The Swords of Ditto

Vibrant, ridiculous, endearing and just plain enjoyable to play, The Swords of Ditto is an absolute pleasure to tuck into. It doesn't always marry its creative streak to its combat particularly well, but it doesn't prevent this adorably gorgeous action RPG from winning hearts and minds.

If players invest the time in exploring the island thoroughly and figure out how to adequately manipulate the many gameplay systems, they will have a really fun and rewarding time.

Its issues of repetitive combat and odd looting problems do hold it back from being truly amazing but Sword of Ditto is a solid offering that pulls on the nostalgic heartstrings of my youth with its legend of Zelda inspirations and superb handling of the roguelike mechanics.

A charming action RPG that combines a great cartoon design with loads of roguelike elements while constantly paying homage to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Despite a repetitive level-design and an obvious lack of a proper scenario, The Sword of Ditto is both lovely to watch and to listen to. Nicely paced and crafted, it’s even better when played in coop.

If you like this style of dungeon exploration, then this is a fantastically made one you can play co-op that's essentially endless, and what's not to love about that? [June 2018, p.85]

Caveats aside, playing alone or with a friend in couch co-op, The Swords of Ditto is simple fun with enough depth to keep it interesting throughout.

Being awoken over and over again after feeling defeated countless times definitely took a toll on me, but once you get to the end, it’s all worth it.

Swords of Ditto is a very stylish mashup of 2D Zelda and roguelikes, in which you will not see everything it has to offer within the first playthrough. Its time limit is too constricting in the first few hours however, which might put a lot of people off an otherwise fun adventure.

The Swords of Ditto is a great little indie adventure, perfect for quick stints of surprisingly tense gameplay. Although some slight technical issues are a bit of a pain, they're not enough to detract from what is otherwise a delightfully charming experience. Tight and tidy, this is an addictive time sink that's well worth a look -- especially if you bring someone along for the ride.

A little rough around the edges, but, aptly enough, you'll keep coming back again and again. [June 2018, p.83]

The fact that we had fun playing the Swords of Ditto, with its constant sense of progression and good variety of situations, doesn't make it a perfect game, with a fun but too simple combat system and too much repetition between one run and the the others. Still, a good roguelite to play both on your own or with a friend.

Halfway between Zelda and a Rogue-like, The Swords of Ditto has its own touch thanks to its great arty touch, its universe, its humor and a few interesting gameplay mechanics. On the other side, the technical side of things isn't very impressive, but patches could improve these issues.

Devolver Digital and Onebitbeyond’s action RPG, The Swords of Ditto, isn’t a complete reinvention of the roguelike subgenre, but it has enough modern twists and artistic charm to stand out. Players new to such games might have trouble jumping in, though, as a few important mechanics of the subgenre aren’t explained as well as they should have been.

The Swords of Ditto’s repetitive nature grinds after a few playthroughs, but it’s a journey worth taking at least a few times.

The Swords of Ditto is filled with highs and lows. On the plus side, the visuals are top-notch and reminiscent of a children's cartoon, enemy variety keeps the combat feeling fresh, and well-crafted secrets give you lots of reasons to explore. However, the structure and experience system never fully clicked with me and annoying design choices really detract from its overall appeal.

The Swords of Ditto is a charming rogue-lite with a robust challenge. Fans of top-down action-adventure games won’t be disappointed.

Swords of Ditto is a unique take on a tried and true formula. What it brings is interesting, even if it is a bit flawed. I really had a good time after coming to grips with its systems. I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy the Zelda loop. This game’s colorful world and charming aesthetic makeup for its shortcomings.

If you’re looking for your next couch co-op game or something that’s easy to jump into for an hour or two, give The Swords of Ditto a try.

There really is so much to love. It’s just a shame it ends up outstaying its welcome by having you repeat yourself time and time again.

The Swords of Ditto is an enjoyable RPG held back by its procedural world that hinders the potential creativity of dungeons and exploration.

A mixture of roguelike and Zelda: A Link To The Past that looks and plays extremely well, but has its potential cut short by an unwelcome time limit.

The Sword of Ditto is a good looking, adorable and funny game that is held back a little bit by its time limit. I would love to explore the island and its quirky sense of humour at my own pace, but the constant ticking clock makes it feel like you’re being rushed through the environment. It’s fun and worth playing if you don’t mind time being a factor.

The Swords of Ditto delivers an accessible rogue-like experience served by beautiful artistic direction, and a soft difficulty curve quite rare for the genre. Thanks to a shared experience system, death is no longer tragic, but fans of rogue-likes will certainly find the adventure quite simple, mostly because of a basic combat system and too many random dungeons.

The Swords of Ditto is nothing short of a light-hearted good time. Despite a few bumps getting in the way of progress and some misgivings about the forced time limit per playthrough, it’s still a joy to slash through enemies and collect items while humming the game’s ear-tickling soundtrack.

Cute rogue-like RPG which introduces interesting ideas, but ultimately turns out to be a dreary grind festival.

An imbalanced but often enjoyable RPG rogue-lite. [Issue#200, p.82]

The repetitive gameplay cycle, taken to its extreme by asking the player to clear the game a total of five times before the true ending is even unlocked, won’t win everybody over. But fans of the genre should find the game more than worth checking out, provided they know what they’re getting into.