A Brief Review

[Rotten]

I've got to level 12 or so, and I have some thoughts on the game as a whole.

The game has the basics down. You go out, fight until you get worn out, and then return with goodies. On the whole, patrols seem a bit long, but that was largely because the first quest was to do a whole 3 round patrol. It was a bit painful, but I was here for that, so I don't mind. Other people might burn out.

Also, it took me playing for about 4 hours to start opening up build options, which also feels bad. You're going to lose a lot of players like that.

I've seen a lot of games that started out like this only to throw it out with balance decisions that ultimately made the game less fun. Don't do that. Some people are going to play for a little bit and then move on. That's life. Don't try to lock people in with a dopamine drip by stretching out rewards. It's terrible. If you're going to have rewards, let people get them predictably. Only take them away when gambling, that is a high risk and a higher reward.

Placing rewards marks a value to player time and difficulty makes an activity feel longer. Don't do an Argentina.

As for more specific critiques, let's start with getting locked into corners. Sometimes, I will be retreating while shooting and six enemies appear out of nowhere to block me in at a rock. I can't tell whether I have my sword out or not because enemies fill my screen, and I usually die very quickly. Feels really bad. So holding switch to always default to sword might be good, or I could just bring out the spear. Though the spear is unreliable thanks to how long it recharges. Worth considering that an ability that takes a minute to recharge is likely going to be forgotten.

I'm playing on a Steam Deck, and the only problems I've had have been animations getting stuck, leaving me unable to shoot, swing, or switch in the case of the gun. Hitting escape tends to fix this. Though if I'm swarmed, I often can't tell if I'm actually still doing anything. In multiplayer, I have substantial delays and it looks like I'm staggering a lot, but my internet sucks.

I've heard someone complain about the Berserker, but that is the easiest in the game to parry. The knights and brutes though... can I even parry those at all? I know they seem to only damage shields, but it's a kinda serious thing you can't obstruct these close combat guys from doing tons of damage to your shields. Really feels bad only dodging avoids the damage. Also assassins? Really feels bad to just get knocked down out of no where for free health damage. Doing the teleport back and forth and then strike that the bosses do would probably feel better, and giving it another attack that knocks down would be good. Just make sure it's telegraphed, because getting knocked down in a group of mobs takes a ton of HP.

To open my design commentary, melee combos are just kind of bad. Switching from swings, to thrusts, and then to chops is just bad. I've missed the timing several times because I wasn't counting where I was in the combo. It's annoying.

I'd advise a fast chop, a weighty swing, and a forward moving thrust as the basic moves. Basic attack does one, power attack does another and... maybe dash does the other one? Not sure about that.

Another thought is changing melee attacks from the thing that hits multiple enemies to something that is much faster than what we have now and incorporates more movement so that the player moves through crowds of enemies as they attack individual targets.

I like the gun types right now. The flechette shotgun, the piercing that works really well on long lines of enemies or elites hidden behind mobs... it's fun.

However, the "pew, pew, pew," gun has some problems. Real automatic guns are meant to keep firing to suppress enemies, so you keep firing until the magazine is empty. They aren't hitting much. So the steady firing gun that constantly hits is a balance problem.

An alternative is guns that are meant to do something within the space of a single clip. Like a fully automatic that sprays enemies with some kind of status effect. A pump-action gun that shoots explosive rounds. A bolt-action gun that reloads after every shot, but also can leave a trail that has other effects.

The current high efficiency fire should probably be more available to a player that specializes in ranged combat.

Lastly, spawning tons of mobs between between mobs is just a missed opportunity. Make a ranger type elite that can shoot and engage in melee, but also retreats to heal. Have it drop shimmer reliably, and you can get an enemy that drags out missions for questionable rewards. Modest risk for modest reward.

Also, Chris Morrone did a fantastic job on the music. It's pretty close to a rock tempo, but the instruments he uses are generally kinder on the ears.

[IndecisionLabs]

First of all thank you SO much for taking the time to put this together and send this, really means a lot

Some responses:
- I do purposefully allow early extraction in case a patrol is too much of a time commitment. You can also skip quests if it's an annoying one for you :)
- I've been struggling with people saying the game was overwhelming and over complicated when i had more things unlocked sooner, and so that's how it ended up where it is. I understand your view and basically agree myself. I'm constantly evaluating this.
- the enemies locking into corners has been worked on in this latest patch, it's stemming from an anti-map exploit feature that has essentially gone a little overboard lol definitely in work and sorry for the inconvenience
- animations stuck is an issue I've been getting rid of whenever I find them, sorry about that
- Knights you can't parry because they are meant for area denial. When there is only 1 you can literally just walk sideways to avoid them. Definitely an enemy meant to be scary when in a horde. Appreciate the input though. The assassin will be getting louder vocal ques, and larger VFX soon to help it feel less random for sure
- This type of melee system you mention is something i had in the game and removed due to people failing to use it once the game gets hectic. Definitely considering introducing it for specific gear perks or something like that since I know me and other's still do like these types of melee systems
- If you are referring to compact, that's actually the weakest weapon in the game right now at higher difficulties, still looking at balance overall though ofcourse
- I'm not sure what you mean by mobs between mobs, but I like your ideas of a hybrid melee/ranged enemy. I have kept them all separate right now because it helps with combat readability and predictability when ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan. Moving forward though introducing some more complex ones I think will be fun
- I'll let him know he will greatly appreciate that :)

thanks again!

[Rotten]

Thanks for the response!