A review copy was provided by the developer.

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Bearing a title you'd only see from anime, A Wild Last Boss Appeared! ~Black-Winged Survivor~ (WLB) hardly rolls off the tongue. Regardless, the images and trailer made me curious about what an anime version of Vampire Survivors might be like. Despite some interesting signs, it's fairly shallow, and feels like a game that was made for a quick launch more than anything else.


This game is essentially a dungeon-delving roguelike, but when I first saw the objective for each wave, I anticipated more variety. Unfortunately, the focus is solely on surviving for 60 seconds, with waves that predominately feature summoners. Nothing ever breaks up this monotony, even as you clear the final dungeon. It wouldn't have rocked the game to its core, but introducing entirely different kinds of enemies, or having waves with other objectives could at least have changed how the experience feels occasionally.

After each wave, you have the opportunity to claim your prizes, followed by a chance to shop, hoping to find better gear, or perhaps a repeat of one you already have, so you can fuse them together. In order to do so, you need to have an open inventory slot, enough money to buy the second item of the same level, and enough gold to fuse them together, increasing them by one level. If you have two level three items, the effect is stronger than if you fuse them to level four, so it's not always the best option for accessories. When it comes to selecting weapons, a purple weapon is always better than blue ones, and you always equip a gold one in lieu of purple weapons.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3606235747
I was able to play WLB with my controller, and had no problems with how the game handles. There's only a few inputs to focus on, since you attack and aim automatically.


When I first saw this game, I hadn't known this anime existed, and I'm fairly consistent at checking out new shows. Even now I still haven't seen any episodes. From what this game demonstrates, it might not take itself overly seriously, as it doesn't mind breaking the fourth wall with lame jokes. I find that especially likely because the intro sequence was presented at such a frantic pace, as if none of the background matters at all. Since nothing seems likely to be canon, the only plot points I'm guessing are relevant to the anime were how strongly the main character's subordinates grovel at her feet, just like in Overlord.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3606235291
I'd say a disappointing element of the experience is how the action and gameplay doesn't have the spectacle I expect from anime. To be fair, when the area is crammed full of enemies, it does become a mess, making for potentially intense moments. In reality though, if you just circle around the arena, all the attacks should miss. It wasn't leet skills that allowed me to beat this game so quickly. Also, instead of playing as OP heroes, your avatars are cute, chibi-like figures. Facing endless mobs of generic baddies doesn't help the sense of a game that feels cookie cutter and rushed. Especially not after I realized that which direction they face depends on whether they're to the left or right of you, and then they'll turn the other way. Instead of maintaining consistency with things such as whether a zombie's right or left eye is missing, and which hand they're holding it in, the image is just inverted. IE the zombie's right eye should be missing, but when it faces the other way, it changes to the left one.


Much like the various enemies you slaughter, I found the music to be fairly nondescript and generic. To me, it sounds like something I might come across in a fantasy anime. It's just random background noise while having your character amble about in circles in order to dodge attacks. Out of curiosity, I checked the credits scene for the protagonist, and the voice actress listed does record the lines in both the anime and game, which is kind of neat. By default, all of the audio was set halfway, so you'll likely want to bump it up in the options. At least the game has the potential for louder settings without requiring you to blast your device's volume.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3606236142
🌟 I didn't know this for a long time, but you can use gold to restock the shop. The cost resets after each wave, so it's worth checking a couple of times, depending on how much money you have.
🌟 The game could have been incredibly grindy.


❌ The final dungeon is ironically pretty easy, because you build up so much momentum, getting overpowered from all the level-ups and stat buffs you acquire.
❌ For a game of this cost and build-up, I'd have expected to put in dozens of hours, and clear many more dungeons. It only has five dungeons though.
❌ Your main reason for playing other characters is to unlock their story content, but it's filler at best.


🔍 Green crystals replenish all of your health, but yellow crystals refill two of your SP charges. The floating crystal ball activates temporary invincibility for as long as the bubble shield surrounds you. Make sure to touch chests in order to acquire them.
🔍 I chose accessories that increased the generation rate of rare crystals and orbs. They're the only items you earn from a run that have a permanent impact; your levels, gold, and items all reset.
🔍 All of the “Game Parameters” upgrades apply to every character, so prioritize those first.


Although the game feels light on content, at least when it comes to the potential grind, it's skewed more towards the player's favor than artificially making the playtime dozens of hours long. That would have been aggravating. I'm still rather puzzled by the decision to produce this game though, because even with me paying attention to the story, allowing the voice-acting to play in its entirety, it can be finished so quickly. Was this made just to promote the existence of a new anime? However, I can't imagine anything here is canon, so what could anyone get hyped about when there's no intense action scenes taken directly from the source material? This awkward release is confusing above anything else to me, as there's not enough depth in the mechanics or content to entice players, and lacks enough anime content to draw that crowd either. Who was this made for?

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