Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark – Stunning Pixel Art Meets Hardcore Action!

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark blends classic Metroidvania exploration with gothic pixel art charm, offering tight combat, diverse character mechanics, and hidden secrets that keep players engaged. With its intuitive controls, flexible difficulty settings, and rewarding progression system, the game delivers an immersive experience that balances challenge and discovery. But does it truly stand out among its genre peers, or do frustrating mechanics hold it back? Dive into our full review to uncover the highs and lows of this dark, mysterious adventure.

Gal Guardians: Servants Of The Dark Review Pros:

  • Cutesy pixel art graphics.
  • 4.98GB Download size.
  • Steam achievements.
  • Full controller support.
  • Japanese voice with English subtitles.
  • You can set text to auto-scroll and turn off the text.
  • Mouse and keyboard support.
  • Graphics settings – resolution and screen mode.
  • You can remap the controls for both the controller, and mouse, and the keyboard.
  • Subtitles support.
  • 3 save slots.
  • Three styles are selected, which act like difficulties: casual, veteran, and Challenger. This will affect how rare drops are, health, enemy damage, and whether you have any on-screen indicators.
  • Two-player local co op support.
  • A 2D Metroidvania gameplay.
  • Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
  • Full 3D backdrops.
  • You play as two characters, and in solo,o you can swap between them with a button press. Masha is close range, and Kirika is ranged.
  • Familiar controls for the genre.
  • When a character dies, you can revive them by mashing the button to bring their soul back.
  • The map uncovers as you explore and adds in points of interest like save points, bosses, etc.
  • Find and equip sub-weapons; they consume DP, but you can get DP back by collecting the potions.
  • The equipment menu lets you equip sub-weapons and gear in the three slots.
  • Picked up items show on the screen briefly with the name of the item.
  • Damage and heal numbers show on screen.
  • Breakable bits of the wall that can reveal items or health.
  • A health bar system, and you collect hearts to refill it.
  • Tight controls.
  • Big boss battles.
  • You can skip any cutscene.
  • Excellent enemy designs and animations.
  • Leaving and re-entering a screen will respawn enemies.
  • Enemies can drop items and gold.
  • Save at tea party tables around the world.
  • Each character has different attacks, meaning some will be just two-way directional and others can be four-way.
  • The game world is open enough that you can do a fair amount of exploration before hitting a boss or roadblock.
  • Many hidden routes and rooms.
  • Treasure chests are littered around the world.
  • Unlock and use fast travel points.
  • Hack and slash combat, you do have a dash that can be used for dodging.
  • Soul servants can be found, and when returned to the throne room, will
  • Get bones from boss battles and return them to the castle to level up, which increases your stats like health and DP. It also fills up the bar that unlocks new abilities for each character.
  • Combine and craft sub-weapons to improve them or create new ones.

Gal Guardians: Servants Of The Dark Review Cons:

  • For some reason, there are two mouse and keyboard binding menus, they are the same.
  • The resolution setting is just 720 or 1080. Just those two numbers show.
  • Reviving someone takes a while, and it doesn’t save any sort of progress, so it’s a nightmare.
  • Tighter windows of attack are hard to pull off; you notice this more in boss battles.
  • I found the health system to not be as immediately clear as to how much I have.
  • You can only save at the spots and it’s annoying as you can go around and go so far that it sucks you can just save or instantly teleport.

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Gal Guardians: Servants Of The Dark:

Official website.

Developer: Inti Creates

Publisher: Inti Creates

Store Links – 

Steam

  • 7/10
    Graphics - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Length - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
7.4/10

Summary

Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark offers a charming and nostalgic experience with its cutesy pixel art graphics, seamlessly blending classic aesthetics with modern touches. The game boasts full controller support, mouse and keyboard compatibility, and an array of customization options, including remappable controls and resolution settings. The Japanese voice acting with English subtitles further enhances the immersive feel, while the auto-scroll and text toggle options add convenience. With Steam achievements and three save slots, players can track their progress and tailor their gameplay experience.

At its core, the game delivers solid 2D Metroidvania action, featuring tutorial pop-ups to ease players in and a rich map that reveals save points, bosses, and key locations as they explore. The ability to swap between two characters—Masha for close-range combat and Kirika for ranged attacks—provides strategic flexibility, especially in intense encounters. Combat is tight and responsive, offering satisfying hack-and-slash mechanics, dodging via dashes, and the ability to collect and equip sub-weapons. The progression system encourages exploration, with hidden routes, treasure chests, breakable walls, and unlockable fast travel points enriching the experience. Major boss fights are a standout, complemented by stunning enemy designs and animations.

However, some aspects detract from the experience. The revival system is cumbersome, requiring a lengthy button mash with no saved progress, making death punishing. Attack timing windows feel restrictive, especially in boss fights, demanding near-perfect execution. The health bar system lacks clarity, making it difficult to gauge survival at a glance. Saving is restricted to designated points, which can be frustrating after extended exploration, and enemy respawns upon screen re-entry can feel like unnecessary repetition rather than an organic challenge. Additionally, resolution options are limited to just 720p and 1080p, and oddly, two identical mouse and keyboard binding menus exist with no apparent purpose.

Overall, Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark excels in its engaging exploration, tight mechanics, and charming aesthetic, crafting a rich and rewarding experience for fans of the genre. While some frustrating mechanics hinder the flow, the core gameplay remains strong enough to keep players hooked.

A gothic adventure that pulls you in with charm and challenge—perfectly haunting.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!