REGRET WILL RISE ==================== I was really looking forward to this game, but... sadly it's a let down after playing a bit (keeping an eye on the return window). Combat is straight up clunky, crazy inaccurate and extremely repetitive. Exploration is pointless as the levels are largely baron outside of the same 3-4 enemies over and over until you reach the boss. Once you enter a dungeon, there's no backing out (from what I see) until your whole crew is dead, so if you enter a dungeon with a boss that has a health bar that spans the screen 2 times over, you can't "abandon dungeon", keep your warrior and come back later without permanently losing crew members, you either walk away from it with fewer warriors or you keep grinding trying to get to the boss to revive your fallen members until you're out of warriors. It's a cool concept on paper, but in practice, it's just the tedium of it smothers the fun factor. It doesn't help that the dungeon music is a drone-y loop that will put you in a trance (not in a good way) while you do the same thing over and over. The PC release is also severely lacking. Steam Input doesn't work with the game, will make an Xbox One controller not usable. On the loading screens, you'll see messages like "Insert Developer Statement" (not verbatim). No Steam Cloud, no Achievements, etc. The nicest thing this game has going for it are the visuals, but everything else just fell short for me. While playing it, I was really getting some Necropolis vibes from Hairbrained... another game in a similar vane with a cool visual style, but ultimately a mediocre experience. Also, if you've played another semi-recent Deep Silver published game, Windbound... expect about that level of quality here. In short, not worth the initial asking price... I may check it out again later once it's on sale and has some patches to fix things up.
My love for the Souls games started with Demon's Souls. I bought it day one with no other reason than "Dark fantasy action RPGs are my favorites"... little did I know at the time did just what I was getting into or how that game would spawn an entire genre or how it would alter my taste in games. Since then I've played every From game multiple times through and after I've done that and want something fresh, I look to the Souls clones, of which there are many. I've played a lot of them from the pixel sidescrollers (like the incredible Blasphemous) to the Surge games and Lords of the Fallen, etc. Which brings me to Hellpoint. I must admit, at first glance, I thought it was going to be terrible which is why I held off buying it. I watched some gameplay videos and didn't really see the depth the game has, in droves. I'm about 20 hours in now and I can't stop playing it, it's so good. The world is MASSIVE, complex and chock full of hidden items, paths, interesting lore and mystery around every corner... everything you'd expect from a Souls game, so on that alone, it delivers. But it also charts its own path by adding new things into the mix like respawning enemies even though you haven't died and a world system that changes the game based on where the black hole is aligned, etc. It will bring new bosses, new challenges and new opportunities that really are the "right time at the right place" type of events which make exploring even more visceral and encouraged. There's also the jump aspect without having to sprint, which means there is platforming, but for the most part, it's very mild, nothing time based, but does lead to intersting opportunities for hiding things in the world. Another nice thing is, the online stuff is not hidden behind a code or a login or even behind Galaxy. You can launch the game direct and still have access to the online stuff, which is great, so the GOG release is a solid choice if you're worried about online. All in all, fantastic game!
I really like this game... it plays a lot like Dead Cells as far as progression goes where you grow stronger with each death by unlocking items permanently for your next run... there's a lot of interesting tools to experiment with to find what tactic fits your play style, but there's always an element of randomness to it in that when you reach the safe rooms you get randomized upgrades so it keeps every run feeling unique... there are some balancing issues, some tools you can really break the game (poison web pad that slows down the enemies can make in-dungeon boss fights super easy to exploit), but that's also part of the fun finding out how to get the upper hand as the dungeons get progressively harder... all in all, it's quite a fun game that will be right at home with fans of Dead Cells, Wizard of Legend, Enter the Gungeon, etc. My biggest gripe wich knocked off a whole star is the fact that there's no Cloud Saves while the Steam version has them... the GOG version keeps the game save in the Windows registry which makes it super tedious and unreliable to play on more than one machine... makes me wish I would've bought it on Steam for this reason alone
This is just a heads up for anyone buying this mostly for the soundtrack. As of 2/6/2019, the soundtrack only comes in MP3 format encoded at 128kbps, which is crazy for 2019... you're better off doing a search for "pikunuiku soundtrack bandcamp" to buy the soundtrack at the composers Bandcamp page in a lossless format
We waited 11 days for a game that launched in an unfinished state only to receive a build that was STILL out of date with the Steam version... They gave Steam 7 hotfix patches and one point release (1.1) in that time period and threw us an old crusty bone thinking we'd be happy... no. It's clear this developers focus is in one place and it's not GOG, unfortunately. Refunded.
