Info about Ziggurat 2: Official game description: Ziggurat is back, and now it's even better! Use powerful weapons and spells to break through hordes of enemies and explore labyrinthine dungeons in this hectic roguelite FPS, while you improve your skills and discover new equipment. Will you be up to the task? Evil lurks in the depths ------------------------ As a member of the most powerful magic order, your task is to protect humanity from the forces of evil. Face hordes of enemies and fearsome Guardians in epic and dynamic combats. Keep an eye on elemental resistances and vulnerabilities to maximize your efficiency, and earn experience to level up and learn useful perks that will help you reach the end of the dungeon in one piece. First Person Shooting at its finest ----------------------------------- Ziggurat 2 focuses on fast paced combat and constant movement, in which mistakes are paid dearly. You'll need dexterity, reflexes and resource management skills to have a chance of survival against the dangers hiding in the shadows, and manage to come back safe and sound. No two plays are the same ------------------------- Following the line of its predecessor, in Ziggurat 2 dungeons are randomly generated, full of dangers and treasure for the bold wizards daring to enter them. Going a step further, dungeons now have more verticality and variety, and more compact rooms, for quicker fights and easier exploration. Back to the Citadel ------------------- In the Citadel, home of the Brotherhood, you'll be able to recruit new and old allies, as well as improve your equipment and skills, before deciding which mission to perform next. With dozens of unlockable weapons with different natures and behaviors, preparation before a mission is crucial and may be the difference between an overwhelming victory and the bitter taste of defeat. Improved formula ---------------- Ziggurat 2 has been redesigned from the ground up with the goal of improving over the original in all areas, and offer an even smoother and faster experience, with quicker, more intense sessions, and more interactive and fulfilling progression. Release date: Oct 28, 2021 Categories: First-Person Shooter, Roguelite, Procedural Generation, Character Progression, Fast-Paced Gameplay, Elemental Combat System, Weapon Customization Feature scans: - Proton/Linux: score 10; verdict: Works Well; summary: The game is highly praised for its performance and reliability on Linux, both natively and under Proton. Users report that it runs flawlessly out of the box and performs well even on modest hardware. The native Linux support is appreciated, but some users find that Proton with DXVK offers better performance. - Steam Deck: score 25; verdict: Seamless with Minor Tinkering; summary: The game is highly praised for its performance and stability on Linux, with users reporting a seamless experience. However, there are indications that using Proton can enhance the experience, which may require some additional configuration. - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: - Community fair range: $10.00 - $30.00 - Reasoning: The evidence shows a mix of willingness to pay full price, which is often associated with triple-A games typically priced around $60, and suggestions to buy the game on sale for less than $10 or between $25-$30. This indicates that while some users find the game valuable enough to pay a premium price, others believe it is more reasonably priced at a lower range, suggesting a fair base-game price range that balances these perspectives. - Playtime Metrics: - Game completion: 50.0h - Story completion: 19.0h - Session length: N/A - Endgame: 100.0h - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct and indirect references to playtime. The first quote mentions 'many hours' without specifying an exact number, but it indicates a significant investment of time. The second quote suggests that players can easily put '50+ hours' into the game, which aligns with the idea of a high playtime for game completion. The third quote explicitly states '100 hours' spent on the game, including completing the campaign twice and getting all achievements, which supports the endgame playtime. The fourth quote mentions it took 19 hours to finish the story campaign, which directly supports the story completion time. - Time-to-fun: - Summary: The game starts off repetitive but becomes fun and engaging as players unlock more content and progress further. - Stance: Clicks after - Anchor: Unlocking a variety of content and progressing further into the game. - Time to anchor: 1h 0m - Friction: Repetitive gameplay; Lack of variety in early game; Bland initial experience - Unlock drivers: Unlocking new weapons; Unlocking new perks; Unlocking new characters - Conditions: Playing for a while; Progressing further into the game; Unlocking a variety of content - Player Archetypes: - Franchise Fan (buy) - Motivation: Enjoyment of similar gameplay mechanics and nostalgia. - Playstyle: Fast-paced, aggressive, and strategic. - Experience: veteran - Purchase stance: buy - Labels: franchise fan; veteran player - Reference games: Ziggurat 1; Immortal Redneck; City of Brass - Genre Enthusiast (buy) - Motivation: Challenge and excitement of fast-paced shooters and roguelites. - Playstyle: Aggressive, strategic, and reflex-based. - Experience: familiar - Purchase stance: buy - Labels: genre fan; experienced player - Reference games: Heretic; Hexen; Turok - Value Seeker (sale) - Motivation: Getting value for money and enhancing gameplay experience. - Playstyle: Cautious, value-driven, and tool-assisted. - Experience: mixed - Purchase stance: sale - Labels: value seeker; cautious gamer - Reference games: Ziggurat 1; Immortal Redneck Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Fast-Paced Gameplay (weight 0.8): The game is known for its fast-paced and responsive gameplay, including fast-paced combat and movement. This