Info about Across the Obelisk: Sands of Ulminin:

Official game description:
Update Notes
============
In multiplayer, only a single member of the group requires the DLC to access the Sands of Ulminin through the yellow portal for Act 2 or 3 and access the content, unlock pets, and characters.  
Note: To use the new characters and pets in this DLC, ownership is still required.
About the Game
==============
Gather your party and return to Senenthia to investigate the sudden appearance of a mysterious portal. Enjoy an all-new story that can be played as Act 2 or 3 of your adventure. Enlist the help of two new dual-class heroes and discover what lies beneath the Sands of Ulminin.  
The sudden emergence of a curious portal has led to wild rumors across the kingdom of Senenthia. Prepare your band of adventurers and make your way to the desert lands of Ulminin - home to ancient pyramids and vast canyons - to uncover the secrets that lie in wait.  
*   Unravel the mysteries that lurk beneath the rolling sands of this mystical new zone.  
*   Welcome two new heroes with powerful abilities to your party.  
*   Over 20 new enemies and three new bosses to defeat.  
*   Master two new Aura and Curse mechanics: Scourge and Zeal.  
*   Add variety to your decks with 30 new items and three new pets to unlock.  
New Heroes Answer the Call
--------------------------
*   Joining you on your adventure are two new heroes with powers previously unseen: Laia and Navalea.  
*   Laia is a Paladin—a Warrior Healer hybrid—capable of dealing incredible damage and helping her party in times of need.  
*   Navalea is a Fallen—a mix of Warrior and Mage—a masterful fighter, proficient in the ways of the mage.  
*   Both heroes can utilize cards from their hybrid classes, unlocking powerful dual-class options for you to experiment with.
The Mysterious Land of Sand Awaits
----------------------------------
*   Explore a multi-layered zone that can be played as either Act 2 or 3 of your adventure.  
*   Discover the brand-new Scarab mechanic. Defeat the scarabs that randomly appear during combat and your party will be rewarded with game-changing bonuses.
Pack the sunscreen and begin your journey to the Sands of Ulminin for a new Across the Obelisk challenge!

Release date: Aug 16, 2023

Categories: Deckbuilder, Roguelite Deckbuilder, Cooperative Multiplayer, Card-based Combat, Dual-class System, Aura and Curse Mechanics, Roguelike Dungeon Crawler, Resource Management

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 15; verdict: Fair / Traditional DLC Pricing Concerns; summary: The reviews center on a paid expansion DLC whose price is often compared unfavorably with the base game. Some users call it overpriced or a cash grab, while others praise the added region, characters, pets, free base-game updates, and multiplayer access sharing. There is no direct evidence of real-money gacha, loot boxes, paid power, confusing premium currency, or a predatory in-game cash shop; the complaints are traditional DLC price and content-ratio objections.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00
  - Reasoning: The reviews consistently frame the base game as strong value and even underpriced relative to its content. One reviewer calls it more than reasonably priced, another says it is the base game that is too cheap, and another notes the base game has so much content that DLC value cannot match it. A long-time player saying 300+ hours in the base game was worth it further supports a fair price around the $20 level, with room up to about $30 because some reviewers imply the base game could reasonably cost more.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 50.0h
  - Story completion: 20.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: 200.0h
  - Reasoning: One reviewer gives a detailed breakdown for the DLC: about 20 hours of map discovery, 50 hours of fresh content, and 200 hours before exhausting all options. Another reviewer independently says the DLC gives around 200 hours more game time. I use 20 hours as a lower-bound story/region completion estimate, 50 hours as a lower-bound DLC completion estimate, and 200 hours as the endgame/completionist estimate. The 'another 100 hours' remark supports substantial additional play but is not used as a separate metric because it is less specific. No review gives a typical session length, so sessionLength is null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Players praise the co-op game and DLC, but early DLC ownership and price friction blocked friend groups; after devs allowed one owner to enable multiplayer DLC access, sentiment improved for groups, though price complaints remain.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Dlc is playable in co-op when only one player in the group owns it
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: DLC costs more than the base game; Whole lobby needed to own the DLC for the desert; Friends without the DLC could not join co-op; Steep DLC price; Single-player DLC value still questioned
  - Unlock drivers: Devs removed multiplayer restrictions; One DLC owner enables new zones in co-op; Players can try the DLC in co-op through a DLC-owning friend; DLC can be shared with friends
  - Conditions: Playing with friends; At least one friend owning the DLC; Splitting the DLC price among a group; Quick dev response to feedback; Multiplayer-focused play; Price remains a concern for single players
- Player Archetypes:
  - Co-op Multiplayer Veteran (buy)
    - Motivation: Playing shared co-op runs with friends and keeping the group's content access fair.
    - Playstyle: Coordinates multiplayer sessions, often at high difficulty, and judges DLC by whether the whole lobby can play together.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Price-Sensitive Value Buyer (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Getting fair value for money and avoiding overpriced DLC.
    - Playstyle: Buys base game or DLC only at a discount and weighs content against price.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Hardcore Completionist Content Seeker (buy)
    - Motivation: Getting more content, completing the game, and supporting a developer they already like.
    - Playstyle: Exhausts new zones, bosses, classes, and achievements; is willing to pay for substantial additional content.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: completionist style gamer; hardcore player
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Deck Synergy Experimenter (buy)
    - Motivation: Experimenting with new card synergies and off-meta deck builds.
    - Playstyle: Theorycrafts decks around Chill, Crack, Dark, and self-chill combos rather than relying on obvious builds.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


