Recent reviews by Mandz

Music is great, there's hardly no jank, framerates are high, story is compelling even without much visuals as it was hard carried by the writing and great voice acting and there's enough customization options to express yourself with your very own mech. Campaign itself also throws some good twists to it's themes and gameplay every once in a while.

"I won't miss"

Made me realize there's something for me in the mech genre.
The stagger system applying to everything dampens some of the builds though.

Negative experience at the later half of the game.
Got to the IBIS coral boss using a very involved, varied build and playstyle, and was having a hard time until I switched to a practical, brain-dead build that keeps pressure up without having to reload, then tore through that boss, and the rest of the game, until NG++ end.

While I wish I didn't discover I could play like that, there was not a single instance afterward that stopped me from utilizing this loadout as I waited for the game to come up with a fight that forced my hand. I thought at some point, I will encounter something that has anti-stagger; defenses that grow with intensity that punishes the build I had, forcing me to come up with ways to fight with burst damage instead.

This probably works best in pvp, where players are encouraged to keep the pressure up. I personally didn't bother with pvp as I don't enjoy figuring out meta builds so I'm not too informed on this.

Though even without trying out pvp, I appreciate that the parts were built is such a way that with enough experience you can tell what an enemy mech is capable of with just a single look.

Pulls you in with the incredibly chill vibes and character writing.

Fun gameplay.
Enough variety of spells to help with different situations.
Lightning element could use more drawbacks though, it's kinda OP.
As a magic enjoyer, the special effects are chunky and flashy.
There's enough depth (particularly around mana recovery), that makes it fun when you master it.
Cute anime aesthetic.

Pretty great.
Decent gameplay.
Solid (and unusual) H-scenes.

I haven't played much h-games, but I really appreciate that this one goes out of it's way to minimize jank in both the controls. A few hours in, I was comfortably navigating through the menu to recall clues, check key items, view map without getting bogged down with confusing controls. Appreciated.

(I get the feeling that enemy density and aggression is determined by how much ammunition you have).

• Controls are responsive, though no way to remap keys at the time of this review.
  
• Well animated H-scenes.
  
• There's a difficulty spike on map 4, everything else is ok.
  
• Ammunition is limited, but can be compensated using the melee kick properly.

Tips to others who might have a bad time (somewhat hard).

• Doors and switches have symbols above or next to them, use that when figuring out which button opens what. I only noticed this 5 levels in.
  
• Master the effective range of the kick.
  
  • There's atleast 2 monster types you can defeat without wasting ammo if you do.
• You don't have to kill everything, just remember you only have 2 objectives:
  
  • Rescue target: Each stage has an NPC you have to carry to extraction.
    
    • You lose the ability to jump when carrying someone, but don't fret when you drop to a lower platform, the stage is built in a way that there's always a transporter at the lowest floors.
  • Datacore - Optional item for unlocking more H-scenes.

Oddly enough, after spending some money on the game, the patcher became busted and the game became literally unplayable.

Be warned.

I like this game. I like the world, soundtrack, build variety, dungeons, boss battles...

However, when the DLC/sequel comes out I'll pay very close attention to the control layout/camera controls next time before buying.

Thumbs up.

You're probably getting this game because of one thing. And you'll get that one thing.

Problem is everything else, combat especially.

• Enemy AI is barely there.
  
• Abilities look flashy, but has no tactical depth.
  
• Part of progression is mostly bound to time spent playing, and days spent logging in, not unlike a mobile game.
  
• There's energy spent on the story and cinematics (even has voiceovers), but that gets diluted fast because of the previous point.
  
• Higher difficulty = enemies just have more hp, and hit somewhat harder. Moveset are primarily approach-then-attack, except on the rare cases where enemy is ranged.
  
• While menus are well designed appearance-wise, there's a lot of jank from time to time. Changing audio settings doesn't always kick-in until game is restarted, very minimal control over the UI, weird submenuing for the DLC (nude mod has it's own section in the options panel, yet Haydee costume appears normally as a costume next to all the other body options on the appearance menu, why?).
  
