Posted on: January 7, 2023
a8793583
Verified ownerGames: Reviews: 2
Nice core idea, very clunky execution
- The game is pretty and the core gameplay is nice. It has some strands of lore. - The tutorial is pretty hard to follow and incomplete. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I didn't know you could level up skills until I looked at the steam trailers. - Skills feel useless in their first levels but become (too?) strong as they progress. Trying to play the game while finding a good time to cast skills just to level them feels needlessly grindy. - The UI is a bit clunky to use, but I got used to it. Same for movements. (Someone on Steam recommended to rebind movements to QWAS (a square) instead of WASD (the usual arrows), but I got used to WASD by the time I read that.) - The indicators are pretty hard to follow (is this enemy resting/stunned/ready to attack? Will it take one or two hits to kill it? Where will it's dash stop?) I realize this gameplay has unique constraints, but I'm sure one could devise clever ways to give informations to the player. - You usually have to get hit/die to a new mechanic to understand how it works. Some info is only explained in the in-game bestiary. - The game is supposed to flow, but you often have to wait painful seconds as the environment hazards play out. - I feel conflicted about the "Focus" gauge. The game supposedly follows your pace, but if an enemy doesn't take a hit every 10 seconds (or if you take a hit), the gauge goes down. The higher the gauge, the more money you get. Passive skills have 2 effects, but need at least X levels of gauge to be enabled. It's a powerplayer mechanic, but feels frustrating to me and my skill issues. - Having to replay the same early levels and the same phase-based bosses gets old fast. Once you know the patterns, bosses are very unrewarding to beat perfectly and always take a while. - There's not enough levels to build up Focus levels and earn enough money to buy nice things at the first shop, so it's often random if you can get a slight advantage on the first boss. This isn't much, but it's one more buzzkill.
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