Deep Sky Derelicts

A good game is made of several elements working in tandem. They merge together, like pieces of a puzzle. Together creating something greater than the whole. But the downside to this is if even a few pieces are damaged or missing, the result suffers all the more. That's the unfortunate case for Deep Sky Derelicts. The best puzzle piece here is the presentation. The music, the artwork. They evoke a grimy space twist on Darkest Dungeon. The lore and setting are unique, and provide a good backdrop for the varied and unusual cast of characters. Unfortunately there's a bit of overlap there with the damage pieces. The lore (often delivered through long journal entries) is weirdly written. Several times I'd be reading and suddenly need to stop and re-read a sentence. I'd think I was reading too fast, but actually, the sentence just didn't make sense. Perhaps a translation issue? Or a non-native language issue? Either way, it was enough to break my immersion. Now, the truth is that contrary to what I said at the start, all these pieces can work if the core gameplay piece is really, really good. Unfortunately, I think it might be the weakest element. For a deckbuilding game, I felt like I didn't have control over the deck like I wanted. It would help if I could better compare between my different equipment options, but they're all muddled together in an incomprehensible mass. This could be alleviated through good hand cycling mechanics. Unfortunately, those are mostly absent. Additionally, the combat isn't all that fun. It's basic target prioritization, then focus fire. Vast majority of the time the non-damage cards are inferior. I'm suspicious that unequipping all utility cards to have decks solely of damage would be a valid strategy. The cool combos that I expect are also missing. I recently played Steam World Quest, and the difference in interesting deck building, character difference, and synergies is painful. 3/7 - A misguided design wrapped in an attractive package.

I'm sorry that I never finished the game, but I'm near the end at a point where, while you may have a great/good selection of cards, weapons, and upgrades in your hand, it all depends on luck. Something I had already experienced in previous fights, but I had managed to overcome the obstacle in an acceptable number of attempts. When I reached the fiftieth stone wall in front of me, I said to myself, no thanks, I had enough of this RNG crap. The graphic novel style is particular, but clashes with the repetitiveness of environments, enemies and animations. Another big limitation is having only 3 characters available and no reserves, which leads to spending half the budget on the infirmary. It's a shame because the 5 class system present is interesting and well defined. The economic management is very sparing towards the player, on the other hand we are cannon fodder to be sent here and there into easily replaceable space. It's a shame that shops and upgrades cost an arm and a leg. UI cumbersome and not very intuitive at first.

Not awful; instead, it commits the ultimate sin of being a technically functional yet thoroughly dull experience. The art style is stellar, and the setting seems captivating – but that's it. The potential for a great story is hampered by horrible writing. Meeting NPCs aboard the derelicts is an utterly dry affair: the dialogues are borderline MMO-ish. Datapads found in the wild spout exposition in horrific walls of awkwardly-worded text. There's no voice acting, flair, or emotion behind any of the writing. Then there's the main gameplay loop. There are loads of mechanics on display here, none properly introduced and explained – instead, we are referred to a horribly unengaging codex. Behind the caked layers of mechanics and walls of text, the main gameplay loop boils down to staring at a blocky map, dark, minimalistic and depressing. You move your team (that is: a dot) from block to block, expending energy in the process. Only when you encounter an enemy or a place to search, does the game switch to a full view of the place you're in. Now, those sequences look phenomenal (and are the elements of the game showcased by the devs, go figure), but why the hell do we spend 90% of the exploration in the map mode?! This removes any immersion, any option for bonding with your characters. In battle you play your cards, cards, reduce the enemy's shields, then the HP, then win. The fights are strangely forgiving; your mercs can be revived at the station if they fall in battle, removing any tension that might have been left. There is no sense of desperation or urgency, no constant risk/reward management that made Darkest Dungeon such a phenomenon. After some exploring, you'll run out of energy. Return to the station. Continue to explore the derelict (the map layouts are fixed) until done. Rinse, repeat. To call the game "barebones" would be an understatement. The amount of potential squandered is agonizing. The vision was there, but the raw dev skills just weren't.

It's yet another iteration of the darkest dungeon formula. Choose three characters from about six clases, explore grid map, fight enemies in turn based combat, collect loot. The only twist is, you get your combat abilities mostly from loot items, so technically you can build your deck of combat moves. It's not a bad game, I just see zero improvement over all the previous games that are exactly like this one. It has nice graphics.

+ gorgeous graphics + fair difficulty + varied builds + varied class choice + decent story, allbeit a bit wacky at times, but in a good way + lots of gear + varied environments with lots of different enemies + does not require grind + runs stable and runs well on a potato pc --> basically darkest dungeon in space, but better executed and fairer and with a lot less grind - occasionally all enemies only attack one character - from time to time the games crashes on launch - occasionally I got a bug in the minimap after not being able to pick up loot because my inventory was full. that bug prevented the menu in the upper left from opening and my only option was to move to the nearest exit and return to the station My biggest gripes: Why is the level cap only 10??? I easily would have gotten to level 15 because if you do all quests, you have easily enough XP to reach max level quickly. Why is the team size only 3? I would have liked 4 mercs at once. I would have preferred to have a roaster like in darkest dungeon where I can swap out and play with different classes. The way it is you always play with the same 3 guys.