Keylocker Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Keylocker (Xbox Series X)

Monday, September 30, 2024.
by Adam Dileva

When I found out developer Moonana was releasing a new game I was immediately interested, as their last title that I reviewed, Virgo Versus the Zodiac was quite a unique game that I enjoyed. Their follow-up now here, Keylocker, has a very different narrative and aesthetic, but I can certainly see some of the previous mechanics that have been slightly altered and improved. Count me in.

A cyberpunk adventure with turn-based rhythmic combat highlights its Super Mario RPG influences, and you’ll play through an intriguing story where music is outlawed, and has been for 141 years. You are B0B0, born as a Doppelganger, a human/cyborg hybrid, into a lower class that is meant to simply serve for the overall prosperity of Saturn, but she is strong willed and doesn’t agree with this life of oppression.

The powers that be dictate every single thing and every move people can do, yet B0B0 simply wants freedom for her and others. She wants to be able to sing and play music, as it’s her passion, yet it is another act that is strictly outlawed. Why is music banned though? What trouble could it cause? B0B0 breaks out of prison and sets out on a journey that will answer that and uncover other truths of her dystopian world. It’s quite an interesting narrative that had me intrigued, and I found it humorous how many of the instructions are opposite of what you should do, such warnings like not to attack guards or counter their attacks due to it being illegal.

Your first order of business as B0B0 is choosing from one of four classes: Samurai, Hacker, Sequencer, and Juggernaut. Two are offensive focused whereas the others are defensive. Each has its own movesets, skill tree, and even story. I opted to play as the defensive Samurai for my first playthrough as I battled for freedom. Saturn is an unforgiving planet though, so you’ll need to seriously practice your timing for the rhythmic battles if you want B0B0 to survive and find out the secret of Keylocker. Later on you'll even unlock a second class for even more unique gameplay.

Exploring the different areas on Saturn are not only varied in their biomes and designs, but filled with plenty of interactable objects that give the world some extra flair when reading the descriptions. Maybe you’ll even find some hidden items and secrets, so there’s always a reason to check every object and click it as you run past.

Along your journey you’ll also come across a number of different characters, some friendly, and some not so much. Some NPC’s you’ll be able to give gifts to, possibly even befriending them and changing certain elements of the story. One of the most frustrating things about Keylocker though was the lack of a map or any directional guides of where to go. You’ll have descriptions in your quest log of where to go, like “the south end” of an area, but where’s that area and how do you get there? This caused me getting lost quite often and plenty of backtracking and aimless wandering. On the bright side I did more combat and leveled because of it, but with no marker to even guide you, it’s an unnecessary frustration that was a constant.

As you explore each area you’ll find a variety of items, like ever important healing milkshakes, but you’re only able to carry a handful at a time. If you find another milkshake for example, it’ll offer to sell it for you right away if you want to pick it up, or you could use one from your inventory to top off your health and then refill your held inventory with it. Like almost every other action, gathering items is against the law, so every pickup will have the Danger Meter on the side of the screen to creep upwards. Once it reached a new level you’ll have more church-police after you, so think of this somewhat like GTA’s wanted star levels that resets when you defeat them in combat.

Combat is what really makes Keylocker unique and stand out from other RPG’s. While there’s no random encounters, you can choose to take on battles the majority of the time, though there are many spots where it’s impossible to avoid conflict. I’d suggest battling as much as you can early on anyways for gaining keys to level with, but more importantly, practice with its rhythm based combat. One of my complaints about their last game, Virgo Versus the Zodiac, was that any mechanics weren’t explained well, and this issue carried over to Keylocker as well. Combat is going to feel impossible for the first while, but with enough trial and error, it’ll eventually make sense.

Combat is one of Keylocker’s most frustrating yet addictive mechanics, clearly inspired by Mario RPG with its timed inputs to help deal more damage or negate incoming attacks. Taking place on a hextile grid, you’ll primarily play as B0B0, but there will be times you’ll have help alongside others or not even have her in your party. The grid plays into certain attacks only able to attack in a straight line, an arc, or diagonally, as does range from enemies. Battles are turned based and you’re able to see the turn order in the top right of the screen to plan your best strategies.

Blocking and parrying play a huge part of combat, and I highly suggest getting into every battle you can to get practice, as you won’t be successful without mastering your timing. I’ll be honest, the timing window to do perfect blocks and parries is so incredibly precise that I was getting frustrated early on, even on the Easy difficulty (apply labeled Soft Punk). I highly suggest playing on Easy simply due to getting perfect blocks negates all damage, whereas higher difficulties will still give you chip damage.

Press ‘A’ just as you flash white and you’ll deal extra damage if attacking, or press it just as the enemy flashes white and you’ll block or parry depending on how accurate your timing is. Interestingly, you’re not the only one that can counterattack, as enemies can do the same. This means there could be back to back counters from you and your opponent, something you need to stay ready for if you want to make that perfect timing. Even on the easiest difficulty I thought the window to hit the button would be much more forgiving, but it was still quite difficult to nail the timing. After a good handful of battles I started to get the timing down, but it took a lot of healing milkshakes before then to do so. You’ll need to almost get a feel for when the enemy will flash white briefly, as trying to wait for the screen to show you then hitting the button will surely be too slow. It's about getting a feeling and anticipating the move.

