Info about Haste: Official game description: HASTE: Broken Worlds is a high-speed third-person running game, set in a collapsing universe. Race through a variety of worlds, master your movement and use items and abilities to progress through each level before it falls apart around you. The game consists of ten Shards, each featuring a collection of procedurally generated levels that must be completed without fail to unlock the next. You’ll encounter challenges and characters on your journey, seeking answers about what lies behind the destruction, and how to escape it! **FEATURES** ------------ * Third-person high-speed running gameplay * 10 Shards, each featuring a collection of procedurally generated levels that must be completed without fail to advance to the next Shard * Items and Challenge levels that let you customize your build for each attempt to clear a Shard * Spectacular biomes and 4 different bosses to discover * 4 abilities to master * An unlockable endless mode * A story to explore and a lovable cast of characters to befriend **MASTER YOUR MOVEMENT** ------------------------ Mind-blowing speed is key and every landing counts! Hit the ground running (literally) and you’ll build up speed, but if you fumble it will cost you. You’ll need to think fast and keep track of your ever-changing surroundings to escape before the world crumbles beneath your feet. **ITEMS** --------- In your run you'll be able to collect Sparks to use in the shop levels to manifest items. Items help you customise your run, affecting speed, damage, luck, health and other variables.  **PROCEDURAL WORLDS** --------------------- Speed through procedurally generated levels as you make your way through each Shard, completing every level before you run out of lives to advance to the next. Gather items and experiment with builds to help you on your way. Your journey through the broken worlds will be unique to you as you try to outrun the apocalypse. **THE CREW** ------------ As Zoe, you’ll meet different characters to aid you on your journey, whether through wisdom, encouragement or items to assist you. Release date: 1 Apr, 2025 Categories: Roguelike, Procedural Generation, Single-player Story, Character Customization, Endgame Content, Time-based Mechanics, Strategic Planning, 3D Platformer - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data 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: - Fluid movement and satisfying speed (weight 0.95): The core gameplay loop is praised for its smooth, responsive movement mechanics and satisfying sense of speed. Players enjoy the fast-paced action, fluid controls, and the feeling of building and maintaining momentum while navigating challenging obstacles. Many reviewers compare the experience favorably to classic Sonic games, highlighting the game's success in capturing the essence of a thrilling speedster adventure. - Appealing visuals and art style (weight 0.81): The game's visuals and art style receive widespread acclaim for their appealing character designs, vibrant colors, and overall aesthetic charm. Reviewers appreciate the unique artistic direction, often drawing comparisons to other visually striking games like Persona and Breath of the Wild. The graphics are consistently described as beautiful, cute, and well-executed, enhancing the overall gaming experience. - Excellent and engaging soundtrack (weight 0.81): The game's soundtrack is consistently praised as a standout feature, with reviewers describing it as excellent, fantastic, and incredibly hype. The music is noted for enhancing the feeling of speed and tension, perfectly complementing the on-screen action. Many reviewers recommend the soundtrack as a must-listen, highlighting its catchy and enjoyable nature. - Enjoyable roguelite elements enhance replayability (weight 0.75): The game incorporates roguelite elements that add depth and replayability to the core gameplay loop. Players appreciate the unexpected but effective integration of these mechanics, which provide opportunities for character customization and strategic decision-making. The roguelite elements feel natural and not forced, enhancing the overall experience without detracting from the fast-paced parkour action. The game is also considered relaxing despite the roguelite elements. - Satisfying perfect landings mechanic (weight 0.74): Successfully executing perfect landings is a core element of the gameplay that players find highly satisfying. The game rewards precise timing and control, providing a sense of accomplishment when players nail a landing and maintain their momentum. This mechanic adds depth to the gameplay and encourages players to master the nuances of movement and control. - Well-designed and varied levels (weight 0.71): The game features well-designed levels with visually appealing environments and diverse challenges. Players