I really tried to like this game.
Played using an XBox controller. Controlling the character was fine - doing anything in the menus with the controller was impossible. Literally, the controller cursor automatically moved OFF or away from any possible selection - never seen anything like it. The only way to actually select something in the menu with the controller, was to 'click on the move' (click the button before some invisible force moved the cursor away from the button) which still didn't work most of the time.
My review isn't really considering controls - I can forgive such a thing being an early access game, plus using a mouse only for the menus, circumvented that problem.
First point of issue is ruined expectations. You watch the trailer, you see the animated GIFs of the gameplay, and in these clips you see the character outside - in a forest scenery with a beautiful sky. Another clip, a fight outside, with lightning strikes in the distance with a subtle rain. Another clip, a beautiful orange sky with dead trees in the distance.
Meanwhile the first actual 4 hours of gameplay are, trying to escape a cave with grey walls, floors and ceilings, then ending up in a dungeon with grey walls, floors and ceilings, and the 3rd area? Another different dungeon with grey walls, floors and ceilings. The only 'outside' I found at all before I gave up, was the very short tutorial at the beginning.
Second point of issue, the world is virtually empty. Looks great, but there's nothing there to help the character. The only loot is chests, backpacks and bags. A handful of chests and backpacks are placed in proximity to enemies. Bags drop from killed enemies. There's no going off-road and finding anything - its either go find the loot somewhere by the enemies, kill the enemies and take their drop, or there's no loot.
Third point of issue, being softlocked after defeating the 3rd area Reaper boss. Tried at least 5 times reloading, but every time I killed him, the character could no longer pick up any items at all. (including the key said boss drops, which allowed access to the next area) - I couldn't progress from there, so I uninstalled from there.
Fourth point of issue, character growth is an illusion. The only XP is from reading notes (which advance the story) and killing big enemies (there's 1 each area, and they don't respawn), which limits growth to pushing the character toward the next area - farming doesn't exist, unless you're trying to get extra healing potions.
The good? The combat in this game is quite charming. I don't think much needs to change there, what exists is just fine. I only wish the camera would change from free to combat automatically when an enemy was around, instead of the player having to manually change the camera from free to combat when there's a fight.
The platforming/jumping is pretty good too and responsive. The only jank is things like, being under a platform that has a ledge, and when the character is directly under and jumps up, they 'chest bump' that ledge and fly back a great distance. The way around that is to not be directly under the platform - jump forward and up, instead of just up.
Still, the proper physics for the character should have their straight-up jump stunted when they connect with the ledge underside, not launch backward a great distance because the platform has a sloped ledge.
Overall, 2.5/5 - I'm pretty disappointed. I hope next summer with the full release isn't when most of the current issues are addressed, but we'll see. There's enough here for me to be willing to try again, once at least some of these issues I brought up, are addressed.
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