Info about Ravenswatch: Official game description: SUPPORTER EDITION ================= Roadmap ======= About the Game ============== Ravenswatch is a top-down roguelike action game in which you play as heroes of tales and legends that must slay hordes of nightmarish creatures in nerve-racking fights. After the success of Curse of the Dead Gods©, Passtech Games returns with an improved formula and an addictive game experience with endless replay value. It can be played solo or with up to four players in co-op. Play as 9 heroes, each with a unique twist and individual gameplay, including Little Red Riding Hood, who suffers from lycanthropy; Sun Wukong, the fallen monkey king; the Snow Queen with her evil powers; and many other familiar characters who have a darker side and are more violent than you might remember. The Nightmare has invaded the world of dreams and is corrupting everything in its wake. Faced with this evil, the Ravenswatch is gathering heroes from tales and legends from all over the world to lead a crucial battle and restore the fragile balance. But the heroes themselves have been corrupted. How deep do the roots of this evil go? * Explore 3 open maps filled with activities and inspired by enchanted forests and marshes, One Thousand and One Nights, and Arthurian legends respectively. * Help the inhabitants of Reverie, such as the Three Little Pigs, Sinbad the Sailor and Morgan the fairy, and earn valuable rewards to help you in your future battles. * Reveal the story of each character and Reverie, run after run. * Ravenswatch is a meticulously crafted combination of a dark fantasy atmosphere with a comic book style. To defeat the Nightmare and reach the final chapter, you will need a strong build, focus and/or excellent teamwork. You have 3 days and 3 nights to increase your power. Face the chapter boss when you feel ready… or when you no longer have a choice. * In the purest tradition of the roguelike genre, Ravenswatch is a challenging game but fair, balanced and refined thanks to community feedback. * Epic boss battles and over 50 formidable, uniquely designed enemies. * With each level completed, you earn the right to choose a new talent and improve your heroes' skills. Combine talents, items and dreams to craft the most powerful builds. * Even more fun with friends or using the matchmaking feature: explore the synergies and relationships between heroes with up to four players in co-op. During your game, optimize your time and make the best use of the upgrades you earn. With each new run, explore a new map filled with activities and enemies. Unlock new heroes and new content from one run to the next. * Over 200 talents, 50 magical items and endless build combinations. * Randomly generated maps with a wide range of activities. * 4 difficulty levels and customized game modes for an even greater challenge or to enjoy Ravenswatch at your own pace. * Regular updates will add new free content. Release date: 26 Sep, 2024 Categories: Roguelike, Action RPG, Cooperative Multiplayer, Single-player, Exploration, Horde Combat, Real-time Combat - 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: - Unique, well-designed characters (weight 0.97): The game features a diverse cast of well-designed characters, each with unique abilities, playstyles, and backstories. The characters are balanced and fun to play, and the game encourages experimentation with different characters to find a favorite. The characters also have unique interactions and dialogues that add to the immersion. - Fluid, responsive, rewarding combat (weight 0.64): The game features well-designed combat that is fast-paced, fluid, and responsive. Enemy attacks are well-telegraphed, and the controls are smooth, making dodging and weaving attacks satisfying. Mastering the combat is rewarding and empowering, with a high skill ceiling that allows skilled players to excel. - Unique, captivating art style (weight 0.49): The game has a unique and captivating art style, with a dark fairy tale aesthetic that is reminiscent of games like Darkest Dungeon and Curse of the Dead Gods. The visuals are well-crafted and create a specific mood, complemented by atmospheric music and sound design. The game also features characters from fairy tales and stories, such as Little Red Riding Hood and Aladdin, adding to the game's charm. - Challenging but fair difficulty (weight 0.16): The game offers a challenging but fair experience, with multiple difficulty levels to suit different play styles. The game is easy to learn but hard to master, with a satisfying sense of progression as players improve their skills and understanding of the mechanics. The game also features a timer mechanic that forces players to make strategic decisions on how to best spend their time. - Varied enemies and challenging bosses (weight 0.1): The game features a variety of enemies and bosses, each with unique attacks and mechanics. The boss fights are challenging and rewarding, testing the effectiveness of the player's build and skill. The game also