The Player Who Can’t Level Up… has a bit of a twist. You see, they can level up; however, instead of earning Turkey teeth, a six-pack and a diploma in Holistic Therapy, they wield a pair of nattering swords that can level up. As a result, this weakling boasts an enviable weapon set that would do wonders for anyone’s ego. Ego, huh?
The ego in question has nothing to do with the protagonist, but two swords with attached souls. One is named El, the other Lu, and they’re kind of a representation of the good and evil conscience. Gameplay-wise, they both boast two different paths that can be upgraded with a focus on critical hits, while the other increases max HP. How do you upgrade them? With Ego shards found through each ‘theme’. Cue the Benny Hill music and some repeat runs to unlock the goodies.
We have got a bit ahead of ourselves talking about the tools before the craftsman, but we already know that this is The Player Who Can’t Level Up. What use is Kim Ki-Gyu? For starters, he wields the swords – they’re not entirely free will (though they pull the strings on how our hero progresses), so you need him to run through these dungeons in the first place. The goal is to ascend a tower, defeating numerous baddies along the way, being crowned Master of the Universe, and getting a free lollipop. It reminds me of SUDA51’s Let It Die, which I played for the first time a couple of months back. It’s a bit like that.
Starting with a tutorial, some mouthy type is ‘reminding’ you how to use your skills. First impressions were good as the moves connect well and have a hefty crunch. Attacks are either light or heavy, and you create combos by effectively pressing light, light, light, heavy. There’s no hadouken tomfoolery, but timing is key. I got stuck on a 5-hit combo during the tutorial, which made me feel quite impotent. Then, besides the attack, you have an evade to dash through people that can be paired with the jump to get over longer gaps.
As a player who can’t level up, you’re lucky to be able to pull off a few abilities with the d-pad that include slowing down time for other enemies, increasing your defence, and a couple more and these additional buffs that add elemental damage. The latter can be assigned at the start of a run, but will potentially upgrade when you defeat each wave. Other objectives include killing x number of enemy types, doing a particular move, or combing your hair in a particular way. These, too, add extra bonuses that can be equipped and expanded like an inventory feature at the hub.
Actual gameplay in The Player Who Can’t Level Up is a bit of a button-masher as you essentially tap the light attack and finish with a combo. Loot crates will award with percentage increases in health, attack power, speed and criticals, plus you can reduce a thing called corrosion. This is a feature that is comparable to acne and will plague your body, forcing you to die. Think of it as a timer. If you complete the level swiftly, you won’t be corroded.
I liked the initial moveset in training, but then lost interest in completing the runs as the locking system was a bit rubbish and would shift around lesser enemies. They would then swarm a little, and it was hard to monitor health. Initially, you don’t get much health, though after a few problem runs, I’d started to gain the currency that would level up my swords, thus increasing attack power and health. That flipped the experience to more of a positive once more.
When The Player Who Can’t Level Up gets challenging, you can pull off a berserk ability. This is a game-changer and launches hellfire, rocks, and other hard stuff, decimating any would-be attackers. It’s limited, which is good as it’d ruin the experience, though I did note that the Steam Deck in particular started to get all flustered and would slow down in this mode. I doubt this is Steam Deck validated yet, as only in a demo stage. Still, at the time of writing. The Player Who Can’t Level Up has a playable demo available, so why not give it a grind and realise that it’s not about the player, it’s the game.
