The Tarnishing of Juxtia

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This is the video game industry, and you must remember one key axiom if you’re going to be part of it, as a consumer or otherwise: when something is well-received, you can expect more of it. Much, much more of it. The video game industry, more than anything, excels at running a great concept so far into the ground it comes out the other side of the planet.

Thankfully, we’re not quite there with Soulslike games, at least. Not yet, anyway. They tend to still be pretty okay, as we can see with The Tarnishing of Juxtia, a side-scrolling take on the concept that owes a lot to games like Dead Cells and Ender Lilies.

via YouTube

The land created by the goddess Juxtia was once a beautiful haven of life and light. That all came to an end when the goddess’ conflict with a dark god was escalated into what amounts to biological warfare. A curse or disease known as the Tarnishing began to spread across the land, infecting animals, people, plants and even the terrain itself and corrupting it all into a nasty mess. As one of Juxtia’s agents, your job is to descend upon the ruined world and solve the issue with as much force as necessary.

Saving the land from the Tarnishing involves you dragging your decrepit hide around, battling monsters, re-wrapping yourself to heal as necessary and looking for goodies. There’s treasure to find, abilities to learn and the odd secret here and there. While it’s got Metroidvania trappings, Juxtia is a fairly linear game, and even with new abilities you won’t need to return to previous areas all that often. This can be a plus or a minus, really, given the game’s clear focus on its combat.

When it comes to that combat, it’s not surprising that Juxtia has a lot in common with similar games in its genre. You’ve got your bonfires (fountains in this case,) currency that’s lost on death, weapon stat scaling and so on. Indeed, where it differs tends to rest largely in the details. Juxtia, unlike many Soulslikes, would really, really like you to be up in the enemy’s face most of the time. Successfully smacking your foe around helps your hero regenerate mana and stamina more quickly, allowing you to keep up an unending assault of sword and spell.

On the other hand, this naturally means that if you’re doing well in combat you’re also in mortal danger, so carefully approaching and learning each fight is key to victory. As you might expect, you’ll spend a lot of time dead.

Let’s talk about the game’s presentation! We’ve got pixel art in the style of Dead Cells that’s bound to impress as well as a pretty enjoyable score to go along with it. Really, if there’s one complaint, it’s that your character’s attack animations tend to have a little too much windup – combat can feel a tad clunky and less precise as a result.

The Tarnishing of Juxtia might not be the finest example of its pedigree, but it’s a game that was definitely made with some care and concern for what makes a good, tough action-RPG tick. You might need some patience to see this one through, which shouldn’t dissuade Souls addicts from giving it a shot, but the exciting combat and fantastic presentation throughout makes the struggle worthwhile.

About the Author: Cory Galliher