Freaking love this demo

[BodhiZafa]

I never played Vampire Survivor because it honestly looks so boring. I saw Asmongold's video on this game and was instantly hooked by the Conan inspiration. I freaking love Conan Exiles so that alone sold me. Then the simplistic game play with interesting progression got me addicted. That progression system is really fun and I like how grindy it is. I know that's not many people's cup of tea, but I like it.

I'm really digging the characters you play, it was funny noticing the different shlong lengths and breast sizes, and I love getting new gear and how it's added to your character's appearance. Something most of these types of games don't do from what I've seen.

Side note for new players, it was freaking fun to jump into this genre with no prior knowledge and punching skeletons for 4 minutes until I died wondering why I couldn't kill a single one. The second attempted I found the one skeleton you could kill to start with your weapon. I loved the sense of discovery but it started to get overwhelming. Here in the discussion thread some one mentioned that there is a game guide in the main menu and that really helped me out. I just wanted to point that out, because there are so many things I don't understand in this game.

One question, when I get an extra dash ability, it adds a silver dash icon to the right side of my screen away from my other green dashes, how do I use it and what does it do?

And as for changes and fixes? There is virtually nothing I can think of to make this game better, it's nearly perfect. Maybe two tiny little thing.
1. In the endless mode in the demo, there is a ritual ring of skeletons. I keep trying to attack them and it's really throwing me off. Maybe changing them to glowing red like the ritual circle will help distinguish them as the background and not an enemy.

2. The initial dash animation is boring and stiff. Making a more exaggerated character pose during the dash, like a super man pose, or something would really add to the overall character animation set. I love the way the characters move... and the body parts jiggling, but that dash animation became distracting. Like it's not finished.

More people should hear about this game. Definitely think about sending copies out to more YouTubers. This needs more exposure.

[DrDerpenstein]

Originally posted by BodhiZafa:

One question, when I get an extra dash ability, it adds a silver dash icon to the right side of my screen away from my other green dashes, how do I use it and what does it do?

Using the [Space Bar] (default bind) will activate the dash ability. Adding more charges just gives you a buffer before you run out and have to recharge it. Try using dash in the early stages of the game then again much much later once you've leveled up - you'll definitely see a difference in how often you can jump.

Early game it's used a a cheap method to get TO something, later it's an important tool to get AWAY from [anything] lol.

The Dodge ability seems to be automatic (no user input required) and can similarly be leveled to have more charges.

[Irmstoi]

Glad to hear you loved the game, and thanks for the feedback! :)

The silver dash icons represent Dodge Charges, which are automatically consumed when an enemy attacks you, negating that attack. The teal/green dash icons are your Movement Ability Charges, consumed when you use the Dash (or other movement abilities unlocked later). Both recharge over time.

Some mechanics in the game are admittedly a bit vague and can be tricky to figure out, but it's also important to leave room for players to learn. Discovering mechanics and synergies is at the core of ARPGs, and too much hand-holding (like excessive tutorials) can detract from that experience. Still, it shouldn’t venture into the territory of becoming frustrating. Need to find the perfect middle-road here.

[BodhiZafa]

Ah! Thank you DrDerp and Irmstoi. I totally didn't realize they said Dodge and weren't dashes. With the game being so hectic, it was a simple misreading on my part. That makes total sense now.

Also, I stated that I loved the sense of discovery in trying to figure out how the game works, but it's really cool that you, Irmstoi, specifically kept that in mind as a design philosophy. I thought you did a pretty great job at that since I did in fact feel it. I had my wife and best friend play the game as well. They also started punching skeletons not figuring out what to do at first. And I was secretly giggling as they finally found the one skeleton they needed. It was fun watching them go through the same sense of discovery I did.

Great game!