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:
- DLC highly praised (weight 0.45): The DLC is widely considered good, fantastic, and wonderfully crafted, with many reviewers deeming it well worth the purchase.
- Substantial content additions (weight 0.39): The DLC expands the game with new cards, items, and a new act, providing significant additional gameplay and replayability.
- Two new heroes (weight 0.36): The DLC introduces two new characters that are consistently described as interesting, fun, and flavorful to play.
- Entire new area (weight 0.31): The DLC adds a whole new area to explore, which many reviewers find cool and substantial.
- Great expansion overall (weight 0.18): The expansion is well done, adds great new cards, and is considered fun and worth the money.
- Co-op DLC access (weight 0.18): Only one player needs to own the DLC for the whole party to access the new zone in co-op, which is seen as a positive decision.
- Worth the money (weight 0.17): Reviewers feel the DLC is well worth the money and offers good value.
- Supportive of developers (weight 0.17): Reviewers love and adore the game and want to support the developers.
- Developers listen to feedback (weight 0.17): The developers take player feedback into account and acted quickly to make the DLC available in multiplayer when a single player owns it.
- Better than previous DLC (weight 0.14): The DLC is considered much more solid and better than the previous Wolf-themed DLC.
- New map and boss (weight 0.1): The DLC includes a new map with a side dungeon and a new boss, adding fresh content.
- Fresh new content (weight 0.1): The DLC brings a huge breath of fresh air and a breeze of great new content to the game.
- Renewed interest (weight 0.1): The DLC rekindled reviewers' interest to play the game again.
- Fun with friends (weight 0.1): Reviewers enjoy the DLC, especially when playing on madness 8 and 9 with a friend.
- Lots of new cards (weight 0.1): The DLC adds many new cards and cool new items that enhance the gameplay.
- Incredible replay value (weight 0.1): The game, including the base game, offers incredible replay value according to reviewers.

Common complaints:
- DLC is overpriced (weight 0.9): Many reviewers complain that the DLC is too expensive for what it offers. The price is often compared unfavorably to the base game, with some calling it robbery or predatory.
- DLC costs same as base game (weight 0.81): Numerous reviews highlight that the DLC is priced the same as the base game despite having far less content. This is seen as unjustifiable and discouraging for new and old players.
- Poor value for money (weight 0.64): Reviewers frequently state that the DLC's content does not justify its price, with low value for money. The amount of new content is perceived as insufficient relative to the cost.
- DLC area poorly designed (weight 0.4): The new DLC area is criticized for being unfun, rushed, and lacking replayability. Enemies hit harder, events punish players without counterplay, and the zone feels barren.
- New mechanics are unintuitive and niche (weight 0.31): Zeal, Scourge, Heat, and other new mechanics are described as unintuitive, overly complicated, and poorly integrated. They are bound to DLC characters and clutter the card pool.
- DLC integration with base game poor (weight 0.3): New cards clutter the pool and old characters do not benefit. Weekly challenges rarely include DLC characters, and new items are useless without specific heroes.
- New characters feel weak or niche (weight 0.29): Laia is considered weak as a healer and tank, and her DPS build relies on the Zeal mechanic which lacks support. Other new heroes have gimmicks that are dangerous or ineffective.
- Launcher issues and malware concerns (weight 0.28): The forced launcher is criticized for being intrusive, like malware or spyware, and for breaking the game for some players. Many report being unable to play even single-player without interference.
- Chinese localization is poor (weight 0.27): The Simplified Chinese localization has missing characters, untranslated text, and other quality issues. Many DLC elements are left in English, and card names are poorly translated.
- New heroes have bugs and balance issues (weight 0.23): The two new characters are considered completely broken due to dual-classing, and there are potential power creep issues. Some abilities, like Excaliburn, are unreliable.
- Developer greed and milking (weight 0.22): Reviewers accuse the developers of becoming greedy, milking the playerbase with overpriced DLC and microtransactions. The pricing is seen as predatory.
- Content quantity is insufficient (weight 0.22): The DLC adds only a small map, two characters, and a few extras, which is seen as too little content for the price. The Yogg DLC is particularly criticized for minimal content.
- Multiplayer requires all to own DLC (weight 0.21): Initially, every party member needed to own the DLC to access new content in co-op, making it nearly impossible to play in multiplayer. Even after a correction, friends still cannot use new characters and pets.
- Technical issues after DLC (weight 0.2): Some players experience game crashes, inability to launch, and getting stuck on loading screens after installing the DLC. Linux support also seems worse.
- DLC characters not unlocked immediately (weight 0.18): Some players are frustrated that newly purchased DLC characters require unlocking, such as by killing bosses, rather than being available right away. This is seen as an unnecessary grind.
- Trait tree not expanded (weight 0.16): The trait tree has not been updated to support new effects, and the madness difficulty cap was not increased. This limits character progression.
- Reused and low-quality assets (weight 0.15): Sound effects are criticized as royalty-free trash, and some assets are recolors with the same names. The final boss uses the same hit sound as others.
- Refund and pricing changes issues (weight 0.14): Some players cannot refund the DLC, and others are upset that the price was cut after purchase. The base game price increase is also criticized.
- Sphinx riddle and fight unfair (weight 0.13): The sphinx riddle requires obscure lore knowledge, and the fight is immune to damage, leading to frustration. Rewards are minimal even after solving.

