Risky Woods | PS4 Review

QUBytes and PIKO are at it again porting a hardly heard of classic to modern consoles for a new audience. This time around it's the 1992 Electronic Arts side-scrolling platformer, "Risky Woods". Risky Woods is all about a fantasy world in which an evil God named Draxos is challenged by the heroic Rohan. Rohan's mission is to free all the good monks who have been frozen in stone via a curse. Thus releasing wisdom from it's prison. Using an infinite throwing knife, and other useful weapons Rohan must face off against Draxos' minions and his four bosses. With each playthrough spanning four unique areas that in turn harbor two hardcore stages filled with risk and reward style opportunities.

Little to nothing is explained in this porting of "Risky Woods", but if you dig deep enough online as I did you'll find there's something to this unusual platformer. Much like "Ghosts & Goblins" with the respawning and swarming foes spread across an initially displayed map of key locations you'll find that Rohan has quite the task ahead of him. In his journey from left to right he must carefully avoid enemy damage, hazards, and pitfalls while collecting tokens and treasures. The former of which unlocks access to a shop at the end of the timed playthrough wherein Rohan can buy and upgrade a selection of golden weapons including a fire wheel, axe, chain, dagger, and boomerang. Collecting tokens from defeated enemies allows these stackable power-ups to further empower Rohan's weaponry. Additionally treasures offer both risks and rewards randomly in the form of health refill items, hourglasses, and other potentially useful damage dealing spells should they not pose an alternate negative effect. Negative effects, as they are, can effectively rob you of precious time, and can send you back a few screens making you repeat already made progress. When time is of the essence this makes carefully picking and choosing what you collect crucial to your success.

In addition to the tokens you'll also be collecting fragments of an eye-toll wheel which when applied at a statue can be used if your DPad button presses match that of the melodic mini-game within the statue. The secret to this is to press circle to chant which places the eye-toll wheel into the statue followed by another pressing of circle when it's inserted. In doing so the wheel will showcase which DPad directions to press and in what order. Completing will not only remove the statue blockade, but will drop two different golden weapons to choose from.

As far as end goals go each set of two stages within each of the four main areas has a set number of good monk statues. You must bust these statues open with your weapon in order to free the good monks. At the same time you must also avoid the bad monks which will do Rohan damage if set free. Thankfully monks are a static feature, and not random like the treasure drops. Ultimately, freeing the good monks is the only way to complete the stages once you reach the exit sign. Failing to do so will see you repeating the stage from the start. When the two stages are completed you'll find yourself facing off against the area's boss. Of course the final boss is Draxos, himself. 

In the way of bonus features this QUByte Classic does come with four screen filters that include Sharp, Smooth, CRT, and XBR. CRT is rough visually, and not recommended. XBR on the other hand takes artistic liberties with a sort of smoothed out stained glass appearance.

The Verdict ...

Risky Woods is a very interesting platformer that hails from a time when brutally unfair arcade quarter munching games were the norm. A time when games like "Ghost & Goblins" tested the mettle of gamers who would dare to brave the challenge. If you expect something easy this is definitely not that game. With the risks from randomly generated treasures, and things like an awkward jump the damage to health is all but guaranteed. Since Rohan's adventure depends wholly upon his ability to sustain that health it makes the fact that the odds that are stacked against him all the more unforgiving. You will die some cheap deaths. It's just the way it is with these types of games. That being said it's not without it's fun. Risky Woods is a rare chance to experience something that hasn't seen the light of day in a very long time, and for what it's worth it's functional enough to play despite it's aged gameplay mechanics. Whether or not you can complete it is questionable, but still doable. Regardless of it's rarity, and extreme challenge 'Risky Woods' is a treat for gamers who are into the retro scene. Don't miss out as it is budget priced under the QUByte Classics label!!!