Info about Rat Quest:

Official game description:
**_About this game:_**  Rat Quest is a game about a rat platforming up the level to get his sweet sweet cheese.
**_Difficult platforming:_**
The platforming in this game is very difficult! Every jump matters, if you fall, its right back to the bottom.
**_Not as it seems:_** everytHing is finE, no reason to worry in the sLightest. very Pleasant game.

Release date: May 25, 2024

Categories: Precision Platformer, 2D Platformer, Exploration, Character Customization, Secrets and Easter Eggs, High Difficulty, Psychological Horror, Atmospheric Horror

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 60; verdict: Aggressive Monetization; summary: The game appears to have a significant focus on monetization through the sale of additional content such as DLCs and soundtracks. Players are spending considerable amounts of money, which suggests aggressive monetization strategies and potential issues with Day-1 DLC.
- Steam Deck: score 55; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback for the Steam Deck experience reveals several key issues. Controller support is a significant problem, with many users reporting minimal, slippery, and imprecise controls. The user experience is also a concern, with complaints about draining music and unpleasant gameplay. While some users have had positive experiences with compatibility, others have reported crashes and issues with graphics shaders on Linux. Additionally, the game's design, particularly its difficulty and lack of checkpoints, has been noted as frustrating. These issues suggest that while the game can be enjoyable on the Steam Deck, there are notable barriers to a seamless experience.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $3.99 - $4.99
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows a mix of opinions on the game's value. Several users explicitly mention that the game is worth around $5, which aligns with the current base price of $4.99. Some users suggest that the game is worth buying at a discounted price or even for free, indicating that while the game has value, it might not be perceived as worth the full price by everyone. The overall sentiment suggests that the fair price range is around the current price, but with some flexibility for discounts.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 20.0h
  - Story completion: 3.0h
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: 5.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct and indirect references to playtime metrics. The first quote explicitly mentions specific playtime milestones, suggesting a typical session length and total playtime for game completion. The second and third quotes indicate extended play sessions and total playtime, which can be inferred for both story completion and endgame content. The fourth quote mentions a 3-hour session, which can be used to estimate typical session lengths and story completion times.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Rat Quest initially engages players with its charm and addictive gameplay, though it has a learning curve with controls and platforming that can be frustrating at first. Once players overcome these initial challenges, the game becomes more enjoyable and satisfying.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Mastering the controls and platforming mechanics
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: Difficult platforming; Poor controls; Repetitive music
  - Unlock drivers: Charming visuals and tone; Addictive gameplay; Rewarding exploration
  - Conditions: Exploration mindset; Patience for mastering controls; Appreciation for charming visuals
- Player Archetypes:
  - Completionist Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Discovery and completion of all game content.
    - Playstyle: Thorough and exploratory, focusing on uncovering secrets and achieving all possible goals.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: achievement hunter; secret finder
    - Reference games: Geometry Dash; Celeste
  - Social Platformer (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoying a fun and engaging platformer experience with friends.
    - Playstyle: Casual and social, focusing on the enjoyment of the game's mechanics and sharing the experience with others.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: platformer enjoyer; casual gamer
    - Reference games: Celeste; Pogostuck
  - Hardcore Grinder (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Overcoming difficult challenges and enduring repetitive tasks.
    - Playstyle: Persistent and determined, focusing on mastering difficult sections and grinding for progress.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: hardcore gamer; grinder
    - Reference games: Getting Over It; Celeste


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:
- Secrets enhance exploration (weight 0.48): The game features a variety of well-spaced and interesting secrets that are easy to find but feel special, adding to the exploration experience.
- Complex and engaging gameplay (weight 0.33): The gameplay is noted for its complexity, depth, and engaging mechanics, offering high replayability and fun experiences.
- Deep and emotional story (weight 0.29): The game features an in-depth, multi-layered story with intelligent storytelling and emotional depth, providing a well-developed narrative.
- Stunning visuals (weight 0.25): The game is praised for its amazing and beautiful visuals, featuring a unique and captivating art style.
- Highly praised overall (weight 0.23): Many players consider this game to be one of the best ever made, praising its perfection and overall quality.
- Rich in content (weight 0.17): The game is praised for its extensive content, with lots to discover in every area, making it a great and engaging experience overall.
- Immersive soundtrack (weight 0.12): The game features an immersive and emotional soundtrack, enhancing the overall experience with poetic sound design.
- Life-changing experience (weight 0.12): Some players describe the game as a life-changing experience, offering a unique and impactful journey.
- Funny and silly tone (weight 0.11): The game is noted for its humor and silly, goofy elements, providing a genuinely fun experience.
- Psychological horror elements (weight 0.11): The game includes psychological horror elements, providing a unique experience without relying on jump scares.
- Worth the price (weight 0.09): Players find the game to be worth its price, offering good value for the content and experience provided.

