Info about Dark Scrolls:

Official game description:
Set forth on your quest to \[INSERT GOAL HERE\] with one of the worthy yet quirky heroes in solo or cooperative play, local and online. Hack, slash, and dodge through hordes of enemies and deadly traps in procedurally generated runs of hand-crafted rooms and levels using each hero's unique attacks and abilities to your advantage.  
Sharp reflexes and split-second decisions are crucial to survival as the intensity ratchets up as each run delivers new surprises, branching paths, and unrelenting bosses to conquer. Gobble up coins to spend at Bruce & Goose's Shoppe as you take a breath from the action to gain new perks, devastating attacks and summoned allies. Stack them right, and you'll unleash screen-filling destruction of arcade legend.  
Keep an eye out for secrets among the chaos as this land holds many mysteries with new paths and locations, new heroes to rescue and add to your roster, and more…  
Double Trouble
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Charge forth alone or bring a co-op buddy to tackle dungeons together, combine powerful attacks and revive one another if you fall in battle.
Choose Your Own Adventure
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Each run offers hand-crafted screens, unique bosses, and evolving routes shaped by player choices and quests.  
Rogue's Gallery
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Unlock nine distinctive heroes with unique skills, side objectives, and customizable trinkets that alter gameplay.
Arcade Alchemy
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Chain perks and elemental powers through combat performance for explosive, high-reward playstyles.

Release date: Jun 22, 2026

Categories: Roguelike, Procedural Generation, Cooperative Multiplayer, 2D Platformer, Hack and Slash, Arcade, Dungeon Crawler, Meta-Progression


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The first quote reports beating the entire game in roughly 15 minutes via an exploit, suggesting a very short completion time, but this is not typical. The second quote indicates a player is a couple of hours into the game with still more to unlock, implying a longer typical completion time. The third and fourth quotes describe short play sessions (20 minutes, 5 minutes) as typical engagement. No evidence is provided for story/campaign completion or endgame content.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game has an appealing core but suffers from poor onboarding and co-op friction; it becomes significantly more fun once players learn the perk system or play with a friend.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Understanding the perk system
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: no tutorial or basic information provided; co-op mode is hidden in a special menu; unbalanced shop economy makes upgrades unaffordable; crowded screen with limited room for both players in co-op
  - Unlock drivers: learning how the perk system works; playing co-op with a friend; discovering the hidden co-op menu
  - Conditions: co-op mode increases enjoyment; understanding the perk system unlocks deeper gameplay; single-player may feel grindy without meta-progression insight
- Player Archetypes:
  - Retro Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and challenging gameplay that recalls classic arcade platformers
    - Playstyle: Prefers solo play, enjoys mastering difficult levels, repeats runs to find secrets, and appreciates the skill-based loop
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: old school gamer; retro enthusiast; Ghosts n Goblins fan
    - Reference games: Ghosts 'n Goblins; Gauntlet; Toejam & Earl; Sega Genesis games
  - Co-op Social Player (sale)
    - Motivation: Social bonding and shared fun, but current implementation makes it difficult for inexperienced partners
    - Playstyle: Plays with family or friends in couch co-op, is excited for online co-op but finds local co-op cramped and needs adjustment
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: co-op gamer; family player; lives with a less experienced partner
    - Reference games: Toejam & Earl; Gauntlet
  - Progression-Cautious Player (sale)
    - Motivation: Desire for balanced progression and deeper run customization, not just horizontal unlocks
    - Playstyle: Plays solo, tries to unlock all characters and perks, but finds the grind tedious and criticizes the shop's balance
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: roguelite fan; progression critic; grind-aware player
    - Reference games: other roguelites; Binding of Isaac; Enter the Gungeon


