Riddled Corpses EX is a twin-stick shooter made in the style of 8/16 bit arcade games. Alone or with a friend, travel through diverse locations packed with danger and huge bosses. Choose your character wisely and make good use of their abilities and the special items to progress and destroy the root of evil!

This game is developed by Diabolical Mind, and published by COWCAT Games.  It is scheduled to release on 5 June 2018 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, & Xbox One. Check out the trailer down below to get a closer look at what kind of game Riddled Corpses EX is.

Now that you have watched the trailer, I believe you already got an idea of what’s in the game. Let’s go into the in-depth review then!

• Story

The game has a story mode that consists a total of 6 stages. You have to clear each stage before you can get to the next one. Honestly, there is actually almost nothing that I can review about the story. It’s just there for the sake of Story mode.

It’s about 2 Police agents, Jon & Chloe who is trying to find the reason why the world went nuts with all the zombies & monsters. Along the way, they found some other peoples who’re willing to help them on their journey to stop their madness. There are some little cutscenes at the beginning & at the end of a stage. And that is all to it, the story about Jon & Chloe trying to save the world in 6 stages.

 

• Gameplay

This is where the real fun starts. Riddled Corpses EX is basically a shooting game. Imagine that you are playing Touhou series or Raiden series, but instead of using a plane, you are using a real human to move around and shoot. In PlayStation 4 version, you shoot by tilting your R3 analog to the direction you want to shoot.

And not to forget that the game is co-op friendly. Which means you can play the game solo or with your friends/family together as a couch co-op game. In fact, the game actually encourages you to play with 2 players as you will be overwhelmed by the zombies on your screen if you play solo.

Game Modes

There are 3 main modes in the game that you can access.

1. Story Mode
   Basically, you play as one of the 6 playable characters and continue through the 6 stages of the game.
2. Arcade
   Play through the game to get the highest score. You’ll start from Lvl.1 and you’ll get more & more powerful as you play the game.
3. Survival
   This is the most basic mode in this kind of game. You just have to survive as long as you can.

I spent almost 10 hours on the story mode alone. At first, when I looked at the trophy list, Finishing 1 stage gives you a Gold Trophy. “Oh wow, easy Gold Trophy!”. And boy, was I ever been more wrong. This game has a very hard difficulty. Basically, you start the game playing as Jon, the first and only character available when you start the game. You’ll be at Level 1, and yes, I believe you are forced to die several times so that you can collect golds and upgrade your character before you can finish a stage. I believe that it’s impossible to finish Stage 1 with a Lvl 1 Jon, as his damage is really low and you’ll be overwhelmed by the zombies. But the most important thing in this game is, It’s okay to die. And it’s best if you die a lot of times since every gold you collect will still be counted even after you die. My routine is Collect Gold => Die => Upgrade Character => Collect Gold. This is gonna be what you are gonna do in this game. So don’t you worry if you die like so many times, because other people do too.

As I said before, the game is actually really hard. I’ve been playing solo for the past 2 days and I have to grind until I get the strongest character so that I can get through the stage that was too hard for me. I believe it’ll be different if I play this game with a friend. The most annoying thing is that you’ll die a lot of time in a stage that is too hard for you. You’ll be repeating at the same stage again and again and that’s kind of boring after you restart the stage for the 20 something times.

Playable Characters

There is a total of 6 Playable Characters you can use in this game, in which they are different from one another. Jon, Cloe, Liery, Fael, Erika, & Nora.

Each character has their own traits. Jon is a very balanced character, while Liery has a very high Shot Speed but very small damage. Fael, on the other hand, has a very high damage but every other stats is pretty low. You can see the example on the picture down below.

Then again, it really depends on everyone’s playstyle. If you like to have a fast character, that you use Cloe. Or someone who shoot really fast, then you use Liery. Every character has their up & downside. But I believe that every other character is better than Jon.

And of course, you unlock the new characters by using Gold that you collect in the game. And also there are characters that you can only get if you finish the story or maximize the level of the characters needed.

Also, you can upgrade your character by using gold from Lv 1 to Lv 20. Your status won’t increase with each level you gain, but your bullet will be upgraded. It will change shapes and be stronger so that you can kill enemies faster. And that’s all there is to leveling.

 

• Graphics & Performances

The game is using a retro 8-bit pixel style. Some people might find it charming, some people don’t. I’m one of those kids from the Super Nintendo era, so this kind of graphics doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I’m digging it.

And not just that, each stage has a different design of monsters which is kind of important to me. As we won’t be fighting the same zombies again and again.

In the end, some people might think that it’s an overkill to play this game on a PS4 or Xbox One. But then again, it’s a cross buy! You buy the PS Vita version, and you’ll get the PS4 version as a bonus. The best thing about playing this game on a PS4 & Xbox One is it’s on a steady 60fps.

 

• Sound & Music

In Riddled Corpse EX, you can choose between a new soundtrack or the classic one.

To my ear, both versions aren’t really that much different. Both versions are still fit to the 8-bit retro style. Still lovely as it is, you’ll hear the same song over and over again as you keep repeating one stage.

 

• The Verdict

Personally, I think this is a fun game to play as couch co-op. You don’t have to think too much, as you can just dive in into the game with your friend. Unfortunately, the local co-op is only available on the consoles. It’s challenging for sure but on the other hand, rewarding as well. Dying isn’t the end of everything, as you get the chance to prepare yourself for a better run. The game is also grindy as hell. Being able to play it wherever you go might be a godsend, and that’s where the Vita version came in. You can grind a little for gold every time you are on a bus, on a train, on a lunch break, or even when waiting for your girlfriend to dress up.

The Score: 7/10
Riddled Corpses EX is challenging that’s for sure, but also addicting. Some people might find the difficulty level & grinding is a turn-off, but that can be fixed with couch co-op with a friend. And a Cross-buy for PS4 & Vita for $11.99 sounds like a good deal for me.

Erhanz reviewed this game based on the review copy from Cowcat games. He has been playing this game for almost 10 hours, unlocking all characters, finished the story mode & on his way to get the platinum trophy.