Recent reviews by Cupcake

An absolutely adorable, charming and cozy game! For Early Access, this is SO impressive! There are bugs to be considered, but that is to be expected with an EA title. Overall, I sunk 5 hours into this without even realizing, I was so swept up by just hopping around and helping folks and gathering things to sell!

I think my biggest request would be a quest log of some sort. It's just so hard to remember what I've got going on the more I explore! Otherwise, for an EA title, it is absolutely exquisite, and I am so wildly excited to see where we go from here. The devs are super responsive in the game's Discord, and we already got a patch the day after release. I have the highest of hopes for this gem, and am so happy to have gotten on the train (er, caravan?) early!

STEAM DECK NOTE: This does run wonderfully on Steam Deck with one small problem - keyboard functionality is bugged! I had to start my file in order to name my character on PC and then continued on Deck. Devs are aware of this issue, though! Otherwise, runs beautifully on Deck. ❤

A fun, charming PVP game with fast paced game modes, rewarding and fun gameplay, and wonderful character design. Some graphics optimization needed, and no easy way to redeem ad rewards on Steam (must link to mobile game to do so.)

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This is actually a super cute and fun PVP game! I am unashamedly a MOBA addict. I found this little gem when searching the (very empty) MOBA tag on the Steam store.

If you're thinking a traditional MOBA with abilities, etc, it's not really that, but more akin to something like Super Smash Bros. There ARE abilities, and so many different kits, but the gameplay is much more fighter game and less a laned MOBA such as League or DOTA.

- Easy to jump right in and have fun! It is not complicated and the tutorial is very straight forward.
- The modes are fun, and queue times and games are super quick. (No 40min-1hr long "please end me" games here.) Some of the modes/maps swap daily which is fun and keeps things fresh.
- The standout for me with SMASH is the character design. Really fantastic, and most specifically I adore the diversity of the female characters. (Not a bunch of skinny white women with tig ole' bitties.) So much variety in age, body type, race, species, etc. It really makes my heart happy!

- Can't watch ads on Steam, and they give a LOT to you for free just for ad watching. You can, however, link your Steam account to mobile. I play on Steam and then if I'm busy doing something mundane irl, I just sit and swipe through ads passively to get my rewards. (And, honestly, to turn off ads it's, like, $7 I think? Which I think is worth it.) But swapping to mobile just to redeem ad rewards is a bit inconvenient.
- I have a simple 60hz monitor and have the game set at 60FPS. Screen tearing is terrible. Changing to 30FPS and changing the graphics to low did nothing. There is no VSYNC or any other graphic options besides those two things. The only way I've gotten the screen tearing to go away is playing in windowed mode. It could be because I'm cheap and don't feel like replacing a perfectly good monitor, but be wary of this if you don't have a fancy monitor you're playing on. More graphics options (or PC optimization in general) would be greatly appreciated!
- The voice acting is... okay. Some of the champs are pretty bad, haha. No offense to the VAs, but I know this game originated in Korea so I don't think they found the best English VAs. (Some of them are great though! But few and far between.) *Just realized after posting this review I can change the voice language. Def change to Japanese or Korean!

- I would love to see these champs, kits and all, in a more traditional MOBA setting. I think a map with lanes would actually work well in this kind of game. But that's just the classic MOBA lover in me. I'd love a 5v5 experience in this game! The 3v3 is fun for now, though.

All in all, highly recommend if you'd like a FTP game that has enough charm and fun gameplay to sink your teeth into!

An absolutely adorable RPG, with elements of Potion Permit and a creature collector! I can't recommend this enough. It is so polished and well done, you'd think it was an AAA title. It's hard to put it down!!

I've heard about this over the years but never gave it a second thought. I only downloaded because of a pretty pink jellyfish robot/alien looking thing that went sort of viral on TikTok. I could never get into Destiny, but this feels way better. For a game that came out in 2013, it holds up real well. I, too, want to be a pretty pink Tenno jellyfish one day.

To preface, I'm a devoted MOBA lover, my League account is over level 1,000. (Yes, I know, no life, touch grass, etc etc etc. But I'm here to talk about a MOBA!)

I've played pretty much every relevant MOBA on the market, and with how many hours I've embarrassingly sunk into League, I think I know a decent amount about the genre.

First, I'll say that for a F2P early access game, Predecessor is really off to a great start. I love the hero designs, and the graphics are excellent. I think many of the heroes have fun and unique kits as well. There are almost no bugs (that I have personally encountered) and the game runs very smoothly. A+ on that front.

