Info about Boneraiser Minions:

Official game description:
_~ In a time long ago, those with forbidden power over the dead were branded as wretched Boneraisers. Such heathen were hunted, hanged, burnt, and staked, and their remains sealed within sanctified mausoleums. But what those fearfully foolish folk did not realise, is that those whom are already dead, cannot be killed. You are one such filthy Boneraiser! ~_
**Gameplay**
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As a reviled Boneraiser you must amass an army of skellies and deamons to fight the endless waves of heroes intent to end your necromantic ways. In this gothic-horror auto-battler rogue-lite Survivor-like, use the bones and souls of slain heroes to raise and upgrade undead minions, and collect powerful relics and spells to turn the tide of war. Unlock meta upgrades to improve your boneraising abilities, but crucially you must also bolster the Godly heroes' forces too in order to gather enough resources to defeat your nemesis King Gigald's crusade!
**Features**
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*   Boneraising auto-battler action: Dash around avoiding enemies and collecting their bones to raise and upgrade minions who fight for you! Each minion type has their own fighting styles, from melee pulverisers and magical missilers, to supporting hexers and augurs.
*   Multiple game modes: There's several game modes to keep play fresh. In Mausoleum Awakens you must protect your crypt against King Gigald and his forces, making best use of traps and contraptions you place before the show. There's Necrotic Skirmishes for a quick bash to simply see how long you can last against an ever growing horde of meanies. The Daily/Weekly Challenge were you compete against the world on an equal footing. There's Clashful Cards, a collectable adversarial card game offering respite from endless boneraising. And a full Castle Conquest mode where you travel through various maps choosing your path in a quest to conquer the Queen's Palace!
*   Relics and Spells: There's not just bones to suck on during the fight. You will find curious Relics with strange boosts and abilities, or Spell Scrolls with powerful attacks or buffs to be used at the perfect time!
*   Boneraise Lore meta: Between games use collected coins to increase your abilities and boneraising powers, such as learning to raise Enboned Giants and Possessed Deamons. Meta can also be upgraded and refunded, encouraging you to play around and find your perfect meta loadout!
*   Heroic Force meta: You must also bolster the forces against you too if you wish to survive King Gigald. Why not provoke a Beggar's Revolt, Goblin Looters, or Mercenary Cyclops, and use their bones to raise an ever greater army of dead!
*   Class Heritage meta: By stealing hero souls you can also learn new abilities and perks for a particular class. Each class offers their own playstyles, from the Liche who prefers quantity over quality, to the Deamologist who favours huge deamonic minions. Or even classes that specialise in raising versions of the enemies themselves!
*   Steam Leaderboard: Battle your foes, and your friends, to reach first place on the online Steam leaderboard! Even after defeating King Gigald the crusade wars are endless, and only the greatest legion of undead ever assembled will reach the top spot!
_~ Can you resist King Gigald's poundings? ~_

Release date: Mar 9, 2023

Categories: Roguelike, Auto-battler, Bullet Hell, Survivor-like, Minion Management, Class-based Gameplay, Meta Progression, Card-based Gameplay

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 10; verdict: Works Well; summary: The game runs exceptionally well on Steam Deck, with multiple users reporting a smooth and enjoyable experience. There are no notable Linux-specific issues mentioned, indicating a high level of compatibility and performance on Linux-based systems.
- Steam Deck: score 40; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The overall experience of playing the game on the Steam Deck is highly positive, with users praising its addictive nature, smooth performance, and good battery life. However, there are some issues with small text size that can detract from the experience.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows that users find the game to be of great value at its current price of $4.99. Many users express that they would be willing to pay significantly more for the enjoyment and content they receive, with one user explicitly stating they would pay up to $40. The repeated mentions of high value and satisfaction at the current price point suggest that the community considers the fair price range to be slightly higher than the current price, but still within an affordable range.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 56.0h
  - Story completion: 3.0h
  - Session length: 3.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct and indirect references to playtime. The first quote mentions completing many runs and playing plenty of rounds, suggesting significant playtime. The second quote explicitly states 26 hours of playtime. The third quote mentions achieving new content in about 3 hours, indicating a shorter play session. The fourth quote states that it took about 56 hours to get all the achievements, providing a clear indication of total playtime for full game completion.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game offers a fast and engaging start with a rewarding meta-progression system that unlocks new content quickly, making it addictive and fun from the beginning.
  - Stance: Fun immediately
  - Anchor: Unlocking new minion types and levels
  - Time to anchor: 0h 30m
  - Friction: Initial difficulty and learning curve; Lack of tooltips and tutorials
  - Unlock drivers: Unlocking new minion types; Leveling up minions; Acquiring new spells and relics
  - Conditions: Playing different character classes; Engaging in various game modes; Utilizing meta-progression effectively
- Player Archetypes:
  - Survivor-Like Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Seeking similar experiences to their favorite games.
    - Playstyle: Enjoys auto-shooter and rogue-lite mechanics with a focus on character progression and unlocks.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Survivor-like fan; Rogue-lite fan
    - Reference games: Vampire Survivors; 20 Minutes Till Dawn
  - Progression Grinder (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoys deep meta progression and unlocking new content.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on grinding and unlocking new abilities, characters, and upgrades.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Completionist; Grinder
    - Reference games: Nova Drift; Soulstone Survivors
  - Casual Gamer (sale)
    - Motivation: Seeking a relaxing and enjoyable gaming experience.
    - Playstyle: Plays casually, often while multitasking with other activities.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Casual player; Relaxed gamer
    - Reference games: Stardew Valley; Nova Drift