Common complaints:
- Poor control mechanics (weight 0.34): Players report that the controls are overly sensitive, slippery, and sometimes buggy. This makes the game difficult to play and enjoy.
- High game difficulty (weight 0.23): Many players find the game excessively difficult, leading to frustration. The high difficulty level is a common complaint among players.
- Jump control issues (weight 0.18): There are specific issues with jump controls, including delays and commands being swallowed. This makes platforming and general movement difficult.
- Insufficient save points (weight 0.17): There are too few save points or checkpoints, which can lead to loss of progress and frustration. Players often have to restart from the beginning after dying.
- Game price not justified (weight 0.11): Many players feel that the game is not worth the price tag, suggesting that the cost does not reflect the quality or enjoyment of the game.
- Annoying audio elements (weight 0.11): The sound effects and music in the game are repetitive and annoying, detracting from the overall experience.
- Lack of coyote time (weight 0.06): The game lacks coyote time, a feature that allows for a brief window to still jump after leaving a platform, making platforming more difficult.
- Frustrating shopkeeper mechanics (weight 0.06): The shopkeeper in the game is deceptive and frustrating, adding to the overall difficulty and annoyance.
- Specific character issues (weight 0.06): There are issues with specific characters, such as the radioactive rat and backpack rat, which can be frustrating to deal with.

Gameplay feedback:
- Precision platforming mechanics (weight 0.37): The game features challenging and precise platforming mechanics, requiring players to master jumping, dashing, and climbing. The difficulty and precision of the platforming are frequently mentioned.
- Dark lore and narrative (weight 0.23): The game features a rich, dark lore and a narrative-driven gameplay experience. This includes elements of psychological horror and mystery.
- Cheese collection and upgrades (weight 0.21): Cheese is a key element in the game, used for various mechanics including collection, economy, and upgrades. Players can collect cheese to unlock new abilities and upgrades.
- Playing as a rat (weight 0.19): Players control different rat characters, each with unique properties. The rats must navigate through obstacles and collect cheese, which is central to the game's mechanics.
- Shop and upgrade system (weight 0.07): Players can visit shops to purchase upgrades using collected cheese, enhancing their abilities and progression through the game.
- Physics-based interactions (weight 0.07): The game includes physics-based interactions with the environment, adding to the complexity and realism of the gameplay.
- No checkpoints (weight 0.07): The game is noted for its lack of checkpoints, increasing the difficulty and challenge for players.
- Simple art style (weight 0.06): The game features a simple art style and concept, focusing more on gameplay mechanics and narrative rather than complex visuals.