Gameplay feedback:
- New area and characters added (weight 0.78): The DLC introduces a new explorable region along with two playable characters, expanding the game's content.
- New characters with unique mechanics (weight 0.51): Two new heroes are unlockable through gameplay, each featuring distinct playstyles and team-building requirements.
- Co-op DLC sharing enabled (weight 0.39): In multiplayer, only one player needs to own the DLC for the entire group to access new zones and content.
- New cards and items introduced (weight 0.3): The expansion adds new cards, pets, equipment, and other items that integrate with existing systems.
- New zone with bosses and events (weight 0.2): The added zone includes monsters, bosses, events, and subzones to explore, providing fresh challenges.
- Multiplayer support available (weight 0.19): The game supports co-op multiplayer, allowing players to team up with friends.
- DLC ownership required for characters (weight 0.17): Players who do not own the DLC cannot access the new characters, items, or unlocks.
- New mechanics zeal and scourge (weight 0.1): The DLC introduces two new mechanics, zeal and scourge, tied to the new characters and integrated into the base game.
- Campaign integrated map expansion (weight 0.1): The expansion adds a whole map that is integrated into the campaign, offering a seamless new area to explore.
- Laia offers dual-class builds (weight 0.09): Laia can be built as a Healer or Tank, or as a Warrior/Healer with support and self-burn DPS builds, though she is hard to use effectively.

Performance notes:
- Severe crashes and lag (weight 0.11): Players report frequent crashes and lag that can be so severe that a hard reboot is required. This indicates major stability issues.
- DLC worsens stability (weight 0.06): Crashes occur more often and are more severe after installing the DLC. This suggests the DLC introduces additional instability.

Recommendations:
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.91): Many reviewers strongly recommend waiting for a deep discount before purchasing the DLC, often stating it is not worth the current price. This sentiment is widespread and specific about pricing concerns.
- Worth it for fans (weight 0.49): Reviewers who enjoy the base game find the DLC worthwhile, especially for dedicated fans or those wanting more content. It is often recommended for players who liked the original game and seek additional gameplay.
- Support developers (weight 0.23): Some reviewers recommend buying the DLC as a way to support the developers, especially small teams. They feel it is a fun way to show appreciation and encourage more content.
- Mixed or conditional recommendations (weight 0.19): Some reviewers give mixed recommendations, noting the world is nice but characters or pricing are disappointing. Others recommend with caution or only for specific modes like adventure.
- Not for non-multiplayer (weight 0.13): A few reviews advise against buying the DLC if you don't play multiplayer, suggesting the free version instead. This indicates the content may not be valuable for solo-focused players.
- Complete base game first (weight 0.09): Reviewers suggest trying the base game before buying the DLC, as it won't change your mind if you dislike the game. This is practical advice for uncertain players.
- Negative due to developer practices (weight 0.08): A couple of reviews negatively recommend the DLC due to perceived developer greed or publisher practices, such as not supporting Paradox. These are ideological rather than gameplay-based.
- Riddle advice (weight 0.05): A reviewer advises looking up the riddle answer or avoiding the fight entirely, suggesting the puzzle may be frustrating or unclear. This is a niche tip for a specific section.

