Storm Lancers is a metroidvania-inspired 2D roguelite platformer that allows players to team up in local co-op. Developed and published by ProbablyMonsters, Storm Lancers was first released for the Nintendo Switch on September 12th, 2025, with a later release for Nintendo Switch 2 and PC on December 9th, 2025. Through five worlds, players hack and shoot through a variety of enemies, such as alien creatures and robots. Different weapons will be at your disposal, allowing for a semi-unique run each time. An in-game resource called crythium can be used to purchase permanent passive upgrades. Along with these, players gain new maneuvers with every stage, allowing for more movement in combat.
Storm Lancers feels like it was made with two things in mind: local co-op and a beginner friendly experience. Playing with roguelite experience and in single player, I still had some fun. However, I quickly picked up on combat abilities and enemy movement patterns. When this happened, the game began to feel a bit stale and was not a long experience overall. Experienced roguelite/platformer players such as myself might breeze through gameplay. However, they could still have a lot of fun playing with a friend, partner, or even child that is inexperienced and needs a helping hand. With local co op and many online game sharing features, such as Steam Remote Play Together and Nintendo Game Share, I believe that its best played with a teammate. So, keep an eye open for high cost chests, because its time to discuss Storm Lancers!
The Story & Characters: Saving Reality, Cryptica, and Yourselves
After your crash on the alien world of Cryptica, Stormhearts—tiny blue, fox‑like creatures—bring you and your teammate back to life. Players later learn that reality is on the brink of collapse due to powerful magic on the planet. Together, you must venture through the five different worlds to save the planet, taking down some alien or robotic creatures and bosses along the way. Players can wake up some friends in cryosleep back on the ship to assist them, as well as purchasing upgrades from some friendly aliens.
When it comes to the story, that’s about it. It isn’t complicated or detailed, but it does its job at giving a ‘why’ for our character’s motivation. It’s a simple story with you, the players, as its hero. Little tidbits here and there help give more lore, such as the captain who mysteriously disappeared from the ship or the various dialogues from alien vendors. More story would be nice of course, but it’s something I’m willing to see past for now.
On the ship, the three friends you can wake from cryosleep are Romero, Stats, and Ellara. Romero is the ship’s tailer and oversees the few outfits you can equip. Stats takes charge of the players statistics. Ellara, probably the most useful of the three, offers challenges for players to accomplish in order to gain more crythium. Players must complete specific goals first in order to wake up these ship members.
The Gameplay Part 1: The Basics are Good
There are a few key aspects when it comes to Storm Lancers‘ gameplay. First and foremost is probably the variety of weapons. Players have two main weapons, melee and ranged, and a slot for an equippable item. Melee weapons include greatswords, axes, and my personal favorite, whips. Ranged weapons include snipers, breechloaders, and ion marbles. Equippable items can be health items and various tools such as the ability to shoot fireballs or put down traps. You typically pick up these items by cracking open chests spread across the stages. Weapons with higher rarity do more damage, but also cost more. A chest’s price can help determine a weapon’s rarity. Players can buy other chests to obtain equippable items and Storm Bindings. Storm Bindings are passive effects that boost and hinder players. Players can also buy some items at the shops near the end of each stage.
During runs, you can gather a resource called crythium by taking down elite enemies, identifiable by their red crowns, and bosses. Players use Crythium to unlock Soul Etchings—permanent upgrades that persist from run to run. These upgrades include things like higher starting currency, having better luck in finding more rare weapons, having a larger health pool and even the ability to revive. Nothing here feels super out of the ordinary when it comes to roguelites that have permanent upgrades, but its a system that I enjoy. I like being able to do a little better each time with the assistance of permanent upgrades to work towards obtaining. The maneuver abilities you gain also exist throughout runs. When you complete a stage for the first time, you gain a new movement skill, such as sliding and double jumping. These help with making combat and movement feel much smoother.
The Gameplay Part 2: The Rest is Not as Good
Despite the game’s steam page stating that the biomes are ever-shifting, I can’t say this is something I noticed while playing. Small things are different, such as chest or enemy placements. Beyond that, if there any changes to the stage’s layout, I didn’t notice. This played a hand in making the game feel lackluster. Also, the actual platforming felt a bit clunky at times. Before being able to double jump, I would stand under a ledge and my character just wouldn’t grab onto it until the third/fourth try. Combat movement, although smoother after a few upgrades, still feels a bit simple. Along with this simplicity were the boss fights. They had simple, easily predictable movements that made them feel more like meat shields rather than a challenge.
The enemies you come across are just okay. Though I like that many of them have their own unique attacks, they become a bit too easy to avoid once you get the hang of things. I would simply slide back and forth swinging my weapon as I pass through them and dodge any attack they could throw at me. Once you have a decent weapon, you can just one shot most of them.
I also think that some ranged weapons were a bit too strong which made the game even easier. If you can manage to get a gun with decent rarity, you don’t really need the melee one. There is no ammo or even a long cooldown between shots. The incentive to open chests goes away and at that point, I’m just looking for the exit to the next stage. This doesn’t feel like what ProbablyMonsters had in mind for their gameplay. I can appreciate the game’s simplicity, but I can’t help but feel a bit bored by it too.
The Graphics & Audio: Just Okay
As the subheading title states, both the graphics and the audio are just okay. Graphically, the game takes on an anime/cartoon approach. I don’t hate this and I think it works well for the game’s style, but I do think things could look a little better. The biomes aren’t really impressive in how they look. The same applies to the enemy designs. In the first two worlds, players mostly fight against these alien dog-like creatures. There are three different kinds of them, but they really just look like reshades with small changes. Weapons looked a bit better in that they all looked unique and their were some visual effect elements that looked cool too. Overall though, there was nothing graphically that wowed me in some way.
A similar thing could be said with the game’s audio. Any audio elements were just okay and none of it felt bad or necessarily all that great either. The original sound track can be purchased as an add on for Steam, though I’m not too sure why. It sounded like rather simple combat music and not something I would jam out to. Perhaps though, this is just my own opinion as I’m not the most musically inclined person.
The Conclusion: The Good, The Bad, and The Hopeful
I’d like to reiterate that Storm Lancers is made with co op in mind. My own experience and review could be biased in that I played only in single player. I do think this game could be a lot more fun in co op. Perhaps with one player having some roguelite experience and skills and the other player being more so a beginner. I could see myself asking my dad to play if this came out when I was a child. Being released on Nintendo Switch originally, it does lead me to believe that it is made with a younger audience in mind. The game’s overall simplicity could be easy for them to grasp and still might feel like a challenge for them to overcome. I am all for games appealing to younger generations so that the future of gamers continues to live on.
However, for players who have experience in roguelites and especially the ones playing in single player such as myself, I think the game is a bit too lackluster. Reasonably, a player like this could probably beat the game in less than 10 runs. I don’t believe there’s much afterwards beyond completing challenges. The game feels pretty barebones and there isn’t much to keep my attention. Like I said though, I don’t think I was the player in mind during development so I can’t fault them too much. If the game became more complex and added too much, things might feel a bit too complicated for a younger audience, at least now a days. Still, I can stay hopeful for the game’s success without needing to be a player myself.
Grab a friend, give it a whirl and thank you for reading!
