October 21st, 2012 | By Tom Christiansen
Tagged in: free | IGM Arcade | Newgrounds | Siegius Arena
The Game: Siegius Arena
Developed by: Sky9Games
Siegius Arena is a 2D hack-and-slash title which takes place in ancient Rome. Players take up arms as a lowly gladiator who was once a mighty Centurion warrior, but was betrayed, framed as a traitor, and sentenced to die in the gladiatorial arena. The gladiator must face off against opponents in dozens of bloody match-ups, fighting his way up from The Pit to the infamous Colosseum, with the hopes of freedom and vengeance, drive him forward.
Each match throws three different waves of enemies at players. The enemies work as one, so the odds will always be against the gladiator. Luckily for him, Siegius Arena features an inventory system that rewards the gladiator for excellence in combat. Slaying an enemy will reward the player with coins which can be used to purchase better armor, weapons, and eventually spells like meteor summons, lightning bolt blasts, and earthquake generators. The more popular the gladiator becomes the more the vendors will sell to him.
The gameplay is fluid, and the art style is simple, yet rewarding. Decapitated heads burst in explosions of blood, the sands become blood-stained as the body-count rises, and the audience roars with enthusiasm as the gladiator strings together successful attacks. When the audience is in a frenzy, this will unlock the ability for the gladiator to go into a beserker-mode, where all of the enemies move twice as slow, and the gladiator moves, and attacks, twice as fast.
In between battles, players have the time to go out into the marketplace where they can purchase new upgraded weapons and armor, buy supplies like health potions or throwing javelins, and practice using their new weapons and abilities on target dummies. The developer added a neat little touch to the marketplace, where the more famous you are, the larger the crowd attracted to you will be. So when you start the game, no one will pay any attention to you, but as the game progresses, you won’t be able to walk from one end of the marketplace to the other without a group of people following you around.
One thing that bugged me about Siegius Arena, though, was how easy it is to spam the quick-attack, to stun-lock enemies and get easy kills. This cheap tactic doesn’t work well against later opponents, but it makes the first five or so levels, pretty dull.
Play Siegius Arena today, for free, on Newgrounds! I’ve almost made it out of The Pit, can you?
Tom Christiansen (221 posts)
The Editor in Chief of IGM, Tom is essentially a nerdy Viking. He has a near constant craving for burgers and beer, and satisfies his instinct to pillage and plunder through video games. Tom stands tall, bearded, and doesn't care much for small talk. He loves talking about indie games though, so never hesitate to tweet him: @TomScott90 or email him: tom@indiegamemag(dot)com.