Everslaught Invasion Review: Fun Co-Op Action In Short Bursts

Everslaught Invasion brings intense two-player co-op to Quest 2, but it's best experienced in shorter sessions. Read on for our full review:

Not many games effectively convey dread outside of horror but Everslaught Invasion manages this pretty well. Wooden spikes barricade these quiet streets with not a soul in sight. "The Corrupted approach," you’re warned, allowing for a brief preparation period. "Corrupted" is a fitting if unimaginative name for these grotesque foes and the game's story is mainly through entries in its codex. You play as a ‘Cleric of the Order’ in fighting them off. Taken altogether, the story is a pretty standard backdrop and it's the engaging gameplay that's the draw here.

You can visit an airship headquarters between missions and Everslaught Invasion lets you swap between three playable classes. The Warrior prioritizes melee damage and defense while Rogue sacrifices power for speed. Vanguard, meanwhile, falls somewhere in between. Select four weapons in the armory - you won’t find any within missions - and these range from common axes to fancy swords. Every option packs different stats for weight, armor damage, crit rates and more. Choose a map once ready and prepare to fight.

That’s important because carelessness leads to Clerics being cornered or encircled, though straightforward controls and hack-n-slash combat helps. Movement is stick-based smooth locomotion only with dashes and jumps using the right trigger. Weapons are grabbed with grip buttons and rotating your left wrist looses a hookshot from your gauntlet toward marked ledges and enemies upon pressing the trigger. Rotating your wrist the opposite direction arms your gun.

For defensive play shields can be activated by holding the palm of your hand toward your headset to parry incoming attacks. Self-healing is also an option by moving your left fist to your right wrist and hitting the trigger. That is, assuming you’ve got enough charges, as indicated by the gauntlet’s red vials.

Clearing waves offers a brief reprieve and every map houses multiple upgrade stations, offering ammo refills, weapon buffs and temporary skills in exchange for skill points or coins, both earned by defeating foes and stopping curses. This may seem basic, but combined with different weapons and classes, combat holds significant versatility that’s boosted by varied level design.

Whether you prefer keeping distance or dismembering Corrupted up close, Everslaught Invasion supports various play styles. Co-op play adds further strategy with teammate communication allowing you to warn each other of blind spots, for example. Revivals are also possible if an ally gets knocked down, something that's absent in solo play.

If you died in disgrace or valiantly fought off Corrupted until the last wave, every mission ends by awarding experience that earns new weapons upon leveling up. XP is also applied separately to your class, earning blood vials to level up permanent skills instead. For example, Rogue can decrease the hookshot’s cooldown by 30% or increase the chance of landing critical damage, while Warrior can increase damage resistance or let orbs instantly restore his health.

The progression system aptly rewards those willing to put the time in, but it took me a while to feel invested. Before this review, I played Everslaught Invasion on two occasions and both times were short demos which I enjoyed considerably. Unfortunately, even with the satisfyingly combat and co-op, I found grating repetition set in during longer play throughs. This feeling wasn’t helped by enemy patterns, so I’d advise playing in shorter stints.

Everslaught Invasion Review - Final Verdict

Everslaught Invasion is an entertaining hack-n-slash from MobX, building upon the original game well with enjoyable co-op, good level design and versatile combat. Repetitive elements mean it's better suited to short sessions because there’s only so much the progression system can do to mitigate this. The lack of comfort options given the intense motion feels like a significant oversight. Solo players might be better off elsewhere, though if you’re itching for a new multiplayer action game, I recommend giving this a look.

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