Not all moves use this white flash timing either, some moves or counters need to have certain directions on the D-Pad pressed in short succession, or stopping a moving bar within a small area to get that perfect block. This is fine, and I enjoyed having different inputs, the problem is you don’t know which to always prepare for. Getting ready to watch for the enemy to flash white but then having to quickly use the D-Pad can be jarring. You’ll eventually learn what moves certain enemies use, but some sort of indication would have helped the early frustration in the first few hours.

This is where much of my frustration came from, as once I finally got the timing down for certain moves or enemies, I then faced new enemies or had to learn the timing of new moves to be accurate. Sure, you don’t NEED to do this, but battles will take much longer and you’ll take way more damage. I did enjoy completely negating an attack if I timed my defensive button press perfectly on the easier difficulty, or landing a critical hit on multiple enemies based on the attack I used and unit placement.

For the three paragraphs above of me being frustrated with the combat, there’s something interesting that happens a couple hours in once you figure it all out and it just ‘clicks’. Combat goes from being a constant frustration to being quite addictive once you know how to essentially negate their attacks and best tactics to use your varied moves. Get a feel for the timing and combat becomes quite enjoyable, but it will take quite some time to get to that point.

Learning the combat timing is only part of your battle, as now you’ll need to learn what all the movies do, the different bars meanings, and of course the best tactics to use. There are LP (Life Points) and EP (Electricity Points) bars. Think of your EP as your armor bar, this generally needs to be depleted before you’ll take damage to your LP (health). You can also use your EP to charge for a more powerful attack, thus draining your own shield to deal more damage if you time it correctly. You can also spend EP to bolder your defenses, setting up for a counterattack if you know you can time it correctly, but hope that you're facing the right direction and within attack range.

Keylocker has a serious problem explaining all this to you in a simple way, so it took me a few hours to really grasp the mechanics, but like blocking and countering, once I understood what I was doing and how my attacks differed, combat became even more enjoyable.

Healing items are cheap and generally plentiful enough in the beginning that I wasn’t struggling too badly aside from the first hour when I was learning the timing and what to do. You can’t carry that many though until later on, so no need to hoard them. Plus, you can use them in combat without using your ‘turn’, so no need to factor that option in. You’re also able to save and load from practically anywhere, so I simply got into the habit of saving before a fight just in case my timing was off.

XP and leveling aren’t done the traditional way in Keylocker. Instead of earning a magical number of XP for winning battles, you’ll loot keys instead. Keys are essentially a currency you can use in the skill tree to unlock new skills and bonuses. Early unlocks are cheap, where as the best ones at the bottom of the tree are naturally more expensive. Many have multiple ranks too, so it doesn’t hurt to do some early grinding for those precious keys once you have your head around combat and feel comfortable. The tree has two different paths, so there’s plenty of ways to customize your B0B0 to suit your playstyle and chosen class, then doubles when you have a secondary class.

You’ll eventually start coming across new gear and equipment as well. These can be slotted into different spots of your loadout, changing your attacks or giving them new attributes. I was still figuring this out a few hours in as it’s also not explained very well, but once I tried out moving some skills around and different attacks, I was able to get my Samurai skills just the way I liked and did well with. A move in a specific slot can alter quite drastically when slotted into a different spot.

Keylocker has some wonderful pixel art, full of bright colors and suited to the cyberpunk aesthetic. Environments are varied and there’s plenty of smaller details including the most mundane objects. While enemies are repeated, there’s still enough variety and distinction between them. Animations are smooth and its visually appealing all around.

The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic throughout. A mixture of slow gloomy beats but also having some great head bopping synthwave tailored for the cyberpunk backdrop B0B0 finds herself in. Each biome has a different mood and accompanying music that sets the tone perfectly. Composed by Elektrobear, their return for this soundtrack and doesn’t disappoint. I just wish that the dialogue was voiced to add that much more immersion. At the end of Chapters you'll generally get to fight a boss then perform a concert. Boss fights are unique and can be quite challenging, but i absolutely loved the minigame concerts that feel like playing Guitar Hero. Here colored notes come down the four lanes mapped to Triggers and Bumpers and really showcase some of the OST's best tracks.

Keylocker does a horrendous job at teaching you what you need to know or make it simple to understand. Having no map or waypoint markers is going to cause a lot of wasted time wandering around and backtracking. It’s going to feel quite difficult, borderline impossible for the first while, but once you get passed the frustration and learn its mechanics and timing, it almost instantly switches to quite an enjoyable title I had a hard time putting down.

The innovative combat is quite rewarding once you’re able to master it, but you’re going to have to persevere and struggle through that first few hours to really grasp how to do it properly. It’s clear Keylocker was made with a lot of passion and care across the board, and it’s probably one of the more unique and original games I’ve played in a while, I just worry many will not persevere through the early challenges that the game does practically nothing to teach you.

**Keylocker was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 8.5 / 10
Gameplay: 7.5 / 10
Visuals: 8.5 / 10
Sound: 9.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Keylocker (Xbox Series X)

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