Info about Alabaster Dawn:

Official game description:
  
**Alabaster Dawn** is an Action RPG building on top of the best aspects of Radical Fish Games' previous title **CrossCode**, featuring a deep and engaging combat system, challenging puzzles and an epic story set in a curious world full of secrets to discover and places to explore.  
The shadow of Nyx has fallen, warping the world into a wasteland and vanishing the gods and their people. Now, Juno, the Outcast Chosen, awakens to an impossible task: _bring it all back._
Tiran Sol, a World in Ruin
--------------------------
Alone and without the guidance of the gods, Juno finds herself in a ruined world she once called home. _Her task_: awaken the rest of humanity and rid the world of Nyx. Only in unity can the world be rebuilt and only through the strength of a Chosen can the curse be broken.  
But where are the gods? How long has humanity slept and what is the mysterious entity known as Nyx?  
A (planned) 30-60 hours of playtime await you in this massive adventure, with 7 unique areas and many secrets to uncover. Rebuild settlements, establish trade routes and advance science by helping people. Each new advancement will be accompanied by the settlements changing visually, opening up new paths and opportunities!
Dance around your Enemies
-------------------------
Experience a deep and fast-paced combat system inspired by **Devil May Cry**, **Kingdom Hearts** and **CrossCode**. Take full control over a total of 4 elements and 8 unique weapons of which 2 can be slotted into each element at any given time. To fight the many different enemies found in the game, you will have to make use of everything at your disposal and to help with that - you can switch your setup at any time, even during combat!  
Unlock **Combat Arts** on each weapon’s skilltree (yes, that's one skilltree per weapon!) to pummel enemies in style, and top it all off by equipping **Divine Arts** to each element, unleashing powerful spells to finish off even the hardiest of foes.
Exploration
-----------
While the gods may be silent, they've left many structures and secrets for you to find. Solve challenging puzzles using your weapons and team members, parkour along hidden paths, find treasure or simply collect various resources while exploring the world of Tiran Sol. Treasure found while exploring can contain a host of different rewards, such as new recipes for the cooking system, gems to slot into your equipment, upgrade materials and many more. Whatever you do will always be a help to you or the various communities you will come across!  
Can’t reach some loot yet? No worries, the world map allows you to place reminders, fast travel between landmarks/checkpoints and mark objectives. It’s up to you to decide how much guidance you want!
An RPG Through and Through
--------------------------
Alabaster Dawn gives you plenty of systems to build your main character. Equip **gems** into your weapons and core to activate powerful **enchantments**. These can range from simple stat increases to situational buffs that change the way you engage enemies. Expand your available gem slots using the **skilltree** and **craft/upgrade** gems via particular NPCs called “Artificers”.  
You can even level-up your healing options! **Cook dishes** at resting spots to increase your stock of **healing bulbs** and unlock powerful **temporary boosts**. By cooking a great variety of dishes and using your boosts, you will increase your **Palate Level**, further enhancing the effects of your future meals. With plenty of ingredients at your disposal, it would be a waste not to turn them into precious “food XP”!

Release date: May 7, 2026

Categories: Action RPG, Character Progression, Exploration, Puzzle Solving, Weapon Customization, Cooking Simulation, 2.5D Platformer

