Replayability as bad as reviews say?

[Cryptomancer]

My friends and I are looking for a new coop game since we're almost done with Grim Dawn. This game looks pretty fun, but I'm worried about the replayability. It seems to be the primary complaint that reviewers have with it. Is there enough enemy/level variety to keep you interested? Maybe challenge modes or something? How long does it take to unlock everything for a given character? Thanks.

[Solinarius☕]

You're welcome to read my fair review, but my immediate opinion is that it's a damn good hack n' slash for only 5 dollars! The co-op is very rewarding. Replayability is only a problem if you don't like the action that Slayer Edition offers.

Depending on how you play, it could take quite a while to buy everything for every class.

Some paraphrasing:
"Campaign offers a good experience for newbies and as a side venture, however--by virtue of its difficulty alone--you'll find it unsatisfying if you're an expert."

Once you've learned the ropes, the Campaign is a complete pushover and most levels are linear, so I'd say it has pretty poor replayability. Much less than it used to.

"(Endless) The heart of Slayer Edition... Not worthy of the classic games, mind you, because there is a distinct lack of elegant labyrinths in which to wander. Nonetheless, Endless is a welcome addition. Floors consist of the highly linear run levels from Gauntlet 2014, reconstructed. Sadly, Endless is plagued by some major issues, the greatest of which is the curves that are thrown at you. Sometimes you'll mosey through a pointless, barren level, while other times you'll be treated to the Mini-Battle of Endor. Still, Endless provides a good experience despite its wild difficulty, limited variety, and hacked-together presentation."

So, Endless is where the challenging gameplay is. While Endless is limited in variety, the combat is very dynamic and intense, even more so when you've mastered the classes.

"I'll add that this Gauntlet is as much an arcade game as the first and the hack n' slash gameplay is the best you'll find in the genre.

This Gauntlet really is an awesome, skill-based hack n' slash, owed mainly to the elegant simplicity of the classes.

"Ultimately, the action is the juice. Don't bother with G:SE if you can't appreciate that."

This statement is very true, and there's a lot of negative reviews because people were expecting something other than an arcade game. Arcade action is all this game is about. Not achievements/masteries. Not grinding. Not climbing the leaderboards. Not loot or carrots-on-a-stick. Just action.

[Cryptomancer]

Fair enough. Thanks for the detailed reply.

[Starbug]

Yea good reply. I'll leave it. Thanks for saving us £££

[RetroDuck]

Originally posted by Solinarius:

You're welcome to read my fair review, but my immediate opinion is that it's a damn good hack n' slash for only 5 dollars! The co-op is very rewarding. Replayability is only a problem if you don't like the action that Slayer Edition offers.

Depending on how you play, it could take quite a while to buy everything for every class.

Some paraphrasing:
"Campaign offers a good experience for newbies and as a side venture, however--by virtue of its difficulty alone--you'll find it unsatisfying if you're an expert."

Once you've learned the ropes, the Campaign is a complete pushover and most levels are linear, so I'd say it has pretty poor replayability. Much less than it used to.

"(Endless) The heart of Slayer Edition... Not worthy of the classic games, mind you, because there is a distinct lack of elegant labyrinths in which to wander. Nonetheless, Endless is a welcome addition. Floors consist of the highly linear run levels from Gauntlet 2014, reconstructed. Sadly, Endless is plagued by some major issues, the greatest of which is the curves that are thrown at you. Sometimes you'll mosey through a pointless, barren level, while other times you'll be treated to the Mini-Battle of Endor. Still, Endless provides a good experience despite its wild difficulty, limited variety, and hacked-together presentation."

So, Endless is where the challenging gameplay is. While Endless is limited in variety, the combat is very dynamic and intense, even more so when you've mastered the classes.

"I'll add that this Gauntlet is as much an arcade game as the first and the hack n' slash gameplay is the best you'll find in the genre.

This Gauntlet really is an awesome, skill-based hack n' slash, owed mainly to the elegant simplicity of the classes.

"Ultimately, the action is the juice. Don't bother with G:SE if you can't appreciate that."

This statement is very true, and there's a lot of negative reviews because people were expecting something other than an arcade game. Arcade action is all this game is about. Not achievements/masteries. Not grinding. Not climbing the leaderboards. Not loot or carrots-on-a-stick. Just action.

If action is all this game is about then great! From my experience with playing Dark Legacy back in the GameCube days, with co-op, action was all we cared about. It seems like i'll be reliving my teenage days by picking this one up.

[MY HERO]

replayed this many times, every character is like a new game. it's completely amazing. oh you finished normal as valk? do it again on heroic omg this is so much harder! this is fun!

ok you finished heroic on valk!

Try wizard and have fun using his abilities instead. it's amazing replayability is great 10/10

[Mister]

Like Solinarius, I've done a detailed review. And have a couple links for game play - my review addresses the "complaints" people have.

To sum up the 3 main complaints... boring, not enough game play (lacks content), finished in 6 hours.

So, there are 30 missions to complete in Campaign. Each can be done on Easy, Normal or Hard. There are 4 characters and DLC Character Lilith. So standard game means 4 x 30 missions is 120, times each skill level for a possible 360 mission experiences in Solo. Add others in your team and while the mission is the same the game adjusts for the extra player.

Then there is Endless... top player in the world is at floor 8,000!!! (I cannot reach floor 20 by myself)

Then there is Colosseum where there is a new arena each day. And each day requires you to survive 6 waves of things trying to get you. I have beaten the area only two separate times. Hmm.

How this is "lacks content" or "done in 6 hours" is anyone's guess. Boring? Hmm... as this game cannot be Beaten in 6 hours and clearly does not lack content, how can it be boring?

Are these people FPS snobs? Wouldn't their mates play so it is boring? Unfortunately, those who say "lacks content" or "boring" or "only 6 hours of gameplay" never go into details. But I think it says more about Them than the game. (My guess is, it is too hard for them so they diss it instead of admitting they cannot do well.)

I have 175hr in the game and I haven't completed the game in solo mode in any character in Normal or Hard mode. So yeah.