Mists of Noyah Review Summary

Stunning pixel art and engaging multiplayer with active developers and abundant content are let down by being abandoned and unfinished with poor optimization and frequent bugs

Receptive and active developers: The developers are highly rated for listening to feedback, fixing issues quickly, and being actively engaged with the community.

Engaging multiplayer experience: Multiplayer is consistently praised for being fun, smooth, and a great way to enjoy the game with friends.

Strong potential and content: The game has great potential and offers a good amount of content with room for improvement and future growth.

Sustained improvement over time: The game has shown continuous improvement through frequent updates and a dedicated team, making it a more refined experience as time goes on.

Abundant content and activities: There is a large amount of content, including many items to collect and craft, as well as various tasks and things to do, providing good replay value.

Game abandoned by developers: Multiple feedback clusters indicate the game was released unfinished and then abandoned by its developers, with no updates or further work. They moved on to other projects like Scarlet Tower.

Unfinished and half-baked: The game feels like an early access or incomplete product, not even half-finished. It was sold in a state that requires much more work.

Missing tutorial or guidance: Players report a complete lack of tutorials, tips, or any in-game guidance. There is no explanation for game mechanics, which leaves new players confused.

Excessive grinding required: The game demands too much repetitive grinding for materials and progression, which feels tedious and like a chore rather than fun gameplay.

Numerous bugs present: Many reviewers cite a high number of bugs throughout the game, including issues with achievements, hitboxes, and general stability.

Extensive crafting and upgrade system: Players highlight a robust crafting system for weapons, armor, and accessories, supporting survival mechanics and resource gathering. This merges feedback from Cluster 1 and Cluster 5, emphasizing material farming and forging.

Metroidvania exploration with abilities: The game features Metroidvania-style exploration, requiring ability-based progression across interconnected areas. This is consistently mentioned in Cluster 2 as a core design element.

Unique character classes with skills: Five distinct character classes, each with unique abilities, are noted in Cluster 3, covering roles like attacker, tank, healer, archer, and caster. This provides tactical variety.

Fusion of Castlevania and Terraria elements: Cluster 8 notes a mix of Castlevania's gothic platforming and Terraria's crafting-survival mechanics. This defines the game's unique identity.

Corruption system with base defense events: Cluster 10 details a corruption mechanic that increases difficulty and triggers village attacks, adding strategic pressure and base defense layers.

Hitching and freezing on high-end hardware: The game experiences hitches and freezes lasting half a second that worsen over time, even on high-end systems like a 5900x and RTX 3080 with an NVMe drive.

Poor optimization causes overheating: The game suffers from poor optimization that leads to significant hardware strain, with specific cases like the Veromus fight causing overheating on a Ryzen 5 5600x and RTX 2070s setup.

Horrible performance across hardware: General reports of horrible performance indicate widespread issues across various hardware configurations.

FPS issues on high-end hardware: High-end hardware like the NVIDIA Titan Xp and i9 9900K still suffer from FPS issues, highlighting poor optimization.

Performance issues on newer high-end hardware: Even the RTX 3070 and i7 11900k experience performance problems, showing the issues are not limited to older or mid-range hardware.

Wait for updates: Several reviews suggest waiting for future updates or sales before buying, indicating the game is not ready for full price. This is common advice.

Avoid the game: A few reviews strongly advise against buying the game, calling it garbage or a waste of money. This is negative but less frequent.

For specific genres: Several reviews recommend the game for fans of specific genres like Castlevania or survival crafting, indicating a targeted audience. This is positive but limited.

Not worth buying: Multiple reviews state the game is not worth purchasing, citing it as unfinished, unbalanced, or not respecting player time. This feedback is strong and frequent.

Play with friends: Some reviews recommend the game only if playing with friends, suggesting multiplayer enhances the experience. This is a niche but specific preference.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99.

Story completion: 8.0h.

The game offers a promising early loop and co-op fun, but the missing tutorial and frequent bugs cause many to quit within minutes, while even those who enjoy it eventually hit a wall of repetitiveness and broken multiplayer features.

Friction: no tutorial or explanation; frequent game-breaking bugs; poorly designed multiplayer and co-op; tedious and repetitive grind; slow pacing and poor UI.

Unlock drivers: playing with friends or co-op; learning by trial and error; the 0.9 update improved communication and stability.

Disappointed Early Access Critic: Prefers to explore carefully, expects tutorials and balanced systems; becomes frustrated by repetitive grinding and unclear multiplayer connections. Motivation: Seeking a polished, content-rich game with meaningful progression and story. Stance: no buy.

Cooperative Collector & Optimist: Plays mostly in co-op mode, taking on challenges together, exploring biomes, and collecting resources without heavy pressure on narrative. Motivation: Socializing with friends and enjoying the relaxing grind of crafting and exploration. Stance: sale.

Nostalgic Old-School Defender: Prefers to play with a partner, expects tight controls and meaningful progression, and values art direction over modern UI polish. Motivation: Reliving the style of classic 2D action games with challenging cooperative play. Stance: deep sale.

Steam Deck: The game suffers from unreliable controller support and general instability, requiring manual workarounds or additional input devices.