appreciate the variety in level themes and the way the level generation complements the movement system. The shard system provides a sense of progression and encourages exploration, making each run feel unique and rewarding. - Endearing characters and engaging story (weight 0.7): The game features endearing and memorable characters with well-written dialogue, adding depth and personality to the overall experience. Players find the characters lovable and fun to interact with, appreciating their unique designs and engaging banter. The story is considered decent and engaging, further enhancing the game's appeal. - Full game improves upon demo (weight 0.7): The full game is a significant improvement over the demo, with new stages, perks, and environmental dangers. The UI has been polished, and there are many quality of life improvements. The demo was already excellent and highly engaging, so the full game is even better. - Interesting and challenging boss fights (weight 0.7): The game includes interesting and challenging boss fights that scale well with difficulty. These encounters provide a refreshing change of pace from the fast-paced parkour action, requiring players to adapt their strategies and utilize their skills to overcome the obstacles. The boss fights are considered obstacle courses in themselves, adding a unique twist to the traditional boss battle formula. - Meaningful item choices and customization (weight 0.7): The game features a variety of items that allow players to customize their playstyle and experiment with different builds. Players appreciate the impact of these items on gameplay, from safety with heals to gambling for speed boosts. The item acquisition system is designed to be meaningful, encouraging players to make strategic purchasing decisions and adapt their strategies based on the items they acquire. - Relaxing and meditative gameplay (weight 0.65): The game is described as relaxing and meditative, allowing players to enter a flow state and unwind while playing. The dreamlike atmosphere and engaging gameplay create a trance-like state, making it suitable for relaxed play with music. This aspect of the game appeals to players looking for a calming and enjoyable experience. - Surpasses modern Sonic games (weight 0.06): Many reviewers compare the game favorably to Sonic, stating that it captures the essence of what a 3D Sonic game should be. Some even consider it the best Sonic game in years, praising its fast-paced gameplay and innovative mechanics. This comparison highlights the game's success in delivering a thrilling speedster experience that resonates with fans of the Sonic franchise. - High-quality Landfall Games release (weight 0.03): The game is praised as a high-quality release from Landfall Games, known for their consistently amusing and well-developed titles. Reviewers note that the game feels like a natural evolution of Landfall's previous work, showcasing their skill in game development. This positive association with Landfall Games adds to the game's appeal and credibility. Common complaints: - Unfair, repetitive procedural generation (weight 0.54): Procedural generation leads to unfair difficulty spikes, unreadable levels, and repetitive environments. Obstacles are often obscured, and map layouts can be chaotic, leading to unavoidable deaths and frustrating gameplay. Bosses are also repetitive, with the same ones being reused throughout the game with minor changes. - Poor visibility, unclear guidance (weight 0.51): The game suffers from poor visibility, unclear level guidance, and a fast-collapsing environment, making navigation difficult and deaths feel cheap. The spark trails, intended to guide players, often lead into traps. Challenge fragments also have inconsistent difficulty and can ruin runs due to unpredictable outcomes. - Unbalanced, scarce item system (weight 0.22): The item system is unbalanced, with some items being useless or too expensive, and shops are rare and often inaccessible. This makes it difficult to acquire essential items and build up buffs, hindering progression. The roguelite elements feel unnecessary and poorly implemented. - Softlocks and game-breaking bugs (weight 0.08): Players have encountered softlocks and game-breaking bugs that prevent progression, such as getting stuck in shops or during NPC interactions. Movement abilities sometimes fail to trigger, leading to frustrating deaths. These bugs significantly impact the player experience. - Exponential difficulty increase (weight 0.04): From level 5, the difficulty increases exponentially, making it extremely challenging to progress. It can be very difficult to tell where the left/right edge is until it's too late, especially since the levels curve. - Poorly implemented dialogue sequences (weight 0.03): Dialogue phases lack interaction, making it hard to integrate 