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 10; verdict: Works Well; summary: The game runs well on Linux and Steam Deck with no significant issues reported. Users have noted improvements in performance and stability.
- Steam Deck: score 30; verdict: Good with Minor Issues; summary: The game has received mixed feedback regarding performance on the Steam Deck, with some users reporting issues with fan noise and battery drain. However, many users have also noted improvements in performance and a positive overall experience. The visual quality of the game is highly praised, making it a good fit for the Steam Deck OLED.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: The game performs well across both Windows hardware cohorts, with high framerates and no major issues reported.
  - Sample size: 60 (18% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows 12-15GB VRAM (positive, 13 reports): The game runs perfectly with high framerates and no crashes.
  - Windows 16GB+ VRAM (positive, 5 reports): The game runs great with no issues reported.
  - Caveats: 60 of 330 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $15.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that users find the current price point of $24.99 to be somewhat high for the amount of content provided, indicating that a lower price might be more appropriate. The mention of waiting until the game has more content to justify the price point and the advice to buy the game now while it's discounted during Early Access suggest that users feel the game is worth less than the current price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 8.0h
  - Story completion: 7.5h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides multiple quotes regarding the playtime for Alabaster Dawn. The first quote suggests a gameplay range of 5-10 hours depending on playstyle and completion desire. The second quote indicates a campaign completion time of about 7.5 hours, including side quests. The third quote mentions approximately 8 hours of content, including optional activities. The fourth quote states that completing the main story takes about 7-12 hours, depending on the player's pace and engagement with side content. These quotes collectively provide a reasonable estimate for the playtime metrics.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Players generally find the game fun immediately, with enjoyment starting right from the tutorial and continuing through the early stages of the game.
  - Stance: Fun immediately
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: 0h 0m
  - Friction: N/A
  - Unlock drivers: N/A
  - Conditions: fluid combat system; engaging progression system
- Player Archetypes:
  - CrossCode Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Support for a beloved franchise and developer.
    - Playstyle: Explorative and combat-focused, with a preference for customization and skill progression.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: CrossCode fan; Radical Fishes supporter
    - Reference games: CrossCode
  - Action RPG Connoisseur (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of high-quality action RPG gameplay.
    - Playstyle: Combat and exploration-focused, with an appreciation for well-designed mechanics.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Action RPG fan
    - Reference games: Alundra
  - Cautious Early Access Player (sale)
    - Motivation: Desire for a complete and polished gaming experience.
    - Playstyle: Varies, but generally prefers to wait for full releases.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Early Access cautious
    - 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:
- Stunning visuals and art (weight 0.95): The game features beautiful pixel art, gorgeous environments, and impressive animations. The graphics and artwork are consistently praised for their aesthetic appeal.
- Deep and satisfying combat system (weight 0.78): The combat system is a major focus, offering depth, variety, and a fast-paced experience. Players find the combat rewarding, challenging, and fluid.
- Smooth and fluid gameplay (weight 0.61): The gameplay is described as smooth and fluid, with silky smooth animations and combat operations. Players appreciate the overall fluidity of interactions and movements.
- Engaging and challenging puzzles (weight 0.48): The game offers a variety of puzzles that are intuitive, fun, and respect the player's intelligence. Some players desire more complex or numerous puzzles.
- Improvement over CrossCode (weight 0.33): Players feel that the game is an improvement over CrossCode in terms of gameplay, performance, and overall feel.
- Interesting and engaging story (weight 0.28): The story is intriguing and well-paced, with engaging dialogue that keeps players interested.
- Variety of weapons (weight 0.13): The game features a variety of weapons with different moves, allowing for diverse combat strategies.

Common complaints:
- Translation issues (weight 0.29): Players have reported various problems with translations, including over-translations, discordant translations, and specific issues with the Chinese translation. These issues affect the overall understanding and enjoyment of the game.
- Map lacks guidance and markers (weight 0.28): The map style is criticized for lacking guidance, recognizability, and markers. This makes navigation and puzzle-solving difficult for players.
- Incomplete story (weight 0.25): Many players feel that the story is incomplete and that the game is not yet finished. This is evident from the partial completion of the main storyline and side content, as well as signs of incompleteness as players approach the end.
- Language support issues (weight 0.23): The game is not yet available in several languages, including French, Portuguese, and Japanese. This limits accessibility for non-English speaking players.
- Limited content (weight 0.21): Players have noted that the game currently offers only a limited amount of content, ranging from 5-10 hours of gameplay. This is seen as insufficient for the price point.
- Long wait for full release