Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash is a platformer/roguelike developed by Dejima and published by Thunderful Publishing. The game is a little rough around the edges, but Firegirl takes the concept of being a firefighter and turns it into an arcade-style romp that keeps players on their toes, as they fight their way through an endless assortment of burning locations.
The player takes on the role of the titular Firegirl, who is a firefighter that is following in the footsteps of her father, as he had passed away in the line of duty years earlier. She barely has time to get settled into her new role before fires start breaking out around the city. What's strange is that some of the flames appear to be sentient, and they attack her while she searches for trapped civilians. It soon becomes apparent that the fire is being caused by a supernatural being, and Firegirl must get to the bottom of the mystery while also preventing the city from going up in flames.
Firegirl has a Firehouse as its hub area. Once they are ready to start a mission, the player can visit the Fire Truck and be sent to a random level. The goal of most stages is to save as many people as possible, and reach the exit before Firegirl succumbs to the flames. Firegirl has procedurally-generated levels, each with a general theme, such as a burning building composed of tight corridors and tiny rooms, a runaway train that slowly disconnects its carriages, or a blazing forest with caves. Each stage has a time limit, but this can be extended by putting out flames or finding clocks around the stage.
Firegirl's main weapon is a water tank & hose, which can put out flames and is used to propel her higher into the air, but the water supply and its pressure level are also limited. The fire doesn't stay in one position, as it takes on different forms which attack Firegirl, forcing her to use her hose like a gun, in order to extinguish foes. Firegirl also has an axe that can be used to break barriers and doors, but it has a slow animation and can leave her vulnerable in rooms with foes.
The player earns cash from saving civilians during stages and loses money if Firegirl is KO'd during a mission. The people she rescues will sometimes appear as potential hires at the Firehouse, who will start working alongside Firegirl. The hires are essentially shops that sell upgrades, such as increasing the effectiveness of health kits or adding time to the clock in missions. Firegirl has a similar gameplay loop to Hades, with the cash gained from missions used to gradually make things easier. It's an addictive loop and it serves Firegirl well, as the fast-paced combat, exploration, and platforming are a lot of fun, with the ticking clock element keeping the player on their toes the whole time. The random nature of the stages means the player can never relax, as escape routes can be cut off, forcing them to keep moving forward through the flames.
Firegirl is a 2.5D game, with flat sprites in 3D environments. The game goes for a retro arcade-style aesthetic, with a "Fans" count on the screen increasing as Firegirl succeeds in her mission, and picking up items like water tanks and health kits being treated as power-ups. This aesthetic is a great fit for the game, and it also downplays the darker elements involved with a game where people are left behind in a burning building. This style does have one issue, however, as it can sometimes be difficult to tell what's in the background and what's in the foreground, such as the flames on the platforms in the forest stage. The game could have done a better job telegraphing this, especially when so many things can harm Firegirl.
The main issue with Firegirl at launch is a lack of polish. The game is host to a number of bugs, both major and minor, some of which can force a run to end prematurely. The procedural generation also needs some work, as there are times when enemies can spawn in the doorway of rooms or will be firing blasts into the doorway as soon as Firegirl passes through, leading to some cheap deaths. The roguelike nature of the gameplay means that nothing is ever truly lost when a run ends due to a glitch, but it's still frustrating.
The arcade aesthetic, fast-paced platforming action, and gradual drip-feed of unlocks in Firegirl make for an entertaining gameplay loop, especially when considering its subject matter. The game is still rough around the edges and its technical faults can act as annoying setbacks during play, but Firegirl still offers a fresh take on the roguelike genre, with its endless procession of towering infernos putting the skills of even the sharpest platformer fan to the test.
Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue will be released for PC on December 14 and is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. Screen Rant was provided with a digital code for the PC version of the game for the purposes of this review.