3D characters with 2D ones. Dialogue targeting is awkward. Too many dialogues that interrupt the running gameplay. - Gameplay flow is frequently disrupted (weight 0.03): Certain map pieces force players to slow down, contradicting the game's 'haste' theme. Loading screens interrupt the gameplay flow, and combat sections slow down the experience. Maps lack flow and feel too similar to each other. - Currency acquisition is slow (weight 0.03): The amount of antisparks earned is very low, requiring extensive repetition to accumulate enough. Spark paths sometimes lead to bad landings, making collecting them feel punishing instead of rewarding. Sparks (in-game currency) feel less valuable because items are too expensive. - Punishing challenge stage failures (weight 0.03): Failing a challenge stage now costs a life, making them something to actively avoid. Challenges can result in negative health, removing multiple lives and blocking off merchants, effectively ending a run due to an obvious bug. Gameplay feedback: - Slay the Spire-style level selection (weight 0.17): The game features a level selection system similar to Slay the Spire, with branching paths and nodes representing different events, shops, and challenges. Players choose their route to the boss, adding a strategic element to each run. - Time-attack stage rush mechanic (weight 0.03): The game incorporates a time-attack stage rush mechanic, where players must complete levels quickly while escaping an approaching threat. Players have limited lives and can choose to skip difficult sections, adding a sense of urgency and strategic decision-making. - Energy and diving mechanics (weight 0.02): Successful landings generate energy that can be used for boosts and maintaining speed. Diving is a mechanic that allows mid-air adjustments for better landings and increased speed. - Mechanics easy to understand, unclear boost (weight 0.02): The game's mechanics are generally easy to understand, but some aspects, like the boost mechanic, lack clear explanation. This can leave players unsure of how certain mechanics affect their gameplay. - Difficulty scaling could be improved (weight 0.01): Difficulty scaling between shards isn't too egregious, but could be slightly less steep. From shard 3, there are more terrains that are difficult to deal with unless you know them in advance. - Lacks strategic map depth (weight 0.01): The game lacks a map, which is presented as a unique feature. The map lacks strategic depth due to the limited node types and simple layout. Performance notes: - Inconsistent performance and optimization (weight 0.1): The game's performance and optimization are inconsistent. While some players report smooth gameplay and excellent optimization even on lower-end systems or the Steam Deck, others experience significant frame rate drops, crashes, and lag, sometimes related to specific in-game events or settings. - Softlocks upon death/portals (weight 0.02): Players are encountering softlocks, particularly upon death or entering portals, which forces them to restart the game. This issue severely disrupts the gameplay experience and needs to be addressed. - Lag in specific scenarios (weight 0.02): Specific in-game scenarios, such as double acceleration ring tracks, levels with many particles, or levels with two trains, cause significant lag. This indicates that the game's performance is tied to specific, resource-intensive elements. - DLSS may cause crashes (weight 0.01): DLSS may be causing crashes for some users. Disabling it has been reported to reduce the frequency of these crashes, suggesting a potential incompatibility or issue with the DLSS implementation. - Steam input deadzone issues (weight 0.01): Players are reporting issues with Steam input deadzones and recommending custom curve adjustments for better control. This suggests that the default input settings may not be optimal for all players. - Minor audio issues present (weight 0.01): The game has some minor audio issues, such as squeaking noises during or after loading and a lack of sound effects on the meta progression screen. These issues detract from the overall polish of the game. - Spawning into a rock (weight 0): One player reported spawning and immediately running into a rock. This is a minor issue, but it does indicate a potential problem with level design or spawn point placement. Recommendations: - Rushed, unpolished, early access feel (weight 0.44): Many reviewers feel the game was rushed and released prematurely, with some suggesting it should have been launched as early access. Common complaints include bugs, lack of polish, and unrefined procedural generation. Some reviewers suggest waiting for updates or sticking with the demo. - Fun, addictive despite flaws (weight 0.36): Despite its flaws, many reviewers find the core gameplay loop enjoyable and