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:
- Addictive and enjoyable gameplay (weight 0.48): The gameplay loop is described as addictive and fun, with high replay value and engaging progression systems.
- Great value for price (weight 0.4): Players consistently mention that the game is worth the price, offering a good deal and being a fun experience for the cost.
- Abundant content and unlockables (weight 0.32): There is a significant amount of content to unlock, including game upgrades, drops, and various items to collect.
- Impressive pixel art and visuals (weight 0.31): The game features crisp and excellent pixel art, with a distinctive and charming visual style.
- Variety of classes and playstyles (weight 0.3): The game offers a wide range of character classes and playstyles, providing diverse gameplay experiences.
- Superior to Vampire Survivors (weight 0.26): Players find this game more enjoyable and interesting than Vampire Survivors, with more content and variety.
- Excellent bullet hell experience (weight 0.18): The game is praised as a great bullet hell experience, with an interesting spin on the genre.
- Frequent updates and bug fixes (weight 0.16): The developer consistently pushes out updates, bug fixes, and new content.
- Variety in minions and builds (weight 0.16): There is a huge variety of minions and builds, adding depth to the gameplay.
- Great compatibility with Steam Deck (weight 0.15): The game works well on the Steam Deck, with good compatibility and performance.
- Visibility and accessibility options (weight 0.15): The game offers adjustable settings for better visibility and various accessibility options.
- Charming and humorous personality (weight 0.15): The game has a lot of personality and humor, with a good sense of charm and character.
- Rewarding meta progression (weight 0.13): The meta progression system is highly praised for being rewarding and fast.
- Excellent chiptune soundtrack (weight 0.13): The game features an excellent chiptune soundtrack with great track names.
- Multiple game modes available (weight 0.13): There are multiple game modes and modifiers, providing varied gameplay experiences.
- Highly customizable settings (weight 0.12): The game offers a ton of customization options, allowing players to adjust settings to their liking.

Common complaints:
- Poor visibility and graphics (weight 0.37): The game's graphics and color schemes are criticized for being hard on the eyes, with poor visibility and harsh colors that make it difficult to distinguish elements.
- Classes lack distinctiveness (weight 0.24): Many players noted that the classes in the game are too similar in function and composition, leading to a lack of unique gameplay experiences.
- Language support issues (weight 0.15): The game lacks proper language support, particularly for Chinese, making it difficult for non-English speaking players to understand the game.
- Unclear upgrade paths (weight 0.14): Players find the upgrade trees and progression paths vague and unclear, making it difficult to understand how to improve their characters.
- Difficulty distinguishing elements (weight 0.14): Players have trouble distinguishing between different elements in the game, such as their own projectiles and those generated by summons, as well as identifying minions and enemies.
- Readability issues (weight 0.13): The game has readability problems, including an unreadable default font and complex descriptions due to the use of old English language.
- Gameplay can be repetitive (weight 0.12): Some players find the gameplay repetitive, leading to boredom over time.
- Mechanics poorly explained (weight 0.08): The game's mechanics and rules are not well-explained, making it difficult for players to understand how to play effectively.
- Stages lack variety (weight 0.07): The stages in the game are criticized for being too similar and narrow, leading to a lack of variety in gameplay.
- Difficult early game (weight 0.07): Players find the early game particularly difficult, which can be a barrier to entry for new players.

Gameplay feedback:
- Minion-based army mechanics (weight 0.57): The game heavily focuses on building and managing an army of minions. Players can summon various types of undead minions that fight on their behalf, adding a strategic layer to the gameplay.
- Variety in builds and characters (weight 0.28): Players can choose from various classes and characters, each with unique mechanics and playstyles. This variety extends to minions, spells, and relics, allowing for diverse build options.
- Survivors-like gameplay (weight 0.25): The game draws comparisons to the Survivors series, featuring similar gameplay mechanics where players must survive against hordes of enemies.
- Necromancer theme and mechanics (weight 0.24): The game revolves around a necromancer theme, where players summon minions with various skills. This theme is central to the gameplay and sets it apart from other similar games.
- Variety of game modes (weight 0.21): The game offers multiple game modes, including different maps and modifiers. This variety keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging.
- Meta progression system (weight 0.19): A consistent meta-progression system allows players to earn upgrades and improvements that persist across different play sessions.
- Inclusion of a card game (weight 0.15): A mini-card game is included, providing a different gameplay experience within the same game.
- Deep and addictive gameplay (weight 0.14): The gameplay mechanics are designed to be deep and addictive, with a strong gameplay loop that keeps players engaged.
- Roguelike structure (weight 0.14): The game features roguelike mechanics, including procedural generation and permadeath, adding replayability and challenge.
- Relics and spells system (weight 0.14): The game includes a variety of relics and spells that affect gameplay, adding depth and strategic options for players.
- Unlockable content (weight 0.11): The game offers a wide range of unlockable content, including new game modes, characters, and items, which can be unlocked using in-game currency.
- Auto-battler mechanics (weight 0.11): The game incorporates auto-battler mechanics, where minions automatically engage in combat, adding a strategic layer to the gameplay.
- Bullet hell gameplay (weight 0.11): The game features bullet hell mechanics, where players must navigate through dense patterns of enemy projectiles.

Performance notes:
- Optimized for Steam Deck (weight 0.27): The game runs well on the Steam Deck, with many players noting its smooth performance and compatibility. However, some users have reported issues with small text size on the device.
- Lightweight and efficient (weight 0.14): The game is noted for being lightweight, running well on various devices including retro handhelds, and having low battery drain at 60Hz/60FPS.
- Good performance and scalability (weight 0.08): The game handles clear display of numerous objects without slowing down and is good for different display scales, indicating strong performance and scalability.
- Better on big screens (weight 0.04): Some players find the game more enjoyable and easier to play on larger screens rather than on handheld consoles like the Steam Deck.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended game (weight 0.2): The game comes highly recommended by many players, especially for its price-performance ratio, continuous updates, and engaging gameplay.
- Recommended for survivors game fans (weight 0.11): The game is recommended for those who enjoy survivors-type games and are not tired of the genre.
- Must-buy for genre fans (weight 0.08): Fans of the genre are strongly encouraged to buy this game, even if they have only a passing interest in the genre.
- Positive recommendation (weight 0.04): The game receives straightforward positive recommendations from players.
- Anticipation for developer's future games (weight 0.04): Players are looking forward to future games from the same developer, indicating satisfaction with the current game.
- Recommended on sale (weight 0.04): The game is recommended especially when it is on sale.
- Award-nominated game (weight 0.04): The game has been nominated for Steam awards, highlighting its quality and popularity.
- Solid addition to bullet heaven (weight 0.04): The game is seen as a solid contribution to the bullet heaven collection, appealing to fans of the sub-genre.

Other player notes:
- Translation issues present (weight 0.05): The game has notable translation problems that may affect the understanding and enjoyment for non-native speakers.
- Game in Early Access (weight 0.04): The game is currently in Early Access, which means it may have unfinished features or bugs.

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.26): Players enjoy the game's pixel graphics, soundtrack, and unique take on roguelikes. The gameplay loop, variety of game modes, and the ability to build diverse minion armies are also highly appreciated.
- Excitement (weight 0.16): The game's unique identity, depth of the class system, and the amount of content generate excitement. Players are also thrilled by the variety of minions, spells, relics, and the continuous content updates.
- Frustration (weight 0.13): Frustration stems from the lack of in-game explanations, visual clarity issues, and difficulty understanding game systems. The dark aesthetic and overwhelming number of minions also contribute to player frustration.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.12): Players are satisfied with the game's content, rewarding meta progression, and value for money. The variety of builds, maps, and the developer's ongoing support and updates are also highly satisfying.
- Joy (weight 0.05): The game brings joy through its fun and addictive gameplay, enjoyable aesthetics, and humorous presentation. The unique spin on the survivor genre and the fulfilling experience of making skeleton friends are also joy-inducing.
- Disappointment (weight 0.04): Disappointment arises from poor graphics and audio feedback, repetitive content, and the game's mechanics not being fun for some players. The lack of mobile platform availability also contributes to this emotion.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Players appreciate the developer's effort, unique ideas, and the incredible pixel art skills. The beautiful art style, addicting gameplay, and the talented developer are also highly appreciated.
- Happy (weight 0.03): Players are happy with the game's aesthetic and concept, enjoying the gameplay loop, different classes, and playstyles. The progression and challenges also contribute to their happiness.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Enthusiasm is driven by the constant updates and support from the developer, as well as the variety of game modes and features. The detailed comparisons and positive experiences with the game's content and updates also fuel this emotion.
- Positive (weight 0.03): Players feel positive about the depth of gameplay and value for money. The fun and challenging gameplay, along with the enjoyment of meta progression and character variety, contribute to this positivity.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): The game's silly title, ridiculous gameplay, and use of old English amuse players. The humorous narrative and playful tone also add to the amusement.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): Players are surprised by the finding of new game modes and classes, as well as the high-quality world-building and humor. The implementation of the Final Fantasy 8 card game also brings surprise.
- Excited (weight 0.01): Players are excited about the game's unique mechanics and the enjoyment of different game modes and strategies.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): The gameplay loop and progression system are described as engaging. The interesting and addictive gameplay loop keeps players engaged.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players love the game's chiptune music, 8-bit graphical style, and overall design. The upgraded demons and dialogue also contribute to this deep affection.}