features procedurally generated levels and random events, ensuring that each run is different. - Skill-dependent, strategic combat (weight 0.07): The game's combat system rewards good decision-making on both macro and micro scales. Success depends on player skill in managing abilities, cooldowns, and countering enemy attacks. The game also encourages players to think about their build and adapt their game plan based on the character they play. - Excellent, atmospheric soundtrack (weight 0.06): The game features an excellent soundtrack that is captivating and fits the game's atmosphere perfectly. The music is memorable and catchy, and the sound effects are well-integrated into the gameplay. - Comparable to Hades (weight 0.06): The game is often compared to Hades, with many reviewers noting similarities in gameplay, art style, and roguelike elements. Some reviewers even found the game more enjoyable than Hades, while others noted that it successfully merges elements from other popular games like Diablo and League of Legends. - General praise for the game (weight 0.03): These points are too general to be useful. They simply state that the game is good or fun, without providing any specific details or examples. Therefore, the importance score is reduced by 90%. Common complaints: - Poor difficulty scaling, unbalanced enemies (weight 0.75): Difficulty scaling is poorly implemented, especially in multiplayer. Enemies become excessively tanky and deal high damage, leading to frustrating and tedious encounters. The game's difficulty often feels artificial, relying on stat inflation rather than engaging mechanics. - Lacks content, repetitive gameplay (weight 0.67): The game suffers from a lack of content and replayability. Players report repetitive environments, enemy types, and quest objectives. The limited number of maps and bosses, combined with a lack of meaningful story progression, makes the game feel stale quickly. - Limited progression, build variety (weight 0.65): The game's progression system feels unrewarding and limited. Players report a lack of meaningful meta-progression and build variety. The reliance on RNG for talents and items, combined with a limited number of rerolls, can lead to frustrating and unviable runs. - Unstable multiplayer, disconnects, crashes (weight 0.58): Multiplayer suffers from various technical issues. These include frequent crashes, disconnects, and lobby problems, often resulting in lost progress and frustration. The lack of a reconnect feature and host migration exacerbates these issues, making the multiplayer experience unreliable. - Frustrating design, poor QoL (weight 0.52): Several design choices contribute to a frustrating player experience. These include a lack of a pause function in multiplayer, limited communication options, and questionable hit detection. Enemy design and behavior, such as excessive aggro range and unavoidable attacks, further detract from enjoyment. - Restrictive timer mechanic (weight 0.49): The timer mechanic creates unnecessary pressure and limits player freedom. It forces players to rush through levels, hindering exploration and strategic decision-making. This design choice detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game. - Uninspired, limited itemization (weight 0.47): Itemization feels uninspired and has limited impact on gameplay. Most items provide simple stat boosts, lacking unique effects or synergies. This contributes to a lack of build variety and makes item choices feel less meaningful. - Steep learning curve (weight 0.09): The game has a steep learning curve, which can be frustrating for new players. It takes time to understand the game's mechanics, maps, and enemy patterns. While some players may find this challenging, others may be turned off by the initial difficulty. - Weak roguelike elements (weight 0.06): The game's roguelike elements feel underdeveloped and uninspired. The lack of impactful unlockables and meaningful choices diminishes the replayability typically associated with the genre. This leads to a repetitive and formulaic experience. - General balancing issues (weight 0.05): The game suffers from general balancing issues. This includes character balance, item balance, and difficulty balance. These issues suggest a lack of playtesting and attention to player feedback. - Grindy character unlocks (weight 0.05): The game forces players to invest many hours to unlock characters. Once you beat the game with a character there is no reason to play the game again. The game requires grinding to level up characters, unlock their lore (despite being based on well-known fairy tale characters), and unlock perks for abilities. Gameplay feedback: - Forced timer pressures strategic play (weight 0.22): The game features a prominent timer mechanic, typically around 15-20 minutes per act, which pressures players to efficiently explore maps, complete objectives, and strengthen their characters before facing a boss. While a modifier exists to disable the timer, it prevents unlocking harder