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:
- Excellent pixel art style (weight 0.52): The pixel art is repeatedly praised as beautiful, with great graphics and music also noted, showing strong visual and audio aesthetic.
- Shows strong potential (weight 0.51): Multiple players see potential in the game, noting it could become fantastic with improvements, indicating a good foundation.
- Good control and gameplay (weight 0.32): Controls feel good overall and are simple, but one player mentioned movement issues, indicating some room for refinement.
- Unique and creative characters (weight 0.25): The characters are described as unique and creative, with good character variety mentioned, enhancing the game's personality.
- Great co-op for families (weight 0.23): Couch co-op is enjoyable, especially with a daughter, and co-op in general is fun, making it family-friendly.
- Variety in enemies and bosses (weight 0.15): Players appreciate the nice enemy variety and cool bosses, which add excitement and challenge.
- Interesting perk system (weight 0.14): The perk system is seen as interesting, adding strategic depth to the gameplay.
- Fast-paced enjoyable action (weight 0.13): The game is noted for its fast pace, which appeals to players who enjoy quick and energetic gameplay.
- Gato Roboto praised elsewhere (weight 0.09): A reference to Gato Roboto being awesome suggests familiarity with the genre, but may not directly praise this game.

Common complaints:
- Controls are clunky and unresponsive (weight 0.95): Multiple players report controls feeling clunky, awkward, and imprecise. Issues include floaty movement, slippery air control, and poor overall feel.
- Poor upgrade and progression system (weight 0.58): The upgrade/star system is trivial and encourages spamming, with temporary perks not worth the cost. Meta-progression requires high currency costs to unlock characters, feeling grindy.
- Bland and repetitive gameplay (weight 0.58): The gameplay loop is described as incredibly bland, with slow scrolling maps, few enemies, and very little variety per stage. Repetition sets in quickly.
- Lack of tutorials and guidance (weight 0.51): The game provides no tutorial or basic information. Controls, special attacks, power-ups, and co-op menu location are not explained at all.
- Game feels incomplete and unpolished (weight 0.43): Players describe the game as feeling clunky and unfinished, more like an arcade prototype than a finished product. Developer quality seems to have declined.
- Grindy and unbalanced shop economy (weight 0.39): Shop prices in multiplayer are unbalanced, and the grind for diamonds to unlock characters or enter different areas is excessive and not rewarding.
- Roguelike elements nearly absent (weight 0.37): Players expected more roguelike features but found almost none. The game lacks meaningful in-game growth or variety between runs.
- No control rebinding or options (weight 0.33): Players note there is no option to rebind controls, and no in-game options menu. This lack of customization adds to the frustration with the default controls.
- Severe character imbalance (weight 0.33): Some characters are far stronger than others, making them the only viable choices in certain situations. This reduces strategic variety.
- Graphical clutter and visual bugs (weight 0.3): Projectiles are hard to distinguish because enemy and player projectiles share the same color. Visual bugs occur in certain stages and on the punching bag.
- Unfair enemy spawning and auto-scrolling (weight 0.3): Timed enemy spawns in restricted areas and auto-scrolling mechanics add unnecessary frustration, especially with slippery controls.
- Poor translations and incomplete text (weight 0.23): Dialogue is sometimes cut off or untranslated, hurting the player's understanding of the story or instructions.
- Unenjoyable single-player experience (weight 0.23): Players find the game not enjoyable in single player, with basic characters and shallow mechanics that fail to hold interest.
- Co-op mode has spatial issues (weight 0.21): Co-op screen lacks space, leading to constant bumping between players. Additionally, co-op is hidden in a special menu without instruction.
- Annoying honk noise and poor music (weight 0.21): The honk sound is infuriating, loud, and distracting. The music is also considered awful by some players.
- Unfair instant death obstacles (weight 0.14): Bottomless pits that kill you instantly when launched from a cannon, coupled with a first fall putting you at 1 HP, feel unfair and punishing.
- Poor audio issues after pausing (weight 0.12): After pausing, audio becomes low volume and sounds far away, disrupting the gaming experience.
- Character exploitation and overpowered moves (weight 0.12): One character has massive invincibility frames during a bounce, allowing the player to trivialize the game by spamming the bounce move.

