Shadow of the Depth Review Summary

Engaging, fluid, satisfying combat: The game features engaging, fluid, and fast-paced combat with responsive controls, satisfying feedback, and depth comparable to titles like Hades. Players find the core gameplay loop addictive and enjoyable, with a good sense of impact and smooth controls that contribute to an overall satisfying experience.

Diverse characters, unique playstyles: The game offers a diverse roster of characters, each with unique playstyles, abilities, and upgrade paths. This character differentiation enhances replayability and allows players to experiment with various builds and strategies, contributing to a fresh and engaging experience with each playthrough.

Good replayability, fresh runs: The game offers good replayability with fresh runs, upgrade opportunities, and varied maps. The ability to save mid-run caters to relaxed play sessions.

Varied builds, deep progression: The game provides a variety of character upgrades, skill choices, and combo systems that allow for creative and unconventional builds. The rune synthesis system and random skill upgrades further enhance replayability and enjoyment, offering options for 'gamebreaking' fun.

Appealing and distinctive art style: The game boasts a distinctive and appealing art style, often described as a blend of comic book aesthetics and dark fantasy. Reviewers consistently praise the visual design, sound design, and overall aesthetic, noting its consistency and polish.

Unbalanced and inconsistent difficulty: The game's difficulty is inconsistent and often unbalanced, with players experiencing both trivial and overly challenging situations. Enemies can stunlock players, deal excessive damage, and have unclear attack patterns. The game's balance issues contribute to a frustrating and unenjoyable experience.

Lacks content, depth, and variety: The game suffers from a lack of content, depth, and variety in levels, enemies, and progression. Players report monotonous gameplay, a weak meta-progression system, and unrewarding monster encounters, leading to a generic and unfulfilling experience. The game feels overpriced for the limited content it offers.

Frustrating enemy behaviors/level design: The game suffers from frustrating enemy behaviors and level design issues. Enemies can attack through walls, spawn with invincibility frames, and have unpredictable attacks, leading to unfair and frustrating encounters. The game's difficulty spikes and uneven pacing further detract from the overall experience.

Numerous game-breaking bugs: The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including loading issues, save data loss, and characters getting stuck. These technical issues can ruin runs and prevent players from progressing, leading to a negative and frustrating experience.

Tedious and grindy character unlocks: Character unlocks are unclear and grindy, with specializations feeling indistinct. Character balance and bugs are significant issues, and progression outside of matches feels insignificant, leading to a tedious and unrewarding experience.

Top-down roguelike dungeon exploration: The game is a top-down roguelike dungeon crawler with procedurally generated levels, offering a clear view of the battlefield. This perspective is noted as a less common but engaging experience compared to side-scrolling roguelikes. The core gameplay loop involves exploring these maps, defeating enemies, and acquiring equipment.

Unexplained combo-based combat system: The game incorporates a combo system, where different attack patterns are achieved through right-click attacks with slight pauses. However, the game does not explain this mechanic to the player, and it requires a talent point to reveal. Some reviewers found the combo system in an action roguelite to be unusual.

Meta-progression and cross-class skills: The game features meta-progression systems, including runes and skill trees, that allow players to customize their builds and reduce difficulty over time. Characters can also use weapons from other classes as secondary weapons, expanding their abilities and enabling cross-class skill combinations.

Unique character builds/playstyles: Each character has unique builds and playstyles. For example, Mage Stephanie utilizes elemental types, Warrior Arthur focuses on invincibility, Archer Phyllis uses tracking arrows and ice skills, and Assassin Ailiya relies on dodging.

Parry/counter combat mechanic: The game incorporates a parry/counter mechanic that requires player skill and can be used against various attack types. One character, Samurai Gintoki, has a core mechanic centered around parry-counter, granting invincibility during the parry animation.

Performance and optimization issues: Multiple reviews cite performance issues, including lag and frame rate drops, especially during intense battles, when using summon builds, or in later levels. Some users experience these issues even on high-end hardware, indicating optimization problems. Some players also report minor bugs.

Positive graphics and sound: Graphics and sound are rated positively (8/10). This indicates that the game's presentation is generally well-received.

Specific gameplay bugs reported: Several specific bugs were reported, including character locking to the left in certain acts and environments flashing when summoned creatures return to the player. These issues detract from the overall gameplay experience.

Loading issues in level three: The third level has noticeable loading issues, which can disrupt the flow of gameplay. This is a specific instance of a technical problem.

Worth the price; has potential: Many reviewers find the game to be worth its current price, especially given its early access status. They believe it has potential and are hopeful for future updates and content additions. Some suggest waiting for sales or full release, but overall, the game is considered a reasonable value.

Balance issues need addressing: Several reviews mention balance issues, particularly regarding character viability and difficulty scaling in later stages. Some characters feel underpowered while others are overpowered, leading to an uneven and potentially frustrating gameplay experience. Numerical balance adjustments are needed.

Awaiting further development/content: A common sentiment is that the game shows promise but needs further development and content. Reviewers are looking forward to future updates, bug fixes, and the full release, with many expressing hope that the developers will continue to improve the game based on feedback.

Lacks replay value/too long: Some reviewers feel the game lacks replay value, with playthroughs being too long or becoming uninteresting after a few attempts. Adjusting the overall game length per run is suggested to combat player fatigue and maintain engagement.

Improve the shop system: The shop system could be improved to offer players more meaningful options for spending their gold, enhancing player agency and progression.

Early Access, awaiting more content: The game is in early access, with developers planning to add more content and improvements. Reviewers are looking forward to future updates and changes to the game as it progresses towards its official release.

Runes and meta-progression system: The game features runes that can be equipped to enhance characters, with a limit of three runes at a time. Crystals are used for weapon upgrades and runes, while purple currency is used for leveling up, suggesting a meta-progression system.

Developed by small, nostalgic team: The game was developed by a small team of 5-7 members, Liang屋游戏. For some reviewers, Liang屋 is considered a nostalgic brand.

Leveling unlocks characters: Leveling up is tied to the player's account and is the primary method for unlocking new characters. One reviewer mentioned unlocking all characters relatively quickly after a single win.

Fixed levels and bosses: The game currently consists of three chapters with varying difficulty levels. However, the levels and bosses within these chapters are fixed, which may impact replayability.