Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX is a fairly straightforward roguelike action platformer at first. Players are a recruit who is nicknamed Firegirl because they happen to be a girl who fights fires. At first, it seems like there are a lot of fires randomly popping up in the city.
Then the wheels start to turn and it seems like there is a big coverup conspiracy between the fire starters and Firegirl’s father who died on the job years ago. Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX didn’t do great in reviews when it launched in 2021. Has time helped it get better through patches and its new line of console ports?
8 Best: The Graphics
The developer of Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX has proven that Square Enix isn’t the only company capable of making HD-2D games. That might be the most striking thing about this game. The flat 2D sprites pop out next to the 3D environments behind them.
This new art style started with turn-based RPGs but has since broadened its horizons into more action games like this. It’s great to see the industry learn and evolve from an art style like this. Indie games with normal 2D pixel art are great but this still has that fresh new feeling that is hard not to praise every time it comes up.
7 Worst: Repeated Environments
As great as the HD-2D look is overall, it is held back in this game for one solid reason. The environments are repeated too often. That comes with the territory in a roguelike such as this. However, even roguelikes with repeated environments, like Hades, at least vary things up more.
Players will mostly see the same building in this game before they eventually unlock the chance to see some train and forest levels. It makes jumping back in after death less exciting after the twelfth time entering a burning building.
6 Best: Not Much Lost In Death
The biggest praise Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX can get as a roguelike is that the punishment is minimal. If players die in a level they won’t get a great cash bonus. They will also get some money deducted from their salary. However, players will still come away with some money every time they falter. Key survivors and items get kept as well.
With persistence, players can upgrade their character so that they have a better chance at survival next time. It won’t take as long to unlock the good upgrades if players complete missions instead. Still, it is nice that death isn’t that harmful.
5 Worst: No Difficulty Or Assist Options
The bad side to the death argument is that the game wouldn’t be hard if there were difficulty options. There are none to be found and there aren’t assist options either. Assist options have become increasingly popular as of late, especially in roguelikes.
Developers fully understand that not every player has the time to “git gud” but still wishes to play their games. Sometimes assist options can make games more challenging too so it can help both the beginners and the hardcore players.
4 Best: A Unique Idea For A Roguelike
Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX is not the first game about fighting fires and rescuing people. There are enough games now to categorize this game under its sub-genre which reaches as far back as the SNES. The game is unique in how it approaches its roguelike mechanics which is different from other games in the infamously challenging category.
At first, it seems like the game is a linear action platformer. It then becomes clear that levels rearrange themselves and failing one doesn’t mean anything. The goal is to collect books that then unlock new story content.
3 Worst: Could Use Co-Op
The idea of co-op is not that common in roguelikes. Assist options are generally more frequent which is a bit surprising. This game doesn’t suffer from not having a multiplayer mode.
However, it’s hard not to think of what could have been as co-op seems perfect for a firefighting game. There could have been different classes that would allow players to approach levels differently. Overall, the mechanics could have been more robust. It’s not in the cards now but maybe a patch could liven things up.
2 Best: Tons Of Upgrades
One of the coolest parts of Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX is building up the fire station. It’s not a sims-like mechanic wherein players can upgrade how their station looks or anything like that. Within the game, players will rescue special citizens on their roguelike runs that then unlock new shops.
One of the best early characters is Vinny. He allows players to get tax credits which make buying upgrades cheaper and he can also increase salary. It’s always a fun treat to see who gets unlocked next and how that will affect the next upgrade path.
1 Worst: More Missing Features
Besides the lack of co-op, several other missing features could have made the game better. Players will not start with a map. This makes it difficult to know where players are going if the idea of a map wasn’t obvious.
Buildings and other structures can get confusing since a lot of the areas look the same. A photo mode would have also been appreciated as that too is a common mechanic in games nowadays. Finally, a skip button for cutscenes and the reward screen would have saved a lot of time.
Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX was released on June 22, 2022, for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. It was released first in 2021 for PC.