’s no life bar, so you can’t keep track as to how close they are to death. It’s a bit frustrating as sometimes you’ll feel like the fight goes on forever.

However, not everything is perfect in Shantae’s world. While the overview map has points of interests for warp areas, save point, there’s no indicator where you’re required to go back to complete a quest or no clear hints that paths are blocked because you’re missing a specific power; this can lead to unnecessary backtracking and unwarranted frustrations if you don’t remember the areas. The lack of clear guidance is also annoying. For example, at one point, to progress further, you need to give a ghost its doll; what you’re not being told is that to trigger this objective, you need to give 3 pieces of ore to a blacksmith. It’s an unfortunate caveat of Metroidvania games.

One of the game’s strongest point is its presentation. Shantae and the Seven Sirens looks great; bright, colorful, and vibrant; the game just reeks of style. Each area of the map is uniquely designed and beautifully detailed. There’s also a wide variety of enemy designs each with their own unique patterns. The soundtrack is also very upbeat, joyful, and entertaining. The title score will be stuck in your head days after you’re done playing.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is definitely one of the year’s better games. It’s a cute, fun Metroidvania platformer with a depth of gameplay content. While it does have a few shortcomings that can cause unnecessary frustrations, the newest entry in the Shantae is definitely worth your time and hard-earned money.