makes the game exciting and engaging for players. - Excellent Sequel (weight 0.67): As a sequel, the game retains core elements of the original while improving upon them. It is praised for building on the strengths of its predecessor and offering a better overall experience. - Wide Variety of Weapons (weight 0.65): The game offers a large assortment of weapons, with over 60 different types, including unique and interesting options. This variety enhances gameplay strategies and player engagement. - Impressive Visuals and Graphics (weight 0.52): The game features stunning graphics, vibrant colors, and impressive visuals that are considered an improvement over its predecessor. Players appreciate the graphical enhancements and the overall visual appeal. - Engaging Roguelike Elements (weight 0.47): The game incorporates roguelike elements that are fun and well-received. These elements add to the game's appeal and replayability. - Well-Optimized Performance (weight 0.39): The game is well-optimized with no obvious performance issues. Players report smooth gameplay without bugs, crashes, or framerate problems. - Content-Rich Game (weight 0.24): The game is packed full of content, offering a lot of variety and different ways to play. It is considered bigger and more varied than the original. - Good Character and Monster Design (weight 0.23): The game features good character designs and an attractive art style. Players appreciate the interesting characters and fine monster designs. - Meta-Progression in Campaign (weight 0.19): The game features a long campaign with meta-progression, which is tied to the gameplay. This adds depth and encourages continued play. - Great Sound and Music (weight 0.18): The game features a great sound score, good sound effects, and fantastic music. The improved sound design enhances the overall gaming experience. Common complaints: - Repetitive gameplay elements (weight 0.69): Many players find the game becomes repetitive quickly, with similar enemies, rooms, and mechanics. This repetition extends to various aspects of the game, making it feel mundane after a short period. - Ineffective perks and upgrades (weight 0.41): Perks and upgrades in the game are often seen as useless or boring. Players feel that the upgrades do not provide meaningful improvements or fun gameplay changes. - Unbalanced enemy mechanics (weight 0.28): Enemies often spawn behind the player and have exaggerated aim, making combat feel unfair. Additionally, enemies lack reactions, which can make encounters feel less dynamic. - Weak story and theming (weight 0.27): The story and overall theming of the game are criticized for being generic, thin, and unengaging. Players find the narrative elements lacking depth and interest. - Boss design flaws (weight 0.27): Bosses are criticized for having invulnerability phases and being too simplistic. Players also note that the same bosses spawn frequently, adding to the repetitiveness. - UI and art style issues (weight 0.26): The user interface is considered dated, and the art style is criticized for being unappealing or cartoony. These elements detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. - Cramped and cluttered rooms (weight 0.12): Rooms in the game are often described as cramped with overdesigned verticality and clutter, which can make navigation and combat difficult. - Overwhelming combat design (weight 0.12): The core combat philosophy is criticized for overwhelming the player with excessive enemy attacks, even during boss fights, which can feel unfair and frustrating. - Lack of multiplayer options (weight 0.12): The absence of co-op play and multiplayer modes is noted as a significant drawback. Players express a desire for more social and cooperative gameplay options. - Comparison to Bloodborne (weight 0.11): The game is often compared to Bloodborne but is seen as less impressive. Players feel it does not live up to the standards set by similar games. Gameplay feedback: - Roguelite FPS gameplay (weight 0.75): The game is frequently described as a fast-paced, first-person shooter with roguelite elements, emphasizing fast movement, tight shooting mechanics, and procedural generation. - Procedural room generation (weight 0.51): The game features randomly generated dungeons and rooms, which adds variety and replayability. However, some reviews mention issues with room design and a lack of exciting layouts. - Variety in weapons and abilities (weight 0.4): Players appreciate the variety of weapons, abilities, and characters available in the game, which enhances the gameplay experience and provides different playstyles. - Upgrade and progression systems (weight 0.31): Players can upgrade their characters and abilities, with a progression system that includes leveling up and gaining bonuses. - Elemental damage mechanics (weight 0.22): The game includes an elemental damage system, where weapons and abilities have elemental properties that affect combat dynamics. - Improvement over Ziggurat 1 (weight 0.19): Many reviews compare the game favorably to its predecessor, Ziggurat 1, highlighting significant improvements in gameplay and features. - Adjustable difficulty settings (weight 0.18): The game features multiple difficulty levels, allowing players to adjust the challenge to their preference. - Unique boss fights (weight 0.15): The game includes challenging boss fights with unique patterns, adding to the game's difficulty and excitement. - Powerful and visible perks (weight 0.14): Perks in the game have significant impacts and are visibly beneficial, enhancing the gameplay experience. - Variety in room types (weight 0.14): The game features different types of rooms, including combat rooms, rest rooms, and puzzle rooms, adding variety to the gameplay. - Additional challenges (weight 0.13): The game includes additional challenges, such as platforming and daily challenges, providing extra content for