Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night Review

Developer: Auroch Digital
Price: $5.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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Overall Rating:

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the original Chainsaw Warrior in that I love it but it hates me. It hates everyone, actually. That’s kind of the whole point, though.

Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of the Night is a spin-off sequel of sorts that blazes some new territory while remaining faithful to what made the original game so entertaining. In other words, it’s a little easier to learn but it’s still going to stomp your sensitive bits into a fine paste.

The ever-present Darkness is at it again, and it’s up to the gruff but loveably tenacious Chainsaw Warrior to stop the apocalypse for a second time. What’s different in Lords of the Night is that… well, actually, there’s a lot that’s different. You still get to agonize over there being too many cards in each deck and running out of time, though.

So aside from having to work your way through multiple decks of cards (full of enemies, traps, and very rarely some not terrible stuff) as with the first game, you now have things like airdrops and hidden temples to look forward to. Airdrops are basically crates full of supplies that you’ll be able to acquire rather than being stuck with the meagre loadout you start with, but you never know when they might show up so you can’t really rely on them. Hidden temples, on the other hand, can grant you some extremely helpful blessings that do all sorts of cool stuff - if you can defeat the tough enemies that are guarding them, of course.

I really enjoyed the first Chainsaw Warrior, but in all honesty I think Lords of the Night does it better. It’s a little easier to follow, the interface makes more sense, and you as the player have a bit more control and choice. That’s not to say it’s perfect, of course.

Despite everything getting a bit more of an explanation, the text descriptions are all borderline painful to read because they’re so tiny on an iPhone screen. It’s not a massive problem since you’re not on a real-time clock, but it can certainly be irritating. I also ran into a problem with one of the tutorial windows refusing to close, which forced me to reload an old save and replay a decent chunk of my game. Also not a massive problem, but it’s also definitely irritating.

If you’ve never played Chainsaw Warrior before, Lords of the Night is probably the best place to start. If you have played it before, and enjoyed it, then this sequel is absolutely worth your time.