Info about Lichdom: Battlemage:

Official game description:
  
Lichdom: Battlemage is a first-person caster that gives the Mage the spotlight in a way never before seen in games. With limitless magical power at your disposal and brutal enemies around every corner, victory hinges on a combination of skill and strategy. You must carefully craft a vast array of spells and learn to cast them in the heat of combat.  
You are your spells! The Lichdom: Battlemage spell crafting system offers an enormous range of customization. Every Mage is the product of crafted magic that reflects the individual's play style. Whether you prefer to target your foes from a safe distance, wade into combat and unleash your power at point-blank range, or pit your enemies against each other, endless spell customization lets you become the Mage you want to be.  
**About Xaviant**  
Lichdom: Battlemage was developed by a team of industry veterans at Atlanta-based studio Xaviant. The team embraced community involvement through the Early Access program to ensure that Lichdom: Battlemage reached its full potential as a truly unique and exciting experience for players.  
Check out great crafting guides here!

Release date: Aug 26, 2014

Categories: Spell-based Combat, Action RPG, Crafting, Linear Progression, Loot-driven Combat System, First-Person Perspective


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews consistently state that the game is only worth purchasing at a deep discount, with $5 being the most frequently mentioned acceptable sale price. This suggests the community considers a fair base price to be in the $5–10 range, as anything higher would require a significant markdown to be seen as worthwhile.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 50.0h
  - Story completion: 22.0h
  - Session length: 2.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Story/campaign completion is consistently reported around 20-25 hours (e.g., 25 hours from a player who finished the story, 20 hours from another review describing eight levels). Game completion (first playthrough including all content) is estimated at 50 hours from a Chinese review. Session length is inferred from 'each of those lasting 2-3 hours' referring to levels, suggesting a typical session of 2-3 hours. Endgame hours are not quantified in the evidence; only mentions of New Game Plus and challenge maps exist without specific playtime.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Lichdom: Battlemage provides an engaging first few hours with its unique spell crafting system, but quickly becomes repetitive and boring due to monotonous enemies, linear levels, and a weak story, leading to a sharp drop in enjoyment.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: repetitive enemy encounters with little variety; boring and convoluted story; poor tutorial that fails to explain the crafting system; clunky combat with tedious charging mechanics; long linear levels with far checkpoints
  - Unlock drivers: mastering the spell crafting system to create powerful combos; experimenting with different spell elements and delivery methods; overcoming the initial learning curve to achieve smooth combat
  - Conditions: enjoy experimentation with spell combos; tolerate repetitive gameplay; play on sale to mitigate disappointment
- Player Archetypes:
  - Spellcraft Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: The deep, customizable spellcrafting system and the satisfaction of discovering powerful synergies.
    - Playstyle: Experiments with spell combinations, enjoys theorycrafting and optimizing builds, tolerates repetition for the sake of mastering the magic system.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: magic system enthusiast; theorycrafter; niche gamer
    - Reference games: Diablo; Skyrim
  - Old-School Purist (sale)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia for old-school magic FPS games and the desire for a genuine challenge without modern conveniences.
    - Playstyle: Prefers non-handholding, challenging gameplay with tactical spell use; appreciates the blend of FPS and RPG mechanics reminiscent of classic titles.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: old-school FPS fan; Hexen/Heretic veteran; challenge seeker
    - Reference games: Hexen; Heretic; Ultrakill; Two Worlds
  - Disappointed Realist (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Initial curiosity about the unique magic system, but ultimately driven away by poor execution and grind.
    - Playstyle: Plays through the campaign once, often on sale, but becomes frustrated by repetitive combat and lack of narrative depth; may not finish the game.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: cautious buyer; realistic reviewer; disappointed fan
    - 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:
- Visuals generally appreciated (weight 0.6): The graphics are frequently described as beautiful, colorful, and well-preserved, with specific praise for CryEngine 3 visuals and diverse environments. However, the praise varies from 'fine' to 'spectacular'.
- Combat feels frantic and responsive (weight 0.33): The combat is described as frantic with responsive controls, offering a satisfying experience. Specific mechanics like synergy spells, parry-nova, and necromancy-corruption add depth.
- Great concept and potential (weight 0.26): Players recognize the game's fantastic idea and great potential, but some feel execution falls short or the game only entertains briefly. The concept is widely praised.
- Spell effects and effects quality noted (weight 0.19): Spell effects are described as nice, pretty, and spectacular, contributing to the overall visual appeal.
- Gameplay elements like loot and inventory praised (weight 0.16): Specific systems like the loot system, auto-crafting, and smart inventory are highlighted as working well, enhancing the game experience.
- Voice acting and audio quality commended (weight 0.1): Troy Baker's performance and the overall voice acting receive specific positive mentions, indicating strong audio quality.
- Game considered stable and feature-complete (weight 0.05): One player describes the game as stable and feature-complete, suggesting a polished technical state without major bugs.
- Steam features like trading cards appreciated (weight 0.05): The inclusion of Steam trading cards and achievements is mentioned as a positive, indicating value for collectors or completionists.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive and boring gameplay (weight 0.44): The gameplay loop is described as repetitive, boring, and lifeless. Combat feels monotonous and fails to keep players engaged, leading to a bland overall experience.
- Spell crafting is cumbersome (weight 0.43): The spell crafting system is consistently described as cumbersome, convoluted, and poorly explained. Many players found the process uninteresting and the resulting spells unimpactful, with a lack of clear in-game guidance.
- Lack of enemy variety (weight 0.41): There is a severe lack of enemy variety, with many reskinned foes sharing similar movesets. Players encounter the same types of enemies and repetitive combat patterns throughout the game.
- Story is uninteresting (weight 0.33): The story is widely regarded as weak, mediocre, and slow to unfold. Players found it uninteresting, with poor presentation and a lack of character development.
- Levels are linear corridors (weight 0.29): Levels are criticized for being linear corridors with little to no exploration or interactive content. This results in pacing problems and a feeling of emptiness.
- Checkpoints too far apart (weight 0.18): Checkpoints are frequently placed too far apart, leading to frustration after death. This disrupts the game's pacing and increases the sense of punishment.
- Unfair difficulty spikes (weight 0.18): Difficulty spikes are described as random, nonsensical, and frustrating, often feeling unfair and poorly designed.
- Limited spell variety (weight 0.1): Despite the promise of many spells, players report only using a few effective ones in practice, limiting variety in magic combat.
- Cannot disable film grain (weight 0.1): A persistent film grain effect cannot be disabled, which some players find visually unappealing and obstructive.

