Review: I’m Glad Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution Exists

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is a fascinating look at game development and history. After all, it’s a 2002 game that made it to a demo phase, got canceled, had parts of it repurposed for other entries, and only in 2023 work resumed on the project. It’s a perfect example of a troubled development cycle. That said, while you can tell some issues putting it together came up along the way, I appreciate its existence as a piece of history, example of perseverance, and peek into Shantae’s missing adventure.

Like many entries in the series, Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution involves the half-genie being called into action to not only save Scuttle Town, but Sequin Land as a whole. Risky Boots discovered a means of shifting the positions of places so she can loot and conquer it all. However, the Tremor Engine she is using to do so could destroy everything. It’s up to Shantae to get maps to visit different regions, gather together famous Relic Hunter archeologists, and hopefully find a way to restore places to their proper spots and stop Risky Boots.

This means that Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution plays out much like other platforms in this Metroidvania-like series. Shantae can learn transformation dances that allow her to become creatures like a crab or monkey. These grant abilities to access new spaces. So as a crab she could sink to the bottom of water to walk along and reach new spots or treasures and a monkey form lets her wall-climb. There are six of these in total. She also gets different attack options, like a Fireball, Pike Ball, and Storm Puff electric bolt. You go through the different dungeon areas, platforming and taking out enemies, and eventually deal with bosses. Some light puzzle solving may come up and there might be incidental extra quests, such as helping Bolo find his brother, but it’s rather straightforward.

Which is, honestly, one of the things that highlights nature of Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution’s development. It’s shorter than a typical entry and more disjointed. We ride with Sky to reach new places. Areas are sort of sectioned off. The general pacing, while it does come together, feels a bit stilted too. It also means there’s a little enemy repetition. It’s a quick, one-and-done jaunt, and people who enjoy replaying with things like new game plus might not appreciate that. There's definitely effort here. You can see the care that went into making it playable and exist. The script also remains quite clever! But the nature of some fights and expanses don't always feel as elaborate and connected as otehr entries.

I also feel like some design decisions also highlight Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution’s unusual nature. When you’re only seeing sprite-based characters and environments, it looks great. It also can end up looking familiar due to how much ended up being pulled for other games in the series. However, I found the more modern textboxes, UI elements, and character portraits really jarring. I will say that it at least looks better than Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut’s UI and portraits and is in line with the other full HD games. I would have loved actual sprite-based character portraits and textboxes to lean into the GBA aesthetic further.

I’m glad Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is accessible after everything it went through, but you can see its struggles. It’s a fine adventure. It helps build up the timeline and backstory. I feel like it’s just a tad short and features some pacing issues that really highlight that this was a game that ended up being picked up, canceled, returned to, and had these halts in development.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is available on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and GBA.  

The post Review: I’m Glad Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution Exists appeared first on Siliconera.