Gameplay feedback:
- Unlockable characters with abilities (weight 0.25): Players can unlock various characters, each possessing special abilities that affect gameplay. This progression system encourages continued play.
- Meta-progression via currency (weight 0.15): The game uses a meta-progression system where players earn currency to unlock new characters, providing long-term goals. This is appreciated for adding depth.
- Co-op mode available (weight 0.15): The game includes a cooperative multiplayer mode, allowing players to team up. This adds social and replay value.
- Autoscroller with jumping (weight 0.14): The game is an autoscroller where the player can jump, double jump, and attack. This defines the core gameplay loop.
- Store before each boss (weight 0.13): Before each boss encounter, there is a store where players can purchase upgrades or items. This adds strategic resource management.
- Chain jumps trivialize fights (weight 0.13): The ability to perform chain jumps can make combat encounters too easy, potentially reducing challenge. This may be a balance concern.
- Star meter ability system (weight 0.12): A star meter fills by killing enemies and can be triggered by the C key, likely for a special attack or mode. This adds a tactical element.
- Diamonds based on score (weight 0.12): Diamonds are awarded based on score, which is influenced by distance traveled, kills, and other factors. This ties rewards to performance.
- Forest area completed (weight 0.11): One reviewer mentioned completing the forest area, suggesting the game has distinct levels or zones. No further details were provided about this area.

Performance notes:
- Slow motion on Steam Deck (weight 0.16): Players report that the game runs at reduced speed or frame rate on the Steam Deck, affecting gameplay performance.

Recommendations:
- Overwhelmingly negative recommendation (weight 0.97): The majority of feedback strongly advises against purchasing or playing the game in its current state. Clusters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, and 12 all convey a 'not recommended' or 'do not buy' message, indicating widespread disappointment.
- Game is unfinished or incomplete (weight 0.44): Multiple clusters (1, 2) explicitly state the game is 'unfinished' or 'not in a current state' to be recommended. This suggests the game lacks content or polish.
- Mixed or conditional recommendations (weight 0.33): Clusters 3, 8, and 12 offer mixed or conditional feedback, acknowledging some fun or potential appeal but ultimately withholding a full recommendation. This indicates divided opinions.
- Specific comparison to other games (weight 0.23): Cluster 13 suggests the game might function as a 'frustration game' similar to Jump King, and Cluster 14 recommends a different title (Gunbrella) instead. This indicates a targeted audience or alternative preference.
- Value or quality criticism (weight 0.22): Cluster 6 states the game is 'worth at most $5', and Cluster 7 says 'not bad, but a little bad', highlighting perceived low value or mediocre quality relative to cost or expectations.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.36): Players expected a deeper roguelike experience but instead found shallow gameplay, poor stage variety, and a boring gameplay loop. Audio bugs, awkward controls, and an unbalanced meta-progression grind further contributed to the dissatisfaction.
- Frustration (weight 0.27): Frustration stems from unfair mechanics like bottomless pits and poor damage systems, compounded by clunky controls, graphical clutter, and missing options. Co-op screen issues, auto-scrolling, and timed spawns also detract from the experience.
- Hope (weight 0.09): Despite the negative issues, players expressed hope for the game's potential to improve through future updates.
- Anger (weight 0.09): Anger arises from bad controls, perceived exploitative bundle sales, and the frustration of having to restart from scratch due to poor design decisions.
- Tension (weight 0.05): Slow motion performance issues make the gameplay feel difficult and tense, as timing and responsiveness are compromised.
- Disgust (weight 0.05): Players feel disgust towards the poor overall design and physics, which make the game feel broken and unenjoyable.
- Annoyance (weight 0.05): The repetitive honk noise is a minor but persistent source of annoyance that detracts from the gameplay experience.
- Confusion (weight 0.05): The lack of a tutorial and insufficient information lead to confusion about how to play, leaving players unsure of what to do.}