The game has insane potential.

[addict]

I love the 1D single-grid turn-based combat mechanics, I love the deck building & overall this game has tons of replay-ability (I have 12 hours on the demo already).

A few things that ick me though and I'd like to see addressed in the full release.

- The artstyle is inconsistent. it looks really clean with amazing gradients and wonderful atmosphere in the backgrounds and that goes for certain enemies too (like the grapple guy in the early access) however some enemies & characters seem really, "blocky" I realise its a pixel-art game but as someone with thousands of hours across TBOI the unpolished blocky art looks a little out of place especially when clashing against some of the better art, I'm sure its probably developer art and it isn't an insane issue or anything.

- The game *seems* too linear. There isn't much to do in terms of min-maxing in a run (combos being the only real min-max) there's no variance in a run either, you'll always face the same enemies every time and you'll always go to the same places. (this seems true for the early-access release as well). Perhaps more variance in floors and enemies, to suggest TBOI's way of creating variance, have certain types of the same floor (Burning Basement, Basement, Cellar) and different types of enemies (Frowning Gaper, flaming Gaper, Gaper & Champion enemies with higher HP different attacks & better loot) These could also be unlocked per day/Ascension. These can produce more replay-ability, variance & overall create more interesting strategies and dynamics within your own items.

- Synergies are very "flat" with very little depth, this is something that comes over-time but as it stands synergies in game (through buffs like combo-coins or enchantments like poison/lightning) don't really add much. It would be cool if there were weapons/enchantments that made items do something special/more damage depending on their place in the queue perhaps an item/enchantment with long cooldown that gains damage per-use, maybe "linking" items (they do extra damage/less damage when used together separately) these are just random ideas with no thought/balance put behind them but even just little things to make synergies have more depth would be cool, chaining attacks into 3/4 combos is fun, but a lot of the time atm in the demo (and from what I see in Early Access playthoughs) these combos are mostly luck through stalling low hp enemies into the next wave and hoping that the next enemies spawn favourably.

- I am personally not a fan of "Map progression" games like wildfrost, peglin & this do it and it seems, "lazy" I'm sure there's probably a reason for it and this isn't a gripe with this game specifically, I've just found games that manage moving through levels/floors in a run without this "Choose these two restrictive predetermined paths on a map" a lot more fun. That's just my personal opinion though and if the devs think that sort of game progression is better than fair enough.

Idk just my thoughts, I absolutely love the game though. Do you agree with me or have your own thoughts separate from mine? I'm not hating on the game by any means I just want to see it thrive the best it can :)

[Slayer]

I love the demo and the prologue and was actually very excited to pick this up on release. Seeing that it's gonna be out in Early Access puts me off. So I guess I'll be waiting longer.

[Threeowlsinatrenchcoat]

i just saw this come out when i woke up! im gonna get it soon.