I see a lot of people saying this game is a cheap Dark Souls ripoff, but in actuality, they should be making the comparison to Bloodborne... I've played every Souls game from Demon's Souls to DS3 plus Bloodborne to their completion, and combat-wise, it's closest to Bloodborne because of the speed of play, agility and lack of defense... that being said, I'm actually finding the game very enjoyable... visuals, tone, combat, music, story, it's all really good... I'm not letting all the hate surrounding it color my opinion and am playing it for what it is... Yes, it's very different from the previous two Darksiders games (both of which I've also played through to completion) and I'm totally fine with it taking a different direction, because this game's pacing and gameplay fit the personality of Fury, so to me, it makes sense... I actually hope for the fourth horseman's game will again mix up the formula to keep me on my toes And I'm NOT saying this plays just like Bloodborne... merely saying that's really the best game in the Souls lineup to compare it to But... with all that, the game still isn't perfect... there's the camera issues, dodging issues and mobs attacking you from off camera so you don't even know they're about to attack, but these should all be things that can be addressed with patches There IS a good game here that for most people will be a good purchase once a sale hits and the patches are in, but there's also a good game here for people who want in now... no regrets here at all Still a Gunfire Games fan ;)
So glad this made it to GOG, this game is a gem. A ball rolling adventure, slash, pinball game with a coat of metroidvania on top of it. Exquisitely crafted, vibrant, , lively, interconnected world with tons of hidden things to find, collect and do. You'll spend some of your time manually rolling your ball around completing objectives, running errands for the islands inhabitants, trying to reach hidden items and other times you'll seamlessly enter self-contained pinball-like areas that play a lot like a traditional pinball game where, most often, you're working towards helping an NPC overcome a problem in exchange for something they'll give you to unlock areas of the map you previously couldn't get to... these areas are all uniquely made with mini-challenges and mechanics within, making every single one of them a blast that you'll look forward to playing. My only gripe is (and some people may not agree or vote this down), but I was sad to see this didn't launch here with Achievements because this is the type of game you want them in for that extra bit of challenge and/or replayability the devs bake in, but doesn't warrant taking stars away from the actual game rating... can't wait for a sequel!
Yes, if you're a fan of INSIDE, LIMBO, FAR Lone Sails and any other atomspheric, side scrolling adventure games, this is a no-brainer and stands tall next to those games. The visual style is a sight to behold, the atmosphere and sound design are amazing and the story is intriguing and full of wonder... you will often find yourself marvelling at the artistry in so many areas of the game. While it does borrow a lot of mechanics and ideas from the aforementioned games, it also brings in some unique and different mechanics to make it feel fresh. I have no regrets buying the game at launch without a discount, it's worth every penny I paid. It's also a solid GOG release with a nice set of Galaxy features and since launch today, the game has already received two minor updates through Galaxy, so the dev is treating us right ;)
If you love platformers and love finding hidden things, you'll enjoy this game... it's super polished (Unity Engine but runs real smooth and looks great)... The atmosphere and sound effects are pure delight, very well done... Quite a bit of the platforming is physics based from environmental objects that move, so the platforming might have you "leaning into your screen" to try and catch that ledge and timing things just right... this is an example of the finer side of GOG's curation: it's been on Steam for a while and I never knew it existed until now, glad I was able to enjoy this
