Dread Delusion
Last updated: 2025-05-10
- Evokes classic RPGs like Morrowind.
- Exceptional world-building, lore, and writing.
- Meaningful choices with impactful consequences.
- Unique and appealing art style.
- Rewarding exploration in interesting setting.
- Combat too easy and unrewarding.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 89% · Negative 11%. Score: 11 / 100
Positives:
- The game evokes strong nostalgia, frequently drawing comparisons to Morrowind and other classic RPGs. Reviewers praise its focus on exploration, unique world-building, and emphasis on player choice, capturing the essence of older titles while incorporating modern improvements. The game's ability to create a sense of wonder and discovery is a recurring theme.
- The game features exceptional world-building, lore, and writing, creating a rich and immersive experience. Reviewers highlight the unique setting, well-developed characters, and thought-provoking themes. The game's ability to draw players into its world and make them care about its inhabitants is a major strength.
- Meaningful choices with real consequences are a key feature, impacting the story, characters, and world. Quests often present difficult moral dilemmas without clear right or wrong answers, forcing players to consider the implications of their decisions. This emphasis on player agency adds depth and replayability.
- The game has a unique and appealing art style, often described as retro or PS1-inspired. Reviewers praise the visuals for their creativity, atmosphere, and ability to create a distinct identity. The sound design and music also contribute to the game's immersive atmosphere.
- Exploration is consistently rewarding, with players discovering secrets, loot, and lore. The game incentivizes thorough exploration, making the world feel alive and full of surprises. The absence of hand-holding and reliance on player curiosity are key elements of this rewarding exploration.
Negatives:
- The game's combat is frequently described as too easy, simple, and unrewarding. Many reviewers found that enemies pose little threat, have basic AI, and are easily exploited, leading to a lack of challenge and making combat feel pointless. Some reviewers noted that the addition of a 'hard mode' only increased enemy health, making combat tedious rather than more engaging.
- Many reviewers found the quests to be uninspired, repetitive, and lacking in meaningful choices or consequences. Fetch quests, excessive backtracking, and simplistic quest design are common complaints. Some reviewers also noted that the main story feels generic and less engaging than the side content, with limited impact on the game world.
- The magic system is often described as underwhelming and underpowered compared to melee combat. Many reviewers found that offensive spells are weak, scarce, and acquired late in the game, making them less viable than melee attacks. Some reviewers noted that the limited mana and lack of spell upgrades further diminish the usefulness of magic.
- Navigation is often described as tedious and frustrating due to the lack of a map, limited fast travel options, and unclear directions. Many reviewers found that the absence of a map early on and the late acquisition of the airship lead to excessive backtracking and wasted time. Some reviewers also noted that the compass is inaccurate and the map controls are clunky.
- The game's music is frequently criticized for being repetitive and lacking variety. Many reviewers found that the limited number of tracks and constant looping become grating over time, detracting from the overall experience. Some reviewers also noted a lack of environmental variation in the music, further contributing to the monotony.
Gameplay:
- Exploration is a core gameplay element, often involving puzzles, platforming, and skill-based obstacles. The game world is designed to reward exploration with loot, lore, and access to new areas. Some reviewers noted the lack of quest markers and reliance on player navigation, while others appreciated the freedom and sense of discovery.
- The game uses a non-traditional leveling system based on finding "Delusions" (glowing skulls) through exploration and quest completion, rather than gaining experience from combat. These delusions are a finite resource that are used to upgrade stats, which in turn improve skills and allow the player to pass checks. This system incentivizes exploration and quest completion, while de-emphasizing combat.
- The game features RPG mechanics with four main attributes (Strength, Guile, Wisdom, Persona) that influence skills like lockpicking, dialogue, and combat. These attributes are used to overcome challenges and access hidden areas. However, some reviewers found the stat system to be not very meaningful, and that gear provides better attribute boosts than leveling up.