Performance notes:
- High system requirements (weight 0.15): The game requires high-end hardware such as 128 GB RAM and RTX 5090, making it inaccessible for many players.
- Screen resolution issues (weight 0.12): Players report problems with screen compatibility and resolution, including issues with 21:9 aspect ratios and cyan screen problems.
- High memory usage (weight 0.1): The game uses an excessive amount of memory, up to 12,000MB, which can cause performance issues on many systems.
- High GPU usage (weight 0.09): The game causes 100% GPU usage, which can lead to overheating and performance issues.
- General lag and delay (weight 0.07): There are reports of general lag and delay in the game, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Frame rate issues (weight 0.07): The game has issues with frame rate, including problems with coyote time and fixed low FPS.
- Good for casual play (weight 0.07): The game is considered good for killing time and can run on low-end hardware like a potato PC.
- Steam Deck compatibility (weight 0.07): The game runs great on Steam Deck, making it a good option for players using this device.
- Alt-tab glitches (weight 0.04): The game window glitches when players alt-tab, causing inconvenience and disrupting gameplay.
- Game won't close (weight 0.04): Players report that the game cannot be closed or stopped once it is running.
- Small file size (weight 0.04): Despite its high system requirements, the game has a relatively small file size.
- Popup window issues (weight 0.04): A window pops up each time players try to open the game, causing inconvenience.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended by players (weight 0.29): Many players highly recommend the game to others, often suggesting it to friends and emphasizing its positive aspects.
- Comparisons to other games (weight 0.14): The game is often compared to other popular titles like Celeste and games from FromSoftware, indicating it shares qualities with these well-regarded games.
- Recommendations with conditions (weight 0.11): Some players recommend the game if it is priced low or free, suggesting that the value proposition is important to them.
- Suggestions for gameplay improvements (weight 0.07): Players have specific suggestions for improving the gameplay experience, such as adding coyote time for jumps and a restart shortcut.
- Game of the Year mentions (weight 0.07): Some players consider the game to be a strong contender for Game of the Year, indicating high praise and satisfaction.
- Language and accessibility (weight 0.06): There are requests for additional language support and features that would make the game more accessible to a wider audience.
- Positive descriptions of the game (weight 0.04): The game is described as simple, satisfying, and dangerously cheesy, highlighting its enjoyable and engaging nature.
- Suggestions for additional content (weight 0.03): Players have suggested adding more content to the game, such as rat hats, which could enhance the gaming experience.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.27): Players are primarily frustrated due to control issues, including slippery and nonintuitive movement, ineffective jump controls, and bugs. Additionally, the game's difficulty is exacerbated by the lack of checkpoints, save points, and the loss of progress due to crashes or accidental resets.
- Joy (weight 0.1): Players experience joy from the game's engaging and addictive gameplay, smooth controls, and enjoyable mechanics. The positive experience is further enhanced by the game's visuals, soundtrack, and the overall charm and humor.
- Excitement (weight 0.1): The game's unique mechanics, lore, and the thrill of discovering secrets generate excitement. Players are also excited about the game's potential, updates, and the overall interesting and awesome gameplay.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.06): Players enjoy the game's fun gameplay cycle, collectibles, and the personality and replayability it offers. The smooth controls and satisfying gameplay mechanics contribute significantly to this enjoyment.
- Surprise (weight 0.05): The game's quality and depth surpass players' initial expectations, leading to pleasant surprises. The discovery of secrets and the overall better-than-expected experience contribute to this emotion.
- Amusement (weight 0.03): The game's silly and goofy nature, along with humorous dialogues and funny bits, amuse players. The lighthearted and entertaining aspects of the game bring about this feeling.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.03): Players feel satisfied with the game's rewarding gameplay and the sense of accomplishment from finding secrets and finishing the game. The quality of the game and the enjoyment derived from it also contribute to this satisfaction.
- Admiration (weight 0.03): Players admire the game's sublime level design, artistic and narrative depth, and its revolutionary aspects. The game's overall quality and potential are highly regarded.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Some players experience confusion due to unclear game mechanics, lore, and certain elements within the game. The encounter with mysterious or unexplained events adds to this confusion.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players express love for the game due to its impactful experience, charming content, and the emotional connection it fosters. The game's story and overall appeal resonate deeply with players.
- Curiosity (weight 0.02): The game's hidden lore, secrets, and ARG elements spark curiosity. Players are intrigued by the mention of dev logs and the depth of hidden elements, encouraging exploration.
- Excited (weight 0.02): Players are excited about the game's secrets, lore, and the unique experience it offers. The anticipation of upcoming DLC and the feeling of discovery contribute to this excitement.
- Disappointment (weight 0.02): Some players feel disappointed due to the game's progression issues, mediocre aspects, and the attempt to compensate for lack of skills with creepypasta elements. High prices in the store and certain soundtracks also contribute to this feeling.
- Awe (weight 0.02): The game's open world, freedom, and captivating story evoke a sense of awe. The profound emotional impact of the gameplay and the meaningful allegories within the story contribute to this feeling.
- Determination (weight 0.01): Players feel determined due to the challenging gameplay and mechanics. The drive to overcome difficulties and bring the rat character to the top fosters this determination.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): The game evokes nostalgia through personal stories and memories associated with it. It reminds players of why they fell in love with gaming, bringing back cherished memories.
- Fear (weight 0.01): The game's atmosphere, setting, and scary levels induce fear. Encounters with unsettling elements and the overall scary experience contribute to this emotion.
- Inspiration (weight 0.01): The game's story and gameplay inspire players, delivering themes of resilience, courage, and self-belief. The narrative and mechanics motivate and uplift players.
- Respect (weight 0.01): Players respect the game for its unique qualities and overall excellence. The game's distinctiveness and high quality command this respect.
- Interest (weight 0.01): The game piques players' interest through its first hour of gameplay and the odd occurrences within it. The intriguing elements and initial experience sustain this interest.}