players. - Secrets and exploration (weight 0.13): Players can explore and find secret rooms, although some reviews mention limited environmental interaction. Performance notes: - Game runs well and optimized (weight 0.52): The game is well-optimized and runs smoothly, excelling visually and performing great even on modest hardware. - Motion sickness and lighting issues (weight 0.16): Some players experience motion sickness and issues with dynamic and volumetric lighting, which can strain the eyes. - Good sound effects and music (weight 0.07): The game has well-produced sound effects and music, enhancing the overall experience. - Works well on Steam Deck (weight 0.06): The game works like a charm on the Steam Deck, indicating good compatibility and performance on this device. - Vsync causing lag (weight 0.06): There are reports of Vsync causing lag, which can affect the gameplay experience. - Mouse sensitivity issues (weight 0.06): Some players have reported issues with mouse sensitivity, affecting their control experience. - Low system requirements (weight 0.05): The game can run well even on modest hardware, suggesting low system requirements. Recommendations: - Recommended for roguelike and FPS fans (weight 0.46): The game is highly recommended for fans of roguelikes, FPS, and fast-paced shooters. It is particularly suggested for those who enjoyed the first game and are looking for a similar experience. - General recommendation to all players (weight 0.25): The game is broadly recommended to everyone, not just fans of specific genres. It is considered a well-recommended title worth getting a copy of. - Highly recommended for Ziggurat 1 fans (weight 0.21): If you enjoyed Ziggurat 1, Ziggurat 2 is a must-have and should be purchased without hesitation. It is seen as an improvement over the previous game. - Suggested gameplay improvements (weight 0.15): Players suggest making abilities more fun and engaging, providing more weapons, and removing or redesigning perk downgrades to enhance the gameplay experience. - Worth buying at full price (weight 0.12): The game offers plenty of content to justify a full price purchase. It is suggested to buy the game regardless of the price. - Potential for greatness (weight 0.12): The game is seen as having the potential to become one of the best FPS roguelites and a big favorite among players. - Co-op and multiplayer features (weight 0.11): The game offers co-op and 4-player co-op modes, making it a fun experience for playing with friends. - Includes campaign mode (weight 0.06): The game features a campaign mode, adding to its content and replayability. - Buy on discount if unsure (weight 0.06): If you are unsure about the game, it is recommended to buy it on big discounts, especially if you like the genre. - Consider using a trainer (weight 0.06): Some players recommend using a trainer or cheat for additional XP to enhance the gaming experience. - Try similar games (weight 0.06): Players suggest trying similar games like BPM, Risk of Rain, or Bullet Redneck if you enjoy this genre. Other player notes: - Multiplayer feature (weight 0.07): There is a desire among players for the game to include a multiplayer mode. - Steam Workshop support (weight 0.07): Players are suggesting the addition of Steam Workshop support for the game. - VR support (weight 0.07): Players are expressing interest in having VR support added to the game. - Frequent updates (weight 0.06): Players appreciate or notice that the game receives constant updates. - Carrots are creepy (weight 0.06): Some players find the design of the carrots unsettling or creepy. Emotions: - Satisfaction (weight 0.2): Players are satisfied with the game's improvements over the original, including refined gameplay, good replayability, and variety in game elements. The game's character designs, graphics, music, and smooth performance also contribute to this positive emotion. - Enjoyment (weight 0.2): Enjoyment stems from the game's fun and fast-paced gameplay, variety in weapons, characters, and gameplay modes, as well as its engaging combat. The graphical improvements and responsive developers also enhance the overall experience. - Frustration (weight 0.17): Frustration is caused by repetitive gameplay, lack of meaningful progression, and issues with combat mechanics. Players also express annoyance with enemy behavior, unskippable cutscenes, and various gameplay issues. - Excitement (weight 0.14): Excitement is generated by the game's fast-paced combat, variety of weapons, and adrenaline-pumping action. The improvements and new features in the sequel, along with the dynamic combat and variety of characters, also contribute to this feeling. - Disappointment (weight 0.11): Disappointment arises from the lack of content, redundancy in missions, and slow progression. Players also feel let down by the generic story, lack of innovation, and repetitive gameplay elements. - Disappointed (weight 0.02): Players feel disappointed due to repetitive gameplay and lack of meaningful progression. The lack of localization and unexciting gameplay mechanics also contribute to this emotion. - Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom is caused by repetitive and mind-numbing progression, as well as exhaustion from repetitive and inconsequential gameplay elements. - Frustrated (weight 0.01): Players feel frustrated due to repetitive and shallow gameplay mechanics, as well as issues with motion sickness. - Satisfied (weight 0.01): Satisfaction comes from enjoyable gameplay mechanics and design, as well as the variety in movement and weapons. - Excited (weight 0.01): Excitement is generated by the game's fast-paced and engaging gameplay, as well as its unique blend of genres and variety of gameplay elements. - Hopeful (weight 0.01): Players feel hopeful due to the improvements over the original game and the engaging content, which suggests potential for future development.}