At least they had the decency to list the fact that the game needs GOG Galaxy for multiplayer (the same shit that comes with Battlezone 1 and 2)... another title fucked up. Why do we have to rely on 3rd party services to play a multiplayer game? Why? AND were is the original LAN support?
Personal opinion, this game sucks! Cons. > Frustrating clunky combat system, check! Sometimes basic enemies do not register the hit and hit you back and you can't even pause to adjust your inventory with a little peace of mind > If you die sometimes your ghost spawns as well and tries to kill you again??? > In the initial chamber with the elevator there's a bigger enemy that can almost insta-kill you, but only at the first try, at your second spawn is not even there anymore > Enemies respawn from nowhere after a certain amount of time or while moving between chambers ?!? > Basically no respawn points or save points? Just 1, at least until your first boss fight > Level up? nope, at least until your first boss fight that is way above you in terms of everything > Enemy drops? Are random and mostly useless because you don't have the right stats, at least until your first boss fight Music? Almost non-existent Lightning of the rooms? Bare minimum. In what it seems a far gone future, they forgot to light the rooms, neon are probably too costly to maintain Jump and grab? I can jump as a professional athlete but I can't grab to ANY surface (even the Doom guy can JUMP and GRAB since 2016) Stun enemies when attacking from above? nope Guarding properly from ranged attacks? nope Attack and dodge? nope, spoiler alert, Attack or dodge or you die Pro. Got it free, so I don't have to worry about a refund...
If you played the 3rd game in the series and felt out of place, you won't be disappointed this time The gameplay is much more similar to the 1st game (my personal favorite) with a little of backtracking at the end of the main story (16 chapters + 1 bonus mission that you will be able to find only after completing the story) and the arena is totally fun to play around for increased perks Pro: Good level design and pesky puzzles to fiddle with Responsive controls, combos, evade and parry tactics work as expected (moddable with proper cores) Great Sound Lovable graphics and art design You can truly enjoy your character progression without feeling like a newborn baby at first run (on Normal, don't bother Hard at first run) Cons: Glitchy at times (nothing game-breaking, that's why I said Good level design and not Great ): > Stuck in invisible walls at times > Execution prompt and/or health bars not always visible > Dead bodies floating to the sky if executed on uneven terrain 38+ hours of fun (counting 1 run at Normal difficulty and 1 run with Apocalypse difficulty to collect all the collectibles left behind and a few quests missed, all arena levels completed and infinite arena cleared at wave 105 with something like 500k souls and all Cores collected and leveled to Max) Played it, Loved it The price (33$) is just right (I also pre-ordered it, to show my support to the devs; they earned it with this title)
If you are looking for a new / updated Net Storm experience or something similar to it, well this is not what you are looking for Pro: Graphics A fantasy-themed world with different races to play with Relaxing music Cons: Useful spells are scarce The tutorial doesn't do anything good in explaining what's going on and how the in-game mechanics work Tedious gameplay Bad Storytelling, not the story itself but how it is presented, adding a pop-up window in front of the player for story pertinent events would have been a good start point Examples of gameplay: You need resources, then move the corresponding slider You need an Island for expansion, then plant a banner to explore it, move it closer with a spell, build a bridge, plant a banner to discover resources / a different banner to raid resources or treasures You need troops, build a corresponding building, then recruit them "one by one", place bridges and plant a banner to hopefully move them there (when IA pick up its routines) The game is not broken, it's just not fun to play... 3 stars for the effort of developing it and trying new ideas, if you really want it anyway just get it while on sale
This review comes from 6h in game Technically speaking, this version of the game is much more optimized and polished (you can play it on an Atom X8500 Tablet at full speed) I already finished it once with all but one secret to unlock the final sword (well actually don't need it to finish the game) The game is called Slain, but you may not even touch a single minion if you are able to kill the mini-bossess and final bossess quickly (except for those few that actually trigger level progression) A simple Pros / Cons approach Pros: "Heavy" Metal Music and Atmosphere from start to end Impressive pixel art and effects Some clever tricks here and there to scratch your head a bit before slamming your sword on the next minion Good sound effects (compared to the first release of this game) Good control response (compared to the first release of this game) Cons: You don't have a sense of progression in this game (apart from unlocking the few levels available in game) You don't get rewards from killing anything, you don't get Mana or Health Upgrades There's is no difficulty level You may feel overwhelmed if you don't adapt your sword correctly to the enemies you are facing Some points are so tedious that you may want to leave the game to rest for a couple of hours and then, maybe, come back to it The "Block" function is there, but you have to be perfectly timed to the game engine (I was able to finish the first round of the Final Boss without being touched once) It's possible to use it but missing the spot goes for a fast death and subsequent retry Final advice The end feels cheap and unfinished (Sounds more like a cliffhanger to me) and actually doesn't seem to be directly related to the initial part of the story (It feels like the ending of Lords of Shadows II and Dead Space 3 with the DLC had sex and produced a "Heavy Metal" unborn child) If you still want to try this game, get it on sale (I did so, but knowing the ending then I would have probably spent my money on a different game)