Game play is so-so. A game vs. AI takes over 20 minutes, close to 30, which just feels way, way too long. PvP is filled with folks who I genuinely don't think have played a MOBA before, and just run into it as if it were Overwatch. Lanes mean nothing and it's just a free-for-all or ARAM and everyone is mid.

I think Predecessor fills a really great niche in the current MOBA market. It feels better than Smite, I love that there is actual vertical space at play here. What needs desperate work is menuing and UI. The UI feels very "early access", and the ping/"team comm" system is clunky, where I have to sit there and flip through options before I get to what I want to ping/say. Team chat (text) is automatically turned off, you have to opt into it in settings, which I don't think many folks notice so you end up just talking to a brick wall if you're trying to type to your team in chat.

Many MOBAs struggle with the tutorial stage and actually *explaining* the difference between a MOBA and, say, a hero-shooter. 3D MOBAs like Smite and now Predecessor have a harder time with this than LoL, DOTA or MLBB. I think Predecessor has a great opportunity here to instill more knowledge on its players. The tutorial was pretty short and basic (no explanation of Jungle at ALL - no MOBA out there really explains JG role, which is why it's the least popular role among many games in the genre.) You pick your role when you get into a game, and you would think it is self explanatory, but time and time again I'll have someone pick Carry and they're roaming solo lane/mid from the start, etc.

I think a lot of this confusion lies in the UI. It's a LOT of text and not enough visuals. (For example, if someone selects Carry, maybe there is a mini-map that lights up the lane they're supposed to play in.)

All in all, I think this has a lot of potential. The vibe is great, it's not too Sci-Fi and not too Fantasy, it's a great mix of both. The heroes are well crafted and their designs are great. (Countess is serving CoUNT 💅) This easily tops Smite for me in the (albeit small) 3D/third-person MOBA pool and for early access it's off to a GREAT start.

I can see myself playing a couple games a week at this point, but it's far from gripping me by the throat and holding me down like League. It's missing that, well, "addiction" factor. I think the key things the dev team needs to focus on are:
🎮 Game Pacing/Balance: Vs. AI is a great learning tool but I don't want to sit in a game with bots for 30 some odd minutes. Some PvP games go slow as well unless one or both teams have certain OP heroes on them that can just bulldoze.
🔍 UI, Menu and Visuals: Too much text just all over the place. Really hard to understand/remember what's going on, what key does what. (In particular the 1, 2, 3 active item keys are laid out pretty poorly. I'm always forgetting which item goes to 2 and which to 3.)
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Matchmaking: I think this will improve naturally as the player-base grows and there is more data to assign MMR to players. But right now, it's bleak.

I'm recommending this for now, because I can see this being fine tuned and absolutely exploding and gathering a large player-base. I'll continue to play from time to time - the incentives for hero Affinity are enough to keep playing.

Good luck to the dev team! I cannot wait to see what becomes of this.

Absolutely awesome. I waited far too long to try out this gem of a game due to the infamous bad launch in 2020. Do not let that stop you like it stopped me! It runs great, only very minor bugs here and there, typical for just about any game. Great story, if you like games such as Fall Out 4 you will adore this. The DLC is also fantastic, and for crying out loud, it gives us Idris Elba. Idris Elba! So, yes, buy it. (Bonus points for Panam and Judy - IYKYK ❤)

An absolute delight for only ~$4. I can only hope the small team that made this will add more to this game one day. I could easily play missions for hours and hours! I'd love an expanded version of this game, one that lets us do intersections and streets in different directions... build a whole neighborhood! I absolutely adored this little gem of a game. Definitely pick it up when you have the chance!

At first I was skeptical, because I thought you HAD to make the Pals slaves and run, like, gun factories, but you don't! You can treat them well, and it's adorable when they help around camp. This game has everything good about so many genres mashed together. For Early Access, it runs great, too. Totally addicted, and currently planning a hotel/bathhouse for my hardworking Pals. 10/10, would recommend.

An absolute delight and wonderful story. The art style, characters and entire universe that is built in The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is nothing short of magical. As soon as I finished my first playthrough, I started over to uncover new possibilities and secrets. This seemingly small cozy game has a LOT to uncover, and high replayability! The tarot card making is so, so fun and you can get very creative with it! I highly recommend this.

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