addictive, especially for fans of fast-paced movement and roguelite elements. The game is often recommended, especially when on sale, with many feeling they are getting their money's worth. - Masterpiece, Game of the Year (hyperbolic) (weight 0.05): Some reviewers give the game perfect scores and consider it a masterpiece or potential game of the year. However, these points often lack specific details and may be hyperbolic, so they are given a low importance score. - Try the demo first (weight 0.04): The demo is a good indicator of whether players will enjoy the full game. Many reviewers suggest trying the demo first to gauge interest, as the full game expands upon the demo's core mechanics. - Another great Landfall game (weight 0.04): Many reviewers praise Landfall for creating another great game, with some considering it their best work yet. This reflects a positive sentiment towards the developer's track record. - What Sonic should have been (weight 0.03): Many reviewers compare the game favorably to 3D Sonic games, suggesting it captures the essence of what those games should be. It's recommended for Sonic fans seeking a true sense of speed and freedom. - Anticipation for future updates (weight 0.02): Many reviewers are looking forward to future updates, additional content, and potential DLC. There is a general sense of optimism that the game can be improved and expanded upon. - Recommendation pending improvements (weight 0.02): Some reviewers indicate they will reconsider their recommendation if the identified issues are addressed in future updates. This shows a willingness to change their opinion if the game improves. - Consider using custom music (weight 0.01): Some reviewers suggest that the game's soundtrack may not appeal to everyone, and recommend playing with your own music. This is a subjective point, but highlights the option for customization. - Like ADHD medication (humorous) (weight 0.01): One reviewer humorously compares the game's stimulation and focus to ADHD medication. This point is included for its uniqueness, but has a low importance score due to its subjective and potentially insensitive nature. Other player notes: - Roguelike parkour with repetitive biomes (weight 0.04): The game blends roguelike elements with fast-paced parkour, focusing on retries rather than level progression. While the game description mentions ten shards, the actual game seems to have only three main biomes that repeat with slight variations. - Intriguing but vague story (weight 0.03): The game features a protagonist named Zoya, a messenger traveling between worlds. The story is present but somewhat obfuscated, with some reviewers skipping it entirely, while others find it intriguing. - Anticipation for community mods (weight 0.02): The game includes Steam Workshop support, allowing players to create and share mods, including map mods. Reviewers express anticipation for the community-created content. - Camera angle affects gameplay (weight 0.01): The game has some interesting details, such as slowing down the music when the player makes mistakes. Also, tilting the camera parallel to the ground enhances the sense of speed. - Unclear obstacle/benefit distinction (weight 0.01): The game features strange, carnival-like hazards with unclear functions, making it tricky to distinguish between obstacles and beneficial elements. This can lead to confusion and unexpected outcomes. - Antisparks currency explanation lacking (weight 0.01): The game uses a currency called antisparks, awarded for completing or failing shards. The antisparks currency is not explained until the captain appears in the NPC camp - Great concept, unappealing presentation (weight 0.01): The game's concept is great, but the presentation is unappealing. This suggests that the game's visuals, audio, or user interface may be detracting from the overall experience. - Seed learning not ideal (weight 0.01): Manually setting a seed might be the best way to enjoy the game, but 'learning' a seed doesn't feel ideal. This suggests that the procedural generation might not always create balanced or enjoyable experiences. - Multiplayer would be welcome (weight 0.01): Many reviewers feel that the game would benefit from the addition of multiplayer. This suggests that the game's core mechanics could be enhanced by cooperative or competitive play. - NPCs are primarily tools (weight 0.01): NPCs in the game, such as the shopkeeper, the captain at the campfire, and the old woman who exchanges "anti-sparks" for a sage's hat, are primarily tools to assist the player. This suggests that the NPCs are not very interactive or engaging. - Mario-like character design (weight 0.01): The main character's design is similar to Mario, potentially posing a copyright issue. This is a specific concern that could have legal implications for the game. Emotions: No emotions}