Video Game Review - Hero Survival

Rob reviews Hero Survival on Nintendo Switch…

Hero Survival is the latest in a line of games that’s attempting to ride on the large coattails of Vampire Survivors. While Hero Survival doesn’t change the formula, it’s a pleasant change to those who want something different. 

But, is it any good? 

Much like it’s fellow survival title, Hero Survival doesn’t feature an engrossing story, or vast inter-connected narrative. In fact it’s just a simple game of survival. Across each of its zones you’ll guide your chosen hero in an attempt to survive eight rounds of increasing mayhem. Across the journey you’ll earn experience that can be used to level up an menagerie of traits, to then put it all to use to finally vanquish the zone boss in the ninth round. 

To aid you on this mammoth quest, your hero will have a range of weapons at their disposal. There’s quite a variety which range from the staples such as pistols, smg, shotgun, assault rifle, etc. however you’ll only be able to use four in one go. With the vast amount of weapons on offer, there’s plenty of scope to tailor your to suit any play style. The downside to this is that how - and when - you get these weapons is all dependent on round completion. And even then you’re forced to choose between a new gun, or a stat improving skill. While I can see why developer PidgeonDev chose this method, it does slow the games overall pacing. Regardless of what weapons you chose, each ends up floating in orbit around your hero. There’s no skill involved as each weapon auto targets the nearest enemy, fires, and reloads too. Skills also fall into one of three trees which work to strengthen your weapons, bombs, or elemental abilities. Like what weapons you chose, each skill tree offers plenty of variation for each run.

To keep things from going stale there’s plenty of extra characters to unlock. The downside to this is that unlocking them does require quite a significant grind. During my time with the game I managed to unlock one other hero before realising that to get them all wouldn’t really be worth it. It would certainly help to have a couple that are lower priced to then tease you with a sense of progression before ramping the grind up for the later heroes. 

The downsides continue with the games levelling system that has a very odd mechanic. Whenever you accrue enough XP to level up you’ll then be able to chose an attribute to boost - nothing out of the ordinary here. The puzzling part is that these attributes are only increased until the end of the next level, meaning that you’ll actually become weaker once you finish the wave. As such it instantly destroys any sense of accomplishment as you’ll always be weaker than the already advantageous horde chasing you down. It also means you’ll have to always adapt your play style constantly. Throw in the meagre health bar - and the very scarce med kits - and surviving does become a massive chose. 

Overall and Hero Survival is the video game version of marmite -  you’ll either love it, or hate it. For me, I’m sitting right in the middle. On one side I can see what PidgeonDev has tried to achieve, as they’ve made a unique title that takes the survival aspect in a different direction from its fellow genre titles. Yet on the other hand it’s just not a fun game to play. And considering that for a few £ more you could by Vampire Survivors. Well it’s a no brainer! 

Rating: 4/10

A code was kindly provided for this review. 

Hero Survival is available now and can be purchased via the Nintendo Switch eShop. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social