ArcRunner

A third person shooter that plays and feels like a good indie game. Levels are nicely crafted, while being low detail. No ray tracing options so my RTX rig hardly breaks a sweat, but it is still nice. This game will challenge your ability to outshoot and outmaneuver your enemies. Every level starts off with your character being surrounded by enemies as you advance through the level. Every level has a challenge room that will reward you if you complete it. Choose one of three interesting characters with long upgrade paths. Not much to the story here, shoot everything and don’t die. When you die, no worries, you can apply for some upgrades you’ve earned. The player will have to start back at the beginning but with new upgrades. The music is seriously lacking as are any interactive objects in the levels. I would like to see version 2 of this game with the cons below being addressed. The pros: Controls are not too complicated. Pick from 3 interesting characters with different abilities. My favorite is the Ninja right now. Characters have a long upgrade path with lots of options. Dying in this game is almost a good thing as it allows you to apply upgrades to your character. Levels are interesting albeit repetitive, but I still have not gotten that far in the game. There are lots of things to attack and use against the enemy. Enemies are diverse and will challenge your abilities. The cons: The music gets old as there seems to be only one track. The sound effects don't change at all. No real story other than shoot everything that moves. No interactive objects in the levels. Only being able to carry one weapon is, well, odd in a modern game. Loot boxes are few and far between and sometimes offer you what you already have. Only boss enemies offer health when defeated. Some nanite upgrades are way more useful than others so you wind up picking the same ones at the end of a level. Again, I have not gotten that far in this game, but the level challenges are repetitive.

ArcRunner is solidly mid, but one of the better indie roguelites. Quite shallow, feels like something is lacking. The strengths of the game shine through quite well however, it's graphically stylish. Gameplay is frantic, fast, has an addictive progression loop and is as a whole quite fun, especially with friends. Ran smoothly the whole way through, and had no major bugs or glitches. That being said, it has some flaws. The AI is lacking. Variety could be a bit better, campaign does not have quite enough level or enemy design or real length for that matter. Having to play through the same areas multiple times gets annoying fast, and feels like an absolute drag to prolong the game. It is a roguelite however, I don't mind it being that, but the basic gameplay loop has to be compelling enough to justify dying, trying again, upgrading and improving. Here it doesn't do that too well. Story is weak and pretty straightforward as well. Some later areas were so damn bright, it was hard to see enemy projectiles, I get the whole cool cyberpunk esthetic, but it was too much. All in all, the game will definitely appeal to some. As an indie roguelite it's up there, as a third person sci-fi shooter it's quite mid.