I understand that game pad is the way to play games, and twin stick shooters like this one are the best played by game pad. But making mouse aiming harder on purpose is a cheap move. When I play on PC, I want to play with keyboard+mouse. Don't get this game if you don't have game pad, or want to relearn for shitty mouse aiming that will not help you in other games.
After playing for some time, I've fallen in love with this game. Stylish aesthetics with great metal soundtrack and heartwarming solos, and Nordic mythology on top of that. But most important thing that it is the true rogue-like in heart. Runs differ wildly with random items you can acquire. Some items are true game changers. On top of that there are different unlockable characters (like in The Binding of Isaac) that give spice to the run. The feature of the game is that it's rhythm based (we've seen that in Crypt of the Necrodancer, which I highly recommend too). I've never played rhythm based shooter before and this is an interesting and positive experience. The game pushes you to dissolve in the music. There are some rooms with jump puzzles (or rather jump challenges). These are completed more easily if you have items affecting you speed/jumps. On the other reviews comments, people have noted that health, while being a number from 0 to 100 initially, are mostly consumed by most of the attacks by multiples of 25, basically having 4 hit points at start. This is not entirely true. Some mobs have auras that deal part of full damage, and there's at least one item that gives vamp (healing on damage) that increases health by single points. So gradual health makes sense. Other people say it's short. Yes, it has only 7 levels with 8th as a boss. But the game has a high skill cap. I'm at 10h playtime right now and I've only reached level 4 recently. For average gamer (like me) this totally worth it. Hint: look for the rooms with stars. Free items to pick up.
It's obviously a niche game. I've enjoyed Wizardry 8 (although haven't finished it). I've also played Wizardry 7 at the time. I've played more of this genre like Eye of Beholder series, Dungeon Hack (a spin off from EoB), Lands of Lore, Anvil of Dawn, Stonekeep, M&M6-8 (which all are newer to Wiz7, but anyway). So I've decided to give this game a try. Right now I can only say, I can't enjoy this game, and the main reason is that it's terribly boring. Nothing is explained -- which could be tolerated if the game had value. It's basically turn based combat with little sane choice for the player. The combat is SLOW. I haven't noticed a single fresh idea in game that could keep me playing. I really mean there are games of this genre which deserve to be played over this. Two stars for the devs effort. P.S. Mad because can't refund working game on GOG.
