Stirring Abyss

I can't recommend the game as it is right now, it does not feel balanced enough. It's absurdly difficult even on the Easy level. Or perhaps this is supposed to be some kind of rogue-lite or rogue-like, despite not being advertised as one. It's too easy to get stuck in the game, where your characters are too weak and too low in health, and where you can't grind for parts because even the supposed grinding missions are absurdly difficult. Right now, just 3-4 hours into the game, I'm utterly stuck. My characters are low in health yet I can't heal them on the submarine because of the "world insanity" level; I literally can't rest and heal my characters despite having a "healing room". Venturing out on a mission is pure suicide, so I can't get anywhere. Currently it just feels like bad and incomplete game design. Maybe it will get better? or maybe you should just buy something else. Right now it feels more like a rogue-like in vein of Sunless Sea, as opposed to the role-playing game it is being advertised as. Positives? it looks nice and has some very cool aspects to it, like the mutations and submarine micromanagement part. I did enjoy the combat as well. So it has interesting and fun gameplay features, I can't deny that. The storyline is cool enough if you're into generic and simplistic Lovecraftian stuff, which I'm fine with. So it's not all bad, but when you simply can't make progress in a game, these positive aspects are not really worth anything.

First off, the good parts: - It's a joy to see games like this pop up to scratch that XCOM itch. - The lovecraftian horror theme is a welcome change. - It's quite the challenge and very unforgiving. Then, the less good parts: - The graphics. There's just no atmosphere with this comics visual style. It doesn't match the theme and it just doesn't work for me. - It graphics feel large and clunky. It's possible to zoom out to a comfortable level, but then the pixel hunting gets worse. - I spent a lot of time dying because of moving the wrong character around. It just isn't highlighted well enough. - Squad size limit of three feels a bit low. - Sometimes trying to target enemies ends up being an exercise in pixel hunting when squad members are standing in front of them. - Unlike XCOM, there seems to be no cover system - and with that less options for strategy. - Bugs and locks. So far the game hasn't crashed on me, but I have had to force quit a couple of times because the UI is unresponsive. Particularly after death, where neither the "Load last save" nor "exit" buttons are clickable. - It's quite the challenge and very unforgiving (reprise from "the good parts" - this is a double-edged sword. A lot of the time, the tiniest mistake will end up costing you a squad member. In combination with the frequent moves made by mistake this becomes incredibly frustrating. - Given the difficulty level it would have made sense to have an option to replay the last mission upon failure, but of course the only option is to restart at the last auto-save, which several times has turned out to have occurred while I'm in a state where the mission is already unwinnable. - Rookie members are rather useless. There's no revive option(that I've unlocked so far) and when the HP bar reaches zero, they're gone. All in all - shows real promise, but ultimately the graphics, some design decisions and general execution turn me away.

noice game but just the start

Stirring Abyss is an experience I recommend if you want to scratch that eldritch horror itch, but can't bring yourself to bear to play an actual horror game. Read the full review here: https://mr-skeltals-thoughts-deposit.blogspot.com/2022/01/stirring-abyss-review-terror-in-deep.html

And the gameplay is bland and shallow.