izigame.me

Short version: Decent enough little rogue-like that gets by mostly on its novelty. It's not going to be the first, second, or third rogue-like I recommend, but you could do a lot worse.
Long version: It's a Tetris-themed hack-and-slash. Where else are you going to get that?
I've put a little over 5 hours into the game at this point, and I've already seen the default ending and the extra ending that forces you to jump through some hoops. (Granted, I only knew what steps to take because I read the Achievements guide explaining all of the steps, but it is doable.) It's not particularly challenging as rogue-likes go, though the RNG can screw you a tiny bit. On my most recent run, I wasn't getting any gear drops for the longest time, forcing me fight through about 2/3 of the game with my crappy starter weapons. With my DPS so low, the boss fights were pretty dicey. I couldn't blow through them with some chunky weapon, forcing me to "git gud" in real time.
To the game's credit, breaking up enemy parties and pulling them into one-on-ones when they were about to jump you feels satisfying and is easily the highlight of the Tetris effect meshing with the combat. By the same token, you can also pull off hit-and-run tactics, slamming your platform into an occupied area just long enough to run in, do some damage, and float your platform away again before they can chase you down. In fact, the biggest mark against the Tetris side of the game is the fact that the game's developers did not do more with it. It might have been nice to give the platforms some extra wrinkle to really spice up the combat, like combining platforms of two different colors to produce special effects. Low friction? Higher or lower defense for anything standing on it? Increased chance for item drops if you kill an enemy on a certain type of ground? What could have been.
So what does the game really offer beyond the Tetris and the swordplay? There's actually not much else to write home about, but I'll write more words anyway.
Yeah, there's a parry mechanic, but I find the game a bit muddy on the visual side of things. The game has its unique art style at a glance, but it an be hard to focus in on your tiny character and what the nearest enemy is doing. Landing a parry in this game feels great, but it was never consistently great. (Then again, I've always sucked at parrying attacks in action games, so consider the source.) I eventually fell back on my Dark Souls instincts and spent most of my time dodging through enemies to stab them in the back.
The dodge is usually reliable, but it can be kind of janky with how it lurches your character across the screen. So can inputs altogether. Once in a while, the game would not pick up the fact that I had tapped the attack button. It did not get me killed, but it is annoying to see it happen.
The weapons could also afford to be a little more balanced. I suppose there is something to be said for unlockable weapons doing more and being more, but there is really no reason I will ever pass up the rapier (which pierces shields), a weapon with an elemental affinity like lightning or poison (the damage-over-time effect is crazy), or a greatsword (which is just stupidly powerful as a weapon class). The other weapons have their niches and their gimmicks, like the spear that can double in size or the ring blade that can be tossed like a frisbee for ranged attacks, but they all tend to lose out to those three categories of the rapier, elemental additions, and greatswords. Fortunately, you can carry two weapons at a time, and the game is entirely beatable even with the mediocre weapons. (There are also charms and helmets to be unlocked, but they have a much smaller impact on the overall flow of the game. Weapons are what's really going to change up each run.)
I was really charmed by the NPC who gives you the opportunity to trade away a health potion at the start of each major level/dungeon in exchange for giving you back twice as much at the start of the next. Do you want to gamble and give away three of your starting potions in the hope that you won't need them and be rewarded with a whopping six potions a little further down the line? You can do that. Or you can play it safe, giving up no potions but getting no more as you progress. It's usually wiser to bet on yourself and give away a potion or two at the start of every area. In fact, the high-risk, high-reward strategy of giving away all of my potions at the start of the game usually worked out in my favor, as it got me started with a nice little stockpile when I went to pick up my deposit from the NPC.
All in all, Loot River is a fairly tame rogue-like with one or two really cool ideas sprinkled in between some blandly inoffensive combat. I doubt it will be anyone's favorite game, but it was a fun afternoon. And it's probably one of those rogue-likes I will fire up for a few runs every now and then when I don't have anything else on my plate. It did its job by entertaining me, and there's just enough here that it makes me want to see what straka,studio does with their next project.