Gameplay feedback:
- Deep spell crafting system (weight 0.97): Players consistently praise a complex spell crafting system that allows mixing elements, delivery methods, and effects for high customization and combos.
- First-person mage combat (weight 0.5): The game is described as a first-person magic combat experience, blending shooter mechanics with spell creation.
- Corridor and arena levels (weight 0.33): Levels are largely linear corridors leading to combat arenas, with room-to-room fights and some boss encounters.
- Three basic spell types (weight 0.29): Common feedback mentions three fundamental spells: single target projectile, area-of-effect, and shield, often tied to mouse buttons or sigils.
- Parry-nova and block mechanics (weight 0.25): A parry-nova mechanic and timed block are highlighted, along with dodge and charge-up attacks for critical hits.
- No mana or cooldowns (weight 0.17): The magic system has no mana, cooldowns, or casting time restrictions, allowing free spell use.
- Repetitive combat and boss fights (weight 0.15): Some find fights repetitive, with bosses using only a few attack patterns, and horde enemies.
- Rune-based loot and progression (weight 0.14): Loot consists only of runes for modifying spells, with no levels or skill trees; character improvement relies solely on crafting.
- Health and shield system (weight 0.12): Health regenerates in tiers, and players have three shields as health, with dodge having limited charges.
- Autoaim and motion blur options (weight 0.08): Includes autoaim and motion blur settings, with autoaim affecting gameplay feel.
- Three spell schools out of eight (weight 0.05): Players can choose three spell schools from eight available, affecting playstyle.
- Necromancy and corruption synergy (weight 0.05): A specific combo between necromancy and corruption spells is noted as a powerful synergy.
- Experience penalty for spell switching (weight 0.05): Switching spells costs experience points, discouraging experimentation.
- Three armor types available (weight 0.05): Armor comes in tactical, strategic, and mobile types, each affecting gameplay.
- Cover-based gameplay mentioned (weight 0.05): One review mentions cover-based gameplay, though not widely reported.
- Three weapon and utility slots (weight 0.05): Players have three weapon slots and three utility slots for equipment.
- New Game Plus uses campaign locales (weight 0.04): NG+ consists of short missions reusing campaign locations, not a full replay.

Performance notes:
- Game crashes on start (weight 0.12): Players report that the game crashes immediately when attempting to start a new game, even on systems that far exceed the recommended specifications. This suggests a critical compatibility or initialization bug.
- Missing assets block play (weight 0.07): Missing file assets prevent the game from launching or progressing, indicating incomplete installation or corrupted data. This blocks all gameplay.
- Frame rate drops on high-end (weight 0.07): Unstable frame rate drops occur even on high-end hardware, pointing to poor optimization or memory leaks. This degrades the experience for players with powerful systems.

Recommendations:
- Strongly not recommended (weight 0.72): A large number of players strongly advise against purchasing this game, citing it as not worth the money, time, or effort. Many express regret and suggest avoiding it entirely.
- Some fresh ideas (weight 0.05): Despite the issues, a single review notes that the game has fresh ideas for those who can overlook its problems.

Other player notes:
- Refund policy too short (weight 0.06): Players complain that the 2-hour refund window on Steam is insufficient to discover the game's repetitive nature, as they feel misled by the initial content.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.55): Players feel frustrated due to a lack of essential accessibility options like targeting reticles, control remapping for left-handed play, and head-bobbing toggles. The gameplay is plagued by overpowered archers, tedious cover mechanics, a difficulty spike with the second boss, and enemies that are tanky with disabling attacks, while the interface is overloaded and balance is poor.
- Disappointment (weight 0.2): Disappointment stems from repetitive level design and enemies combined with unsound gameplay mechanics, a bland spell crafting system, and a lack of promised RPG elements such as side quests, exploration, and leveling. The game fails to deliver the advertised 'all-powerful battlemage' fantasy, instead reinforcing standard mage stereotypes and ultimately feeling incomplete.
- Boredom (weight 0.1): Boredom arises from highly repetitive and unengaging gameplay across all aspects, with constant combat and no variety. The lack of achievement or meaningful progression after creating the first spell further compounds the monotony, failing to sustain player engagement.}