Tesla vs Lovecraft review

Reviewed on: PC

First of all, a little history of the characters that give this game by 10tons Ltd its title: Nikola Tesla was an inventor in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering and is considered the creator of the radio, while H. P. Lovecraft was a horror writer and is the father of the (extremely famous) evil entity “Cthulhu” . With that in mind, and considering that both lived in the same era, the developers of this game had the brilliant idea of creating a crossover between these two guys who were geniuses in their respective fields.

It all begins when Tesla is presenting yet another of his works and is interrupted by Lovecraft, who tells the inventor to stop poking around with what he doesn’t fully understand because it can bring trouble. That is when the gatecrasher Lovecraft is arrested and plots his revenge, causing a bunch of violent creatures to appear throughout the city.

Shooting (without brawling) and bombs!!!

Tesla VS Lovecraft is an arena shooter, meaning you will be running back and forth in a delimited space eliminating hordes of monsters while collecting items that will make life easier for you as you play. The fact that we have a top-down view of the battlefield helps a lot, since you get a wide view of everything going on and can come up with strategies according to where the enemies are coming from.

The game has a leveling system within the stages (which are temporary) and progression through purchases using gems collected as you play (which are permanent). The temporary upgrades resemble what we see in MOBAs: as you level up during a stage you have the option to choose an attribute to improve. Since you “level up” quickly, you will notice that the ease with which you control the slaughter of the monsters increases considerably, so it is very important to choose the best options that will fit your strategy. The gem progression is more complicated, but still important, since in the last levels the difficulty increases considerably and the upgrades it provides are essential for you to do your job well.

The graphics and music take care of putting you in an unfriendly environment, the way Lovecraft would love, but despite doing their job well you can feel they could have made a bit more effort, mainly in the stage design, which is repetitive, and this ends up affecting your desire to keep playing for long. The same goes for the gameplay, which is simple and competent, but since you are doing exactly the same thing all the time it becomes a real letdown after a while.

So? Is it worth it?

If you decide to venture into Tesla VS Lovecraft on its roughly 3-hour journey (yes, it’s short), I advise doing so in homeopathic doses. I don’t think you will manage to play it for long because it’s always the same thing. Sure, new monsters, new weapons and upgrades appear, but that doesn’t change the fact that you will always be shooting and running around the map.

The story itself won’t hold you much because it is quite shallow, and considering what these men represent, they could have paid more attention to the narrative. The fact that we only have local co-op mode is also frustrating because not everyone has a partner to play with at home.

So: if it’s to play half an hour a day and then move on to something else, I think it’s worthwhile. Now, if you like to binge a game, I think it’s better to pick another title because this one wears you down.

STORY: 6
AUDIO AND VISUALS: 8
MECHANICS: 8

Review made on the Steam version kindly provided by 10tons Ltd