Recent reviews by Gimlet Gelt

No thanks, I like my clay games to run above 60fps consistently.

Performance issues aside, the gameplay is a snoozefest and I'd literally rather play L4D, GTFO, Deep Rock, Remnant, and even Back for Blood to death before I touched this game.

As stated by my favorite review for Darktide: "Positive review 'coming soon'."

As it stands, Fatshark deserves no more second chances. If you over-promise and under-deliver, I have zero sympathy.

Before you continue reading, this review is just my raw, unfiltered and slightly disorganized thoughts on Lunacid, and will contain spoilers for the current content. If you are looking for a reason to play this game, please close this review and please trust me when I say you should definitely play it if you enjoy the idea of an immersive retro-style first-person RPG.



Despite being a currently short experience, it has me impatiently awaiting more, I am very rarely this interested in a game's development. Where so many indie games miss the mark, Lunacid; a King's Field inspired dark fantasy RPG, has nailed the execution for something that feels unique and interesting to play.

Audio and Visual design
The visuals are simplistic, yet the use of varying light visibility is not only well done, but greatly benefits the atmosphere this game tries to create, and when mixed with the simple yet engaging soundtrack, the feeling of even being present in the game creates a sense of discovery and unease. The sound effects from enemies and sound design of ambient noises had me fully present and anxious while exploring.

Combat and Gameplay design
The combat, albeit simple, functions well in terms of movement and feel. Strikes generally connect when you feel they should, and the player is presented with multiple options for dealing with most encounters.
Currently, I feel the biggest weakness is how the block functions and flows; as it stands, blocking is a tiny bit too clunky and slow to be effectively used in combat, and the player feels more incentivized to just do the classic "charge, attack, back up, repeat". However, ranged options circumvent this entirely, with the intended drawback being extended magic use increases the damage you take, as well as being unable to backstep/defend with bows/xbows.
Despite the intended drawback of magic use, magic stands out as the strongest option by far, which isn't really a bad thing as many games suffer from making magic too weak/tedious, in fact I like the idea that magic is partly integral to exploration and elemental damage types for certain enemies' weaknesses, but I do think the effects of Lunacy (damage taken and xp gain are increased) from using magic should be more pronounced or have other short and potentially long term effects that make the choice of magic more technical rather than raw power.
While I don't find issue with the simplicity of combat, as I think the experience is meant to be the sum of the game's parts, minor tweaks will do justice for the overall experience.

Environmental design
There are a total of 6 areas so far, 2 of which feel exceptionally fleshed out in their intended feel, whereas the others feel like a concept/work in progress.

The basin/starting area: This area feels a tad bit too simple for the intent of introducing the player to the game. The snail as a first enemy actually feels perfectly fine, they introduce the idea of there being multiple hitboxes on enemies with their armored shell, and how the larger snail can curl up but still be hit from it's exposed underside when doing so, which is something I hope to see more of in development.
However, the layout of the water area itself feels a bit strange as it's mostly open and empty save for passive creatures. I would love to see this be turned into a non-euclidian puzzle (similar to what occurs in the crypt area next to the Fetid sewer entrance}, which would actually be an incredible introduction to something that would make for a interesting and engaging reoccurring theme.

The Crypt: As I said above, this area seems very well crafted for it's intended purpose, and I really have no complaints aside from the shortcut from the starting area into the crypt is awkwardly close to the Forest exit anyway, and seems unnecessary. Aside from that, I did not realize until later that the crypt has another exit that leads to the sewer, and honestly I really love this idea of splitting and connecting paths in a very Dark Souls 1 style.

The Forest: This area was my favorite with the crypt being a close second, it is beautifully crafted in it's progression and it's visuals alike. There is a spell related progression mechanic that feels fun to discover without being tedious to figure out, along with solid and interesting variety in enemies, layout, and even the verticality of the area as a whole. The Forest is definitely a masterclass example of design principle that gives meaning to the player's curiosity and allows them to either ease their progression through creative shortcuts, or pass the shortcuts by entirely and struggle of their own volition.

The Sewer, Catacombs, and Blood lake: I am going to put these areas into the same section as they feel incomplete and I imagine they will be reworked and changed anyway during development. The Sewer feels empty and lacks threatening enemies for it's place. Progression wise it is the same as the forest, yet far easier and more boring in both exploration and enemy types. The Catacombs lacks a rest crystal within a reasonable distance of the entrances, but has a creative and interesting mechanic (This is actually just assumption because I ran past the unique shadow enemies with high resistance that are hard to kill, which I believe you are supposed to lure to these blue lights/auras OR turn on the machines to light the area so that they may be damaged. But again I did not confirm this, and if this is not the case I think it should be), but is overshadowed by how I felt incentivized to rush through the area instead of solve what could be a puzzle. The area should feel less linear for the sake of this mechanic. Lastly, the Blood lake: Again, missing a rest crystal at entrances, but simplistic and feels like it serves the intended purpose of connecting the branching paths and continuing to the next (Currently still being developed) area. The design of one massive area is a nice break from all of the much smaller areas, but I feel there should be a mechanic added to make the player have a more guided response to the area, like poison swamps in the Souls games.
Overall, I see these areas being subject to change, and am very interested to see what the developers change/add to flesh them out.

Closing thoughts/remarks:
I am enthralled by the small yet satisfying taste of immersion this early version of Lunacid has given me, I genuinely see a labor of love in this product and fully support the developers, hoping they continue the excellent work I have seen so far. With just a few tweaks, and the inevitable addition of content, I see this game being an absolute indie gem.

If you enjoyed Doom Eternal and are looking for another fantastic advancement of modern shooters, then you might want to play Ultrakill. The TLDR of it?: It's smooth, it's fast, it has style, in-depth mechanics, and the level design is visually unique and refreshing.

Become a hoarder and a drug addict to win, 10/10