Other player notes:
- DLC sharing enabled in co-op (weight 0.44): Developers added the ability for groups to access the DLC with only one owner, and this feature was implemented after community feedback.
- Favorable comparison to other DLC (weight 0.24): The DLC is often compared favorably to previous expansions, such as Wolf Wars, and considered more solid or with more content.
- Base game underpriced, causing DLC pricing issues (weight 0.24): Reviewers point out that the base game is underpriced for its quality, which leaves little room for higher-priced DLC and makes the DLC seem disproportionately expensive.
- DLC offers extensive playtime (weight 0.22): The DLC is reported to provide at least 20 to 200 hours of fresh content, significantly extending game time.
- DLC released with free update (weight 0.21): The DLC launched alongside a substantial free patch that added content to the base game, including new cards and a sandbox mode.
- Developer responded quickly to feedback (weight 0.17): Developers changed the DLC access policy within a day of community complaints and responded to player feedback about DLC access.
- Paradox launcher criticized (weight 0.14): Paradox is criticized for forcing an obnoxious launcher and requiring EULA acceptance.
- Game feature-complete without DLC (weight 0.12): Reviewers emphasize that the base game is feature-complete and the DLC only expands options without adding crucial parts.
- Reviewers suggested specific lower prices (weight 0.12): Some reviewers propose specific lower price points for the DLC, such as $12 instead of $15.
- Review bombing over pricing and access (weight 0.1): The game was review bombed due to the expansion's price and the initial group access requirement, before players had a chance to play.
- Base game offers more content per price (weight 0.1): Reviewers note the base game provides more content per dollar than the expansion and offers over 200 hours of play.
- DLC priced higher than discounted base (weight 0.1): The base game is often sold at a discount while the DLC remains at full price, making the DLC relatively expensive.
- Price may be justified by complexity (weight 0.1): Some reviewers argue that despite the content count, the DLC's roguelike complexity adds more than the sum of its parts, making the price seem less outrageous.
- Pricing strategy compared to Paradox (weight 0.09): The DLC's pricing and sharing practices are compared to Paradox's usual approach and other Paradox games.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.21): Players are disappointed by the DLC's high price relative to its small content, such as only one new area and two characters, and by balance issues like weak new heroes and overpowered DLC characters. They also cite poor value for money, incomplete localization, and broken features like saved deck loads.
- Frustration (weight 0.16): Frustration stems from poor DLC value, restrictive multiplayer requirements, and technical issues like crashes and lag. Players also struggle with unintuitive new mechanics, unreliable core components like Excaliburn, and localization problems.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Players are satisfied with the DLC's new characters, map, and mechanics, finding the content well-integrated and fun. They appreciate the substantial additions and feel the game offers good value, especially in multiplayer.
- Anger (weight 0.06): Anger is directed at the DLC's high price compared to the base game despite less content, perceived cash-grab design, and a forced launcher that allegedly steals data. Incomplete localization and updates that ruined the game's flow also fuel anger.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.05): Enthusiasm is driven by new characters, maps, and items that add variety and renew interest. Players enjoy the dual-class heroes, fun bosses, and the prospect of many more hours of play from the DLC.
- Annoyance (weight 0.05): Annoyance arises from having to unlock already-paid characters, high DLC pricing, and restrictive multiplayer requirements. Players also dislike new cards cluttering the shared pool, poor optimization, and community complaints they see as uninformed.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Enjoyment comes from fun new characters, cards, items, and a content-rich map. Players particularly love the loot scarab, multiple classes for new heroes, and exploring the new zone.
- Dissatisfaction (weight 0.03): Dissatisfaction is mainly due to the DLC being overpriced for its content, which is perceived as very little new content over a year. The addition of frenzy and calamity mechanics also contributes to dissatisfaction.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Excitement is fueled by the new class, skills, map, and paladin content, as well as dual-class heroes that rekindled interest. Developers unlocking DLC sharing with friends and the addition of new zone, characters, auras, pets, equipment, and cards also generate excitement.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players express love for the game, purchasing the DLC to support the developers out of appreciation for the base game.
- Disbelief (weight 0.01): Disbelief is caused by the idea that paying doesn't directly unlock characters and by salty Discord users review bombing the expansion before others could play it.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation is felt for the base game's incredible value for its price and the clear love and care the developers put into the game.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement comes from the two new characters playing amusingly and the funny things players can pull off with the DLC content.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern is that the DLC's price being the same as the base game may scare off new and old players.
- Happiness (weight 0.01): Happiness results from the developers quickly removing multiplayer restrictions and overall satisfaction with the purchase despite high pricing.
- Praise (weight 0.01): Praise is given for the great 4th zone exploration and class mechanics, and for the game being fantastic for multiplayer with friends.
- Gratitude (weight 0.01): Gratitude is expressed for developers listening to player feedback about DLC sharing and for continuing to provide new content and DLC.
- Liking (weight 0.01): Liking is based on the DLC being better than the Wolf one and having good items.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is directed at the developers' greedy behavior after the Halloween skin pack.
- Distrust (weight 0.01): Distrust arises from the launcher collecting data and feeling like spyware, with a forced EULA.}