Great game. But this map... It's something

[Неистовый пивоsos]

I don't want to write a bad review for the game, but I find it very frustrating. Locations and map. Locations look almost the same, a huge number of skips, getting lost is easy. I don't think my terrain skills are that bad as I only experience this problem in this game. The second thing I want to note: platforming and combat system. They are not bad at all, but they are extremely unresponsive, which makes the whole game difficult. Don't get me wrong, I love playing challenging games that challenge the player. But this is a bad difficulty. The difficulty of an unpolished game. Otherwise, the movement here is very pleasant. In my vision (and what I initially expected from the game), the game was supposed to be short and easy, more for relaxation. But it became a frustration from a constant misunderstanding of where I am and where I should go, and when you try to go somewhere, you are met by a parkour section and an uncomfortable movement. I would like to complete this game to the end, but it's not worth it.

[storm]

I just played for about an hour and I completely agree with you. I was less frustrated and more just discouraged. I was able to (possibly, not sure) skip some areas by utilizing all the great jumps and abilities...but once I reached a point where I couldn't pass without some kind of upgrade, I felt plain tired because I knew I would have to backtrack through all of that area again once I had whatever item I was supposed to have (I don't like backtracking). Without a map I was completely lost. You're right, areas do look mostly the same. And the Underbelly area is so damn dark that I can't even understand what's going on sometimes.

[InfluentJam]

Originally posted by Storm:

And the Underbelly area is so damn dark that I can't even understand what's going on sometimes.

There is an upgrade to help you see in the dark to allow you to get through that area.

[(Edgy) Asriel Dreemurr]

Originally posted by InfluentJam:

Originally posted by Storm:

And the Underbelly area is so damn dark that I can't even understand what's going on sometimes.

There is an upgrade to help you see in the dark to allow you to get through that area.

You're thinking of the dark section of the Dilapidated Dungeon. The Ascendant Light does nothing in the Underbelly.

[InfluentJam]

Originally posted by (Edgy) Asriel Dreemurr:

Originally posted by InfluentJam:

There is an upgrade to help you see in the dark to allow you to get through that area.

You're thinking of the dark section of the Dilapidated Dungeon. The Ascendant Light does nothing in the Underbelly.

Oh, you're right. My bad. I read too dark and just thought "oh yeah there's an upgrade for that".

[Неистовый пивоsos]

Originally posted by Storm:

I just played for about an hour and I completely agree with you. I was less frustrated and more just discouraged. I was able to (possibly, not sure) skip some areas by utilizing all the great jumps and abilities...but once I reached a point where I couldn't pass without some kind of upgrade, I felt plain tired because I knew I would have to backtrack through all of that area again once I had whatever item I was supposed to have (I don't like backtracking). Without a map I was completely lost. You're right, areas do look mostly the same. And the Underbelly area is so damn dark that I can't even understand what's going on sometimes.

Agree with you. I ran for 5 minutes on the underbelly and never returned there. To make matters worse, I have a cheap, 10-year-old monitor, so I couldn't see anything. And also the fact that the game does not have a brightness / gamma setting. But this is a technical problem.

[FireQuiz]

After speedruning this game a few times, I can totally understand where your and everyone else is coming from with the map argument. I've realized that this game has large/u areas broken down into two parts one that is a halfway to the other section, the other being the main part (this is for some of them smaller areas like the keep don't do that). Thus it makes sense when people mention that some areas feel the same sometimes (the Keep and the castle comes to mind a bit). So it makes sense that a map would work for everyone with planning a route and also knowing where you have and haven't been before.

I also understand getting frustrated at not progressing, the first blind play through I had some of that, but then just realized I could look around for upgrades and side track myself on that 100% completion idea by exploring. However, that's not for everyone and it's fine, but glad that you gave it a shot.

[s-s]

Originally posted by Шляпный мышь:

Originally posted by Storm:

. To make matters worse, I have a cheap, 10-year-old monitor, so I couldn't see anything. And also the fact that the game does not have a brightness / gamma setting. But this is a technical problem.

If find the level lighting in Underbelly simply bad. I don't want to ruin my old eyes more than I've already done earlier, so I simply go to Nvidia Settings panel (as I'm using NVidia GPU), and crank the gamma value from 1 to 1.5 or 2. It bends the colors quite nicely so that game doesn't look completely washed out, and you'll get a better understanding of the level structure, but the author used a lot of fog that starts early, so you won't ruin the level anyway, as you are not going to see the whole level even thought the draw distance would allow for it.

[Mushipi]

Originally posted by Шляпный мышь:

I don't want to write a bad review for the game, but I find it very frustrating. Locations and map. Locations look almost the same, a huge number of skips, getting lost is easy. I don't think my terrain skills are that bad as I only experience this problem in this game. The second thing I want to note: platforming and combat system. They are not bad at all, but they are extremely unresponsive, which makes the whole game difficult. Don't get me wrong, I love playing challenging games that challenge the player. But this is a bad difficulty. The difficulty of an unpolished game. Otherwise, the movement here is very pleasant. In my vision (and what I initially expected from the game), the game was supposed to be short and easy, more for relaxation. But it became a frustration from a constant misunderstanding of where I am and where I should go, and when you try to go somewhere, you are met by a parkour section and an uncomfortable movement. I would like to complete this game to the end, but it's not worth it.

Well structured. Minus the combat I completely agree. some form of map would really help. I'm currently completely lost in my play through

[s-s]

Try maps available here in Steam. The one that shows all the areas in one image is good as you only see rooms so it makes it easier to navigate around, and it also shows how the areas are connected so it is a big help. It won't spoil the story or show you where the pickups are etc.

[Daydel]

Honestly maybe it's just me but I had a blast with this game from start to finish lmao. I do think the game could benefit from some more distinct details/environments and stuff to help areas like the main castle area feel more distinct from room to room. (There are some spots of the map that, off the top of my head, are pretty hazy, even if I have a general idea of where things are laid out.) A map would be nice to help navigate too.

That being said, there's something refreshing about how hands off this game is, and how smooth/free the movement is. I found myself doing a lot of sequence breaks and navigating with a mental map in my mind pretty seamlessly. It helps to realize that each move has little quirks you can use to your advantage for getting around- a simple example being how doing a backflip then jumping gives you a higher than normal jump! Lots of abilities have extra utility like this that, when strung together, let you do a lot. Though of course, this requires both a good level of skill and an interest in navigating/thinking.

Which is probably a point of frustration for some people. Not everyone is gonna feel the same way about a game like this, it's definitely not for everyone.