Lootbox Lyfe+ is a new and improved version of Lootbox Lyfe, a Steam release from 2020, which is now available for consoles and handhelds. Whilst it looks like a cutesy 2D adventure platformer, don’t be deceived, it plays like a love-child of Metroidvania and an instadeath precision platformer.
As the game begins, you have no abilities whatsoever – you can’t even move – but you can shake a little, and that leads to falling on a loot box, which gives you the power to roll left and right. And this is the whole concept of the game, as you explore, you pick up new loot boxes, from which you gain extra powers allowing you to access new areas.
It’s not long before you have an array of basic power-ups, such as double jumping, wall jumping, slamming, and dashing; and then the world really opens up. You find a fast-travel teleportation device and a map allowing for easier backtracking – although I found the map to be of little use. I’d have liked to have seen more detail here rather than a simple ‘this is the area you’re in’. It could easily have added your position, basic platforms, and even rough coin locations for lower-difficulty modes.
Whilst it is a platformer, there are no enemies as such. Just like Pocket Witch, the environment is the enemy, and it’s not long before the precision difficulty and frustration ramp up. At the start of the game, you can set the checkpoint generosity and the health meter length, but simply touching the water is still an instadeath. Oddly you can’t change these settings once you’ve started – so by the time you start to get really frustrated, you can’t make things easier. This is daft considering there are a good number of accessibility options which ARE available at any time – such as invincibility, infinite jumping, and the ability to walk on water. And for the majority of people, these options are simply too powerful to be used all the time.
Overall there’s a lot to like here, the controls are solid, the pixel art is nice enough, speed-runners are catered for, and there’s a shop to buy hats after collecting hidden coins – but there’s nothing terribly new and exciting. What it does, it does well enough, but might you might not come back to it after the weekend is over.
Lootbox Lyfe+ is available now on Xbox Series, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch for £9.99 // $9.99 // €9.99.