- The game features a limited variety of weapon types, with basic melee and ranged combat mechanics. Some reviewers desired more weapon variety and offensive spells. The combat is more about augmenting the core experience of exploration rather than being the main focus.
- The game includes a simple crafting system that allows players to upgrade gear and create potions using gathered ingredients. Crafting materials can also be used for house upgrades. However, some reviewers found that crafting is limited and that materials can be scarce.
Performance:
- The game suffers from a variety of performance issues, including stuttering, frame drops, lag, and freezes, especially when loading new areas or transitioning between zones. These issues occur on both high-end and low-end hardware, as well as on the Steam Deck, indicating optimization problems. Some reviewers suggest adjusting view distance or other settings to improve performance.
- The game employs a PS1-era graphical style, featuring wobbly textures and low-polygon models, which is an intentional artistic choice. Some players appreciate this retro aesthetic, finding it fitting for the game's atmosphere, while others find it visually unappealing or overwhelming. An option to disable or adjust the intensity of these effects is available.
- The game's performance on Steam Deck is inconsistent, with some players reporting smooth gameplay and others experiencing significant issues. Some players recommend specific settings adjustments, such as capping the frame rate or disabling certain features, to improve performance on the device.
- The game's audio, particularly the music, suffers from repetitiveness due to a limited number of tracks and ambient sounds. Some reviewers also noted a lack of variety in combat sound effects and limited voice acting, which detracts from the overall immersive experience. Music tracks occasionally overlap.
- Some players have encountered quest-related bugs, such as quests stalling due to early objective completion or bugged buildings preventing quest progression. These issues can disrupt the intended gameplay flow and require workarounds or waiting for patches to resolve.
Recommendations:
- The game is highly recommended for its unique world, engaging story, and rewarding exploration, often drawing comparisons to classic RPGs like Morrowind and Skyrim. Reviewers emphasize the immersive atmosphere, well-written lore, and thought-provoking choices, making it a must-play for fans of the genre. However, some suggest tempering expectations regarding gameplay depth and combat engagement.
- Many reviewers suggest that the game is not for players seeking challenging combat or deep RPG mechanics. Instead, it is best approached as an adventure game or walking simulator with a focus on narrative and world-building. Some reviewers note that the combat is simple or even stale, but that the world and story are worth experiencing regardless.
- Despite its strengths, the game has flaws, including bugs, lack of polish, and shallow gameplay. Some reviewers feel that the game should still be in early access or that it needed more time to be finished. However, some reviewers still highly recommend the game despite its flaws, considering it an impressive scope for a small team.
- The game is considered a great value, especially when purchased on sale. Many reviewers feel that the game is worth the full price, but recommend buying it on sale if unsure. Some reviewers even suggest that the game is worth more than its current price tag.
- The game is not recommended for those looking for a strong dungeon-crawler or challenging combat. Some reviewers feel that the game is an imitation, copying only the surface-level aspects of its inspiration and lacking substantial content. Some reviewers also feel that the game is boring or that it fails to deliver on expectations.
Miscellaneous:
- The game features a distinct retro aesthetic, often compared to PS1/PS2-era graphics, with low-poly models and textures. While some appreciate this nostalgic style, others may find it off-putting. The visual style is a key element of the game's presentation.
- The game is recognized as an indie title made by a small team, which explains its limitations and scope. Reviewers appreciate the developers' efforts to fix bugs and add quality-of-life improvements post-release. The game is seen as ambitious and made with passion, despite its flaws.
- The game is set in a post-cataclysmic world with floating islands under a 'Neuron Star', exploring themes of totalitarianism, dogma, and identity. The story involves conflicts between factions, gods, and the player's role in shaping the world's fate. The game emphasizes player choice and moral judgment.
- The game emphasizes open-world exploration and secret hunting. The world contains bizarre creatures and hidden locations. The game features a journal and map, with a compass available for purchase.
- The game offers rebindable controls and supports 5-button mice. Visual effects can be toggled on or off. Motion controller support could enhance the VR experience.
