- Visually stunning and immersive experience.
- Exceptional sound design and music.
- Tight controls and fluid movement.
- Intense and well-designed boss fights.
- High difficulty, punishing mechanics.
- Repetitive environments and content.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 72% · Negative 28%. Score: 28 / 100
Positives:
- The game's sound design and music are exceptional, enhancing the overall atmosphere and immersion. The soundscape is well-integrated with the gameplay, creating tension and excitement during combat. Many reviewers recommend using headphones to fully appreciate the 3D audio and sound effects.
- The game features stunning graphics, detailed environments, and impressive particle effects, creating a visually appealing and immersive experience. The art style draws inspiration from sci-fi horror, with otherworldly and macabre environments reminiscent of Aliens and H.R. Giger. The game also runs smoothly, even on mid-tier systems, with well-optimized graphics settings.
- The game features tight, responsive controls and fluid character movement, making the gameplay feel smooth and satisfying. The controls work well with both controller and keyboard/mouse, allowing for skillful play and precise aiming. This contributes to the overall enjoyable and engaging experience.
- The game combines bullet hell and third-person shooter mechanics, with a wide array of unique and enjoyable weapons. The weapons have unique perks and a leveling system that encourages experimentation. The game also features a satisfying loot system, offering meaningful choices between weapons and gadgets.
- The game features intense and well-designed boss fights that require players to learn attack patterns and utilize their skills. Defeating bosses after multiple attempts is incredibly rewarding and creates a sense of accomplishment. The boss designs are visually impressive and contribute to the overall excitement of the game.
Negatives:
- Many reviewers found the game to be very difficult, especially at the beginning, with a steep learning curve and punishing mechanics. Dying resets progress, forcing players to restart from the beginning and refarm upgrades, which can be frustrating. Some reviewers were unable to progress beyond the first boss after many hours of playtime.
- The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including frequent crashes, stuttering, frame drops, and texture degradation. Many reviewers found these problems severe enough to make the game unplayable, even on high-end hardware. The texture degradation bug, which causes textures to revert to a low-resolution state after a short period of play, is particularly prominent.
- The game suffers from a lack of variety, with repetitive environments, enemy designs, and weapon selections. Reviewers noted that the same maps are reused in different directions, and that the limited number of biomes and enemies makes exploration boring and monotonous. This repetition detracts from the overall experience and diminishes replay value.
- The PC port suffers from optimization issues and control problems. Some actions cannot be bound to specific keys, and the game seems primarily designed for controller use. The PC version also suffers from constant traversal stuttering, detracting from the overall experience.
- The game's roguelike elements, particularly the heavy reliance on RNG for weapon availability and item drops, can lead to frustrating and unbalanced runs. Many reviewers felt that success depends more on luck than skill, and that the lack of meaningful upgrades between runs diminishes replayability. Some reviewers who dislike roguelikes found the game particularly unappealing.
Gameplay:
- The game is a roguelike/lite with bullet hell and Metroidvania elements. Players are stuck in a time loop, and each death restarts the cycle with procedural generation. Some permanent upgrades carry over, but most items and progress are lost.
- The gameplay is fast-paced and frenetic, requiring players to dodge projectiles and strategically eliminate enemies. Combat is easy to pick up but difficult to master, with a focus on weapon swapping and ability cooldowns. The game rewards skill and learning enemy attack patterns.
- Weapons have randomized traits and can be leveled up, but are lost upon death. Players collect artifacts (buffs) and parasites (trade-offs) during each run, adding a layer of risk/reward. The game incentivizes leveling up preferred weapons.
- The game is designed around the player dying frequently as part of the learning process. The story is enigmatic and intertwined with the gameplay, creating a trippy experience. The game requires focus and perseverance to fully appreciate its content.
- Minor progression between runs involves unlocking new items, but doesn't significantly increase player power. All weapons, items, and upgrades collected before death are lost, except for story-related upgrades. The game rewards patience and exploration.
Performance:
- Several users have found that disabling certain features like ray tracing, limiting the frame rate, or disabling reBAR can reduce stuttering. Additionally, closing background programs may improve performance.
- Some reviewers report that the PC port runs smoothly and is well-optimized, especially on high-end systems. These reviewers experienced high frame rates and few technical issues, praising the game's performance.
- The game has some issues with ultrawide resolutions and DPI scaling, which are common problems in Unreal Engine 4. Users may need to manually adjust settings to achieve the correct display.
- The game automatically installs online services from the Epic Games Store, even if the game was not purchased through that platform. This behavior may be unwanted by some users.
- Some users recommend enabling FSR or DLSS, while others report that DLSS is broken and disabling it results in smoother gameplay. This suggests that the implementation of DLSS may be problematic.
Recommendations:
- The game is highly recommended for its unique blend of challenging gameplay, engaging story, and stunning visuals. However, some players may find the difficulty and roguelike elements frustrating, requiring patience and perseverance. Performance issues on PC are also a concern for some users.
- Many reviewers suggest waiting for a sale before purchasing due to the game's price relative to its content, potential technical issues, or perceived lack of polish. Some feel the game is overpriced at full price, while others find it worth the investment, especially when discounted.
- The game is highly recommended for fans of roguelikes, bullet hell shooters, and sci-fi settings, praising its engaging gameplay, unique story, and high replay value. Reviewers emphasize the game's addictive nature and rewarding experience for those who enjoy a challenge.
- The game's roguelike elements and difficulty are polarizing, with some reviewers finding them enjoyable and challenging, while others find them frustrating and punishing. Recommendations often depend on the player's experience with and enjoyment of the roguelike genre.
- These clusters express overwhelmingly positive sentiment, with reviewers praising the game as a masterpiece, an underrated gem, and a potential game of the year. However, these points lack specific details and actionable feedback, so they are given a low importance score.
Miscellaneous:
- The game features a mind-bending, fragmented story with psychological horror elements, drawing inspiration from science fiction and Greek mythology. The narrative explores themes of loss, trauma, and acceptance, often presented through layered symbolism and metaphors, leaving room for player interpretation.
- The game's design seems optimized for PlayStation, with some PC players preferring a controller. Additionally, unlocking the true ending requires significant grinding and dealing with RNG for collectibles, which some players find tedious. Some reviewers who played on PC also noted that bugs present on the PS5 version persist.
- The game installs Epic Online Services for cross-platform co-op, even on Steam, which some players find intrusive. While it can be uninstalled without affecting single-player, it's necessary for co-op with Epic Games Store users.
- The game blends elements of Metroidvanias, shooters, and roguelikes, drawing inspiration from titles like Metroid Prime, Control, and films like Alien and Prometheus. This creates a unique combination of genres and influences.
- The game features a subtle system that provides assistance on subsequent runs. Grinding is primarily for leaderboards and 100% completion, not essential for story progression. No achievements are missable.
