Beautiful and gripping, though at times somewhat confusing story. Tackles themes of motherhood, intergenerational trauma and immigration, both first and second-generation and does it really well. Held back a bit by the level design – I could never find my way in the main playing area, even with a map. Some story tasks are also very repetitive walk-back-and-forth style, which gets grating really fast. Would overall recommend to buy on sale.
I remember hearing about this game around the time of its release but never really picking it up. Said "what the h*ck" when I saw it on sale and for that price, it's an okay time. It delivers on what it promises to be: A dumb shooter where you shoot enemies with big guns. The story is forgettable at best. You can tell that this is just the testosterone-fueled fantasy of some Polish guys. The fun part is more about strategizing fights and using your environment to take the least amount of possible damage. The dash mechanic, which is apparently part of this redux version, helps soften the blow a lot if you do find yourself out of position. Some bad stuff that has to be mentioned though: The level design outside of the fighting arenas is quite bad at times. Multiple times I was left wondering where to go. For this type of game where you're supposed to turn your brain off between fights, you really shouldn't have to wrinkle your brain to find the next lever to push. Weapon diversity is there, but it's so clunky to switch between the different modes of the two weapons mid-combat that I found it more useful to only unlock the stuff I would actually use and just leave the rest as is. The katana you find midway through feels very out of place as well and just used up time when switching between the other two weapons.
The mechanics in this game are somewhat outdated. Graphically it will win no prizes either. Main story is somewhat bland. At what point do PB just introduce a character creator? Not like Jax has any more personality than a blank sheet of paper. But god damn if this game doesn't pull you in anyways. The world is vast and lively, the side quests are interesting and the random roadside encounters you can have while just... wandering around trying to get to where you want to be are amazing. Every corner of this world feels lived in, which is a massive feat considering how many there are. Watching Rat in Tavar go from beggar who thanks me for 50 shards to basically pimp of the town because I made it so is amazing, even if it's not relevant to the whole "where's my armor and why is the world ending?" bit of the game. And while combat is clunky, it also feels great once you are actually strong enough to fight through some of the areas that were softblocked from you at the start by way of big scary thing in the road. This is not a hack'n'slash, you have to pick your encounters. Is it worth it to kill that Rotboar if I might have to take a potion or eat some food afterwards? Maybe just go around. Oops, there's a big scary crawly spidery thing there. Better just kill the pig even if it may do some damage. Overall great game I'm still not done after 30 hours and I won't be for another 30 I'd guess.
I don't have much experience with deck-building games, even though I always found the concept kind of interesting. But most of them came across as intimidating. What I have some experience with though are rogue-like games, which is why Slay the Spire piqued my interest when I first heard of it. I held out for quite a while on buying it due to the price tag - usually I only buy stuff during sales and mostly Indie titles that are cheap to begin with. 20€ seemed like quite the hefty price tag. It's worth every penny though. The four classes you can play with are varied enough to provide a unique experience, the enemy encounters are challenging but - at least on lower Ascensions - are not so challenging as to be intimidating. Some enemies require particular strategies which you have to keep in mind while building your deck and overall you have to manage your resources well and play smart to succeed. Couldn't recommend this game more.