• Missed opportunity: Male body option DLC doesn't come with male animations.
  
• Jank in some of the equipment. Using the katana on the mage character causes her to hold the weapon using the bladed end. Using the auto-hide option on the wings will cause it to appear with every spacebar use, but disappears when activating flight mode.
  
• For a game that encourages you to play as much as possible, there's not a lot you can do outside of the already abysmal combat.
  
• Denuvo.

I've put money into this now free-to-play game to show appreciation for the work of the devs, but there's just a lot of unnecessary stuff in here that feels like frustration mechanics that I'm not willing to put up with.

I'll check on it again after some time.

Love this game.

The artstyle, soundtrack, story all mixed to such a sublime balance that it just elevates itself to a whole new level. If the trailer tickles your interest, the vibe is exactly the same in-game and has to be experienced first-hand.

Difficulty is also just the right amount of challenge, it doesn't feel like grinding is required. Save spots/checkpoints are also plentiful enough that your progress is practically protected every 3-5 sections you clear, though in exchange it means the game is permitted to throw incredibly juicy encounters at you, which it does, unrelentingly so.

Abilities obtained throughout the story is also mechanically varied and can be combined to cover various obstacles provided by the wide range of enemies. Bosses are also a treat, initially coming off as insurmountable, but eventually manageable once you get used to fighting them and figure out the best build to get even.

One of the few games that I played to 100% completion, and kept going still because of NG+ which allows boss rush, challenge sliders, among other things. Luv it~

Well, I guess everyone has to make their first "thumbs down" review after all. Never thought I'd see the day.

I'll start with the positive first. Graphics are spectacular, even with the limitation of designing everything with a rock motif, levels are incredibly varied and beautiful. The game is filled with rocks, sand, debris, gemstones, then later architecture that mix in all sorts of ways that give flavor to every area in the game.

Background/skyboxes are also no slouch with all the equally gorgeous landscapes, often in open areas that add a sense of vastness and scale to this world.

Music is also great, the soundtrack has a theatrical feel to it, and it very often nails the vibe of the area it's playing for.

Not much to say about sound design, but I think that's a good thing. Sound design, to me atleast, is something that you don't notice when it's done well. When you're taking hits and making contact, when objects slide and click into place, when items are being consumed and thrown, explosions, environmental hazards, enemy grunts when they start and finish their attacks, the clanging of weapons, all have sound that is appropriate and as expected.

Now... the combat, man, the combat...

You're basically playing as a badass rock golem called the Carven... that has a tremendous fear of heights, and the stamina of a bedridden person.

Let me explain, I was shocked that a game like this (a platformer!) actually has fall damage. A fall from a somewhat relatively safe height in other games actually hurts your character in this game, which can get annoying at some sections where platforming gauntlets are placed at a height that would hurt you if you missed a jump, limiting the amount of tries you have depending on how short your HP is.

Nevermind the pain of just starting over, which is going to be alot, because some platforming sections are big enough that you don't see all it's mechanics and hazards in one go, without trial and error. NOOOoooo, the game has to destroy you for it, and send you back to the last checkpoint (have I mentioned that checkpoints are somewhat scarce in this game considering the size of some areas?).

Oh, it also does this thing where if you fall for long enough your character just EXPLODES out of nowhere then resets your location. Like I get it, it prevents sequence breaking and the character will die from that height with fall damage anyway. But aren't there lots of other ways to stop players from exploring places they shouldn't go? And yep, this also deals damage, so don't bother doing leaps of faith in this game when your HP is running low.

Next is the stamina system, the stamina existing in this game single-handedly ruined this game for me. Everything you do in this game (with the exception of walking and standing still thank god) eats at your stamina. Light attacks, heavy attacks, jumping, dashing - doing any these unnecessarily during encounters (to have fun, to style, etc) is sure to screw you over and the game will punish you relentlessly for it.

