When it comes to indie titles, Ratalaika Games S.L publish hordes of them. But what I love is that throughout their huge catalogue, there is a wide range of diverse and versatile experiences in the games they bring to the Xbox platform. I love reviewing them because I know that the majority of the time I go in blind, not knowing what I’m about to play. TEN – Ten Rooms, Ten Seconds is developed by The Bworg and is now available on the Xbox family of consoles and becomes one of the most frustratingly addictive indies I’ve ever played. My time with TEN is very reminiscent of memories gone by with titles like Super Meat Boy and N+. Games like this are like a drug to me, it’s always just one more time and before you know it, you’ve been repeating the same formula over and over again. Does TEN echo the same values? Let’s find out.

Introduction

You’d probably hazard a guess from the title of the game what to expect here. TEN is a gruelling and barbaric action platformer that pits you against ten continuous rooms for a period of ten seconds. Now, this may seem simple in the mindset, but behind each door is a combination of projectiles, spike pits, circulating saws and more. Progress through a series of floors and discover a series of seemingly endless threats. You will die, you will become frustrated, and you will want to try again and again to perfect yourself. Whilst there are ten rooms on each floor, if you lose all your lives during your run, you must start the process again. Disappointment and annoyance in yourself turn into a craving to perfect yourself, learning the pattern of your previous mistakes. Don’t let the retro visuals put you off, there is a solid engrossing little gem here.

Gameplay

TEN is super simple for anyone to pick up and play since the only thing you’re required to do is move and jump. What isn’t so easy though is traversing the 90+ rooms on offer and surviving each floor to endure each boss. Three difficulty levels are on offer with your standard setting being the main go-to mode along with an enhanced harder version. For casual players who don’t want to worry about dying repeatedly and trying over and over again, there is an invincibility selection should you wish to breeze through.

Coins are scattered throughout each room that you enter and you’ll want to collect as many as possible, these can be used for upgrades later. However, this currency often proves to be a great distraction to the primary goal of staying alive. Coins will vanish from each room after the ten-second timer finishes and then it’s through the next set of doors to test your fate.

Precision and patience are often required to negotiate whatever is in your path. However, you’ll need to also be quick and nimble as I found out the hard way that you need to make split-second decisions or succumb to your death. If you’re lucky enough to reach the final boss of each floor then you have to be on your toes. The timer increases to a 30-second duration as you work hard to evade the onslaught and bombardment of whatever is thrown at you. Boss levels are pretty well designed with brutal names such as The Meat Grinder and ButcherBot. Each floor completed unlocks new music tracks and the opportunity to enhance your character.

Upgrades

Upgrades are a must-buy in the later stages of TEN as the rooms become harsher environments. Use the coins you have collected to purchase abilities such as dash, double jump and extra live slots. I liked that the currency had some meaning and it made me strive to collect more of it just to try and make the next floor a tad easier for me. With fifteen unlockables on offer, there is plenty to work towards.

Graphics & Audio

As you can probably realise from the screenshots, TEN is presented in retro visuals with a black background with white borders. There are some bright and vibrant colours infused into the mix with much of the hazardous stuff displayed in red. As I’ve already stated though, don’t let its nostalgic look turn you away as it fits the gameplay loop superbly.

Audio is exceptional for a game of this style with the guys over at dBXY Collective composing all of the soundtracks throughout. With a meaty compilation of 16 tracks filtering through the game, it’s refreshing to hear a plethora of soundwaves rather than the same stale repeated tracks that games of a similar nature have. The music blends in wonderfully and keeps the heart racing and adrenaline pumping.

In Conclusion

I’m going to go ahead and say that I enjoyed TEN so much more than I thought I was going to. Whilst it can be a short few hours for some of the most experienced players, it can be a long endurance for those who whack that difficulty option higher. Whilst longevity and replayability are there for those who’d like to try and hack it on a harder run through, once you’ve completed it the first time, you’ve seen it all. There isn’t much more to criticise though as it quickly became addictive and challenging and bought out the perfectionist trait in me. For the price of a pint, I’d highly recommend this game if you can control your anger and remain calm. The older gamers amongst us may gain more pleasure from TEN than the younger crowd.