The only thing I love more than a good party is a good party game. OK that’s a lie; parties stress me the hell out. But so does Gurgamoth, one of the most hectic party games I’ve ever played. I tried it single-player with bots to get a feel for it at first, and quickly got to grips with the controls. You can attack and dodge, but spamming the dodge button will stall you in place, exposing you to attacks. To defeat your enemies, all you have to do is ram them towards something deadly. Simples.
The basic two-button control scheme makes the game incredibly easy to pick up and learn, even if you’ve never played it before. Exactly what you want at a party where your impatient friends will move on in five minutes if they find it too difficult. But Gurgamoth goes to the effort of including a variety of arenas, power-ups and stage hazards to mix-up every match-up. The arenas each have a unique gimmick, and feature everything from saw-blades to electricity pylons. My personal favourite was one with a giant meteorite that got faster with every strike against it. Getting a slow-mo power-up on that stage is amazing, until it speeds up again so that the meteor’s rocketing around faster than you can comprehend. Then it’s doubly amazing.
As for power-ups and random hazards, some are a bit boring like the shield for an extra hit. Others make everything way more stressful, such as the laser ball, which fires out lasers and spins around. The meteor ball can also spawn randomly, and one friend of mine declared himself “the Lord of lasers and balls” after repeated success with them. Shout-out to you Kieran. Most rounds of Gurgamoth don’t last long, as everyone dies in a single hit, but this just makes it all the more intense when you’re down to the last two flying fighters (flighters?) and they’re both on match-point. The mind games you can play as you dance around each other are really fun, and even if you lose, it doesn’t matter. Starting another round or game takes twenty seconds tops.
One fantastic feature I have to point out though, is the auto-balancing option. It automatically gives players who are a bit behind an advantage, such as an extra charge for attacking or a shield. Conversely, it also reduces attack charges for those in the lead. It’s a minor tweak to each players’ chances which keeps everyone in the game, regardless of skill level. It’s still very possible to win when you’re incurring a handicap, but it’ll make it easier for newer or less skilled players to compete with you.
Thanks to this feature, despite having a feel of the controls prior to playing with friends, games were close, and I didn’t feel like I had an unfair advantage. I could not win every fight, cause I couldn’t predict how everything was gonna play out. Damn laser balls.
I have only a couple minor criticisms to put forward. Firstly, some player colours do look kinda similar, so it’s a bit too easy to look at the wrong flighter. My friends playing pink and purple got mixed up a lot. Also, when your colour matches the background it’s even harder to find yourself at all. Kieran, “Lord of lasers and balls,” played red on a red level, and wasn’t lord of anything for much longer. There was also one occasion where the music just, stopped. Not sure if it ran out cause the match was too long, or if all of the smashing sounds for the stage cancelled it somehow. The ice stage involves a lot of smashing, to the point where the ice particle effects made the screen too busy to play on.
Overall, Gurgamoth is great fun and a party pleaser. It’s easy to learn, but can lead to some intense flying duels when players really start to get good. My friend Ben can also vouch for it being enjoyable to watch if you have more than four people in the room. It’s colourful, chaotic, and competitive, and it’s one I’ll be keeping installed for future parties to come.
A digital copy of Gurgamoth for Nintendo Switch was provided by the developer.
Find Gurgamoth on Nintendo Switch here: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/gurgamoth-switch/