The stamina system forces you to have a safe, conservative, and incredibly boring playstyle that is pretty much "get as much attacks in as you can", then keep your distance and avoid attacks while your eyes drift to the top left of the screen waiting for the stamina meter to fill back up so you can keep playing the game.

The sad part is, it even bleeds into their boss design, the boss were made to either accomodate (very slow attacks) or exploit (super fast rotations) players with limited stamina builds, resulting in most boss fights being not a moment of spectacle and triumph but of patience and frustration.

This also indirectly incentivizes avoiding certain encounters, I once walked into a room that has 4 ground enemies and 3 enemies chucking spears at me, and my gut reaction is to ignore all of it, GTFO, and hurry up into the next room, because I know the stamina system will make sure I won't enjoy that fight, which is a damn shame since I consider myself a player who looks for those moments.

I've watched some streamers play this game, and they sure as hell have a hard time making fights look good, even the streamers I know who are into hack-and-slash don't bother to move/dash around much when they don't need to. As designed, I guess.

There are abilities that allow you to restore stamina with a well-timed block or dash, but that's a band-aid solution, and at most it only restores 1-3 light attacks worth. So yeah, back to walking and resting. I swear if the guy handling the stamina system is given more development time, he would've required players to sit down, or even sleep. Could you tell him I hate him? don't actually do that, of course.

My final gripe is the restrictions on the customization, I'm not talking about the cosmetics, that's good and all but the fact that the game actually requires resources to tweak your build, what was that about? You'd think in a game like this, you'd be allowed resets as much as you want so as long as you only do it in specific points in the game - so you're encouraged to try different playstyles from checkpoint to checkpoint, as well as make you look forward to what powers you unlock later in the game (because you know trying them out will just be a checkpoint away).

But currently? The resources to reset or refund skill points are incredibly scarce, potentially locking you out of weapons that you didn't consider building towards (which is likely if it's your first playthrough). You'd also be scared to spend points on mediocre abilities because you think the next prey with a good ability might appear.

It's so weird, it's because of this that I actually groaned when I went through a gauntlet only to find a weapon in the end that I can't use. Metroidvanias should not make me dislike finding stuff. Supposedly, the magic of a system like this (ex: Dark Souls) is it allows you to expand your options and add depth within a particular playstyle, all GRIME does is lock you of it.

The last part would probably be me discussing some animation glitches and jank in rebinding the controls, but I won't be too hard on that as the developers seem that they're still working on that, and patches are still rolling in. So there's no doubt in my mind that it will eventually get better.

But at the moment, I'll hold on to my opinion that this whole thing is massively hurt by that annoying little meter beneath the HP bar, and the rest of this otherwise pristine gemstone of a game is held back by it.

After patch 1.1.37:
Alright, I played enough to reach the part where I beat Shidra and unlocked the kinship ending, though looking at the comment threads, I clearly missed out on a few other bosses. But I've seen enough to change my mind.

Fall damage tolerance appears to have been adjusted. It still annoys me from time to time, but it no longer feels like the floor is a bigger threat than actual enemies.

Stamina regen has been buffed just enough that it restricts your movement options, but not enough that it feels you're playing with a straitjacket on. Stamina cost for jumping is also almost negligible now, though you're still required to pay attention to how you use your dash, which I'm fine with.

As for the builds: I'll be honest, still not a fan. I sorta gave up on the whole thing - I just picked a weapon that has a light and heavy attack that I like, upgraded it as much as I can and stuck with it, the second weapon slot was practically empty my entire playthrough and I actually forgot the button I use for weapon swaps.

One new thing I noticed that grinds my gears: hitbox detection. I can't totally pinpoint what I hate about it, but it feels like the i-frames operate via RNG.

I had too many "I swear I dodged that" moments late game... might wanna look into that.

Credit where it's due, here's my T-Up.