Recent reviews by Twisted_Code

Uhhh... is there a download or is this literally just a license? In any case, where are the details? I assumed purchasing this would allow me to download & use the soundtrack (in, for instance, MP3 format) independent of the game. That doesn't seem to be the case.

Edit: (For those that don't feel like clicking to read the comments on this review) Matt (the dev) clarified that the soundtrack is downloaded in MP3 format to the game's directory once purchased. That probably should be in the item description.

I really want to be able to give this game a positive review, but in order to do that I really need the developer to address one really subtle accessibility bug I've been intermittently begging him to fix, and he's been ignoring it. The short version is that this doesn't work with Windows' (standard) On-Screen Keyboard, because it interprets clicks on the keyboard as if I'm clicking in the game canvas.
Until I'm able to play again (though to be fair I'm not sure why it worked before, except maybe that I got lucky and he just NEVER considered on-screen keyboard support.), this review will remain negative.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Is your fridge running? No? are you sure about that? >:-D
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/169288467317520244/FB7172ACBF9986600243E06968FFD892E8FCA83F/
Hole in my house? Oh that? That's just our renovation project.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/169288467317326358/A59E40A6C1F97B38E3532A5EB47AA55C3C69811E/
Need I say more?? This game is awesome! Special thanks to the developers for letting people play for free this weekend. You earned a very satisfied customer by doing that :-)

edits/follow up (original review preserved above... not that anything has changed. It's still awesome):
some additional stuff I discovered as I played: this game is very satirical of just about everything (within acceptable limits), as you can see in the most recent trailer. "Aw, he started his own mini apocalypse! Who doesn't love those!"
the main developer, Matt, communicates very well on discord whenever he's available to do so. He'll often let users know when he squashes a bug, and as long as you respect his time (and don't @ him unnecessarily), he seems to be a pretty cool guy.
the game is still being updated with new items, tweaks, and AI improvements, many of which no doubt came from the #suggestions channel on the discord, or possibly the in game feedback form (which is no longer nearly as awkward as it used to be to work with)
Of course, that means the game also gets random bugs occasionally, but as a wise programmer once taught me, "if you program, there will be bugs. The measure of a good programmer is not how few bugs you create, but in how well you respond to them when they occur". None of them are even close to game breaking. Most of them are just simple bits of AI pathfinding weirdness. occasionally something won't animate quite right. As long as you're not trying to play the game one-handed or something crazy, nothing like that is going to end your run.
there are A LOT of mutators to choose from. want everyone to be angry at you at the start of every level ("Fight me ♥♥♥♥♥!")? You got it! Want random disaster scenario shenanigans every level (bombs falling from the sky, a Grey goo scenario that slowly consumes level, soldiers duking it out with cannibals in an endless war zone)? We can do that too! want every level to have a zombie apocalypse (there's a disaster (option!) for that as well by the way)?! as easily unlocked as done! Seriously, the amount of random stuff you can do just by mixing and matching mutators is insane

As far as the game itself, if you like Minecraft, general multiplayer player vs. environment combat, and occasional multiplayer dungeon crawling, this game will be perfect for you. However, as far as downloading with steam, I'm not so sure I would recommend it, as there seem to be some problems with logging in and/or staying logged in. However, you should be fine, as this only seems to happen if you're like me and try to launch directly from the executable at ".\Steam\steamapps\common\Trove\Games\Trove\Live\Trove.exe"(*). Using steam to download the game also seems to make it more prone to crashing. However, a number of steam integration features mostly if not completely make up for any such bugs.

Overall ratings

• Uniqueness among games: 9.5/10 — I have to dock .5 for being a slight bit too much like Minecraft. Sure, Minecraft wasn't the first voxel builder game either, but it feels like they could've added more than just a mining laser to make the experience better if they were going to "follow the leader" like this. Yesterday (2021-06-23) I found myself wishing I could copy-paste sections of my club world.
  
• Gameplay: 10.0/10 — because of how frequently they update with new content/bug fixes, it never really gets old (take, for instance, the Thanksgiving update which reskinned Shadow Giants to look like robotic turkeys), and I can't think of a damn thing wrong with the gameplay in general!
  
• Community: 9.5/10 — I had to dock .5 because spambots and occasional trolls (and I'm barely considering the latter because they're everywhere). This rating is liable to change as my experience with the community changes.
  
• progression balance:7.0 — see edit message below from 2021-06-24
  
• adaptability: 9.0/10 — this rating is for my fellow paraplegics: If you can control your mouse cursor fairly well and use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the on-screen keyboard should be able to fill the remaining gap in most cases. Just don't expect to do too well in shadow towers and other high-level dungeons
  
• Conclusion: 9.0/10 Absolutely recommended for anyone that likes this sort of game. Now excuse me, I've got stop reviewing it and go play it already :-)

P.S. Please reply in the comments to this review if you happen to know how to launch a game (or at least this game) the same way that clicking the play button on the store page launches it — In this case through Trion World's Glyph launcher.



*It seems this starts the game directly rather than going through the Glyph launcher, which is apparently the only reliable login method.
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edit (2021-06-24): I had to add a rating criterion because I really have an ax to grind about one thing I don't like about this game: the fact that with almost every major update, they make the progression-ladder TALLER rather than WIDER. What I mean by this is that if you stop playing the game for a while, you won't be able to do anything with the newly added content until you get more powerful. Meanwhile, those that have been playing consistently will basically fly past you, both figuratively and sometimes literally (Dragon mounts). Part of what made me take a huge hiatus from the game was the so-called "mantle of power" update years ago, to which I one time flatly quipped "they dropped the mantle". Most of the content on that update seemed to be aimed at making it impossible to progress without paying for re-gem-erators and luck-boosts for when you upgrade your gems and they break. While these things could technically be purchased with cubits, that's less cubits you could spend on other things, which was annoying to say the least.
Of course, this isn't anything new among mmo's, and even some MMO-like games such as cryofall have difficulty controlling the grind factor. That's why the rating I gave the added criterion is 7.0 and not 5 or less. It's annoying, but not uncommon in the industry. Nonetheless, it's important to the accuracy of my rating. Still a pretty decent game after all these years, all things considered.
also revised my other ratings slightly