difficulties. This time constraint significantly impacts gameplay, forcing prioritization and strategic decision-making. - Unique heroes with diverse abilities (weight 0.1): Each hero has unique abilities and playstyles, encouraging experimentation and strategic team composition. Characters can level up during a run, unlocking new skills and talents that modify their abilities. There's also a meta-progression system where leveling up characters outside of runs unlocks more perks. - Randomized maps offer varied experiences (weight 0.08): Maps feature randomized elements such as points of interest, enemy placements, and item locations, contributing to unique runs. However, some reviewers felt the limited number of maps and bosses led to repetitive gameplay despite the randomization. - Co-op emphasizes teamwork/coordination (weight 0.07): The game features online co-op for up to 4 players, emphasizing team play, coordination, and situational awareness. Difficulty scales with the number of players, requiring teamwork to succeed. Some characters are designed with collaborative abilities, making them challenging to play solo. - ARPG/MOBA-inspired combat is engaging (weight 0.05): The game blends ARPG and MOBA elements with hack-and-slash combat. The fighting system is engaging and encourages players to experiment with builds and combos. Some reviewers compare the gameplay to Diablo or League of Legends. - High difficulty, requires mastery (weight 0.04): The game's difficulty is high, requiring players to learn enemy attack patterns and master dodging. Some reviewers felt the dodge mechanic lacked invincibility frames, increasing the challenge. - Solid mechanics, some repetition (weight 0.04): The game mechanics are generally solid and consistent, with reasonable cooldown management. The progression system evolves from simple button spam to strategic combo usage as players level up and gain talents. However, some reviewers found the core gameplay loop repetitive. - Twisted folklore roguelike gameplay (weight 0.03): The game is an isometric roguelike featuring twisted versions of folklore legends battling nightmare-fueled hordes. - Viable solo/multiplayer, scales difficulty (weight 0.03): The game is designed for both solo and multiplayer runs, with difficulty settings catering to different skill levels. Some reviewers found solo play more challenging and less optimized than co-op. - Limited number of maps/chapters (weight 0.03): The game features a limited number of maps, typically three chapters plus an epilogue. Each chapter has the same points of interest, offering specific rewards. - Strategic resource acquisition gameplay (weight 0.02): The core gameplay loop involves moving between spots, clearing them, and building an ideal path to maximize resources. This shifts the focus towards strategic decision-making rather than pure action. - Diverse builds through ability combinations (weight 0.02): The game features diverse builds through combining passive abilities and traits. Each character has a passive trait, a main attack, a power, a special, a defense ability, and an ultimate. Performance notes: - Crashing and disconnect issues (weight 0.06): Crashing issues are a recurring problem, especially in multiplayer or after updates, sometimes leading to lost progress. Disconnects can also negate progress, even if allies complete the run. These issues detract from the overall experience. - Generally polished, few bugs (weight 0.04): Many reviewers did not encounter any significant bugs or technical problems. The game is described as polished, indicating a generally stable and well-executed experience for many players. - Steam Deck UI readability issues (weight 0.02): The game runs flawlessly on Steam Deck, but the interface is hard to see and read, even on a proper monitor, and especially on Steam Deck. - Unstable multiplayer experience (weight 0.01): Several reviews mention buggy online multiplayer and unstable network connections. This results in a less enjoyable experience for those playing with others. Some reviews mention improvements over time. - "Genie Strength" talent bug (weight 0.01): One specific bug was reported where the "Genie Strength" talent did not function correctly until VSync was disabled or the monitor refresh rate was lowered. This is a specific, actionable issue that could be addressed by the developers. - Teleporting map freeze bug (weight 0): A specific bug was reported where teleporting from the map in the second location causes the game to freeze. This glitch disappears after passing the boss and moving to a new location. Recommendations: - Fun, engaging, worth the price (weight 0.69): Many reviewers recommend the game, citing its fun and engaging gameplay, especially in co-op. The game is considered worth its price, particularly when on sale. Reviewers highlight the game's potential and express overall positive experiences. - Better with friends (co-op) (weight 0.57): The game is more enjoyable and easier with friends due to co-op enhancements. Reviewers suggest playing with friends for a better experience. However, some reviewers note that the game is not co-op friendly due to difficulty scaling issues. - Compared to other roguelikes (weight 0.51): The game is often compared to other popular roguelikes like Hades, Risk of Rain, and Curse of the Dead Gods. Some reviewers consider it a good alternative, especially for those seeking a co-op experience. However, some reviewers feel that it falls short compared to these titles. - Multiplayer quality varies widely (weight 0.48): The game's multiplayer experience can vary depending on the players involved. Playing with random players can be unreliable, while pre-made teams tend to have a better experience. Some reviewers find co-op with more players frustrating, especially for casual gamers. - Needs better replayability incentives (weight 0.48): The game needs better incentives for replayability, such as a proper progression system. Reviewers hope that the developers will add new events and activities to keep players engaged. Some reviewers find the game repetitive after a certain point. - Difficulty and timer frustrations (weight 0.48): The game's difficulty can be a point of contention, with some finding it challenging and others finding it frustrating. The timer mechanic is a common source of stress. Some reviewers suggest avoiding the hardest difficulty to save your sanity. - Lacks content, balance, technical issues (weight 0.18): Many reviewers express concerns about the game's lack of content, balance issues, and technical problems like crashes and disconnects, especially in multiplayer. Some find the game overpriced for what it offers and suggest waiting for updates or a sale before purchasing. Some reviewers feel the game is unpolished and frustrating. - Anticipation for future content (weight 0.07): Reviewers are looking forward to future content updates, including new characters, maps, and features. There is hope that the developers will continue to support the game and address existing issues. Some reviewers are willing to pay for additional content. - Mixed, potentially review bombing (weight 0.02): This cluster contains a mix of extreme positive and negative sentiments, including perfect scores and strong criticisms. Some reviewers suggest using cheats to overcome the game's difficulty. Due to the lack of specific feedback and potential for review bombing, the importance score is reduced. Other player notes: - Active post-launch support (weight 0.07): The developers are actively supporting the game post-launch with frequent updates, new content, and balance patches based on player feedback. They have a public roadmap outlining future content, including new characters, abilities, and game modes, which has generated excitement among players. This ongoing support significantly improves the game and addresses initial shortcomings. - Dark fairy tale setting (weight 0.05): The game is set in a dark fairy tale universe called Reverie, featuring twisted interpretations of classic fairy tale characters and folklore. The art style is reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon, with a grimdark cartoon aesthetic. The story is revealed through notes, memoirs, and voiced diary entries, adding depth to the engaging experience. - Varied character roster (weight 0.03): The game currently features nine playable characters, each with unique playstyles and upgradeable talents. Some reviewers desire more ranged heroes, dedicated healers, and heroes with interesting debuffing mechanics. The developers plan to add more characters in future updates, which players are eagerly anticipating. - French development team (weight 0.01): The game is developed by a French studio, which is noticeable in the voice actors' accents. The voice acting is generally well done. This is a minor point, but provides some context about the game's development. - Average game length (weight 0.01): The average game run takes approximately one hour, with each act lasting around 18 minutes plus loading times. This provides a reasonable time commitment for individual sessions. This is a minor point, but provides useful information for players deciding whether to try the game. - Varied locations, co-op focus (weight 0.01): The game features three distinct locations, each with its own aesthetic and enemies, and increasing difficulty. The game is designed for co-op play, with enemy difficulty scaling for solo players. The immersive setting enhances the co-op rogue-like experience. - Four-player co-op support (weight 0.01): The game supports up to four players in tackling different worlds. It is entirely PvE, featuring magic powers and special abilities. This is a core element of the game's design. - Similarities to Heroes of the Storm (weight 0.01): Some characters and monsters have abilities that are the same or very similar to those in Heroes of the Storm. Some talents even have the same name as in Heroes of the Storm. This may be a point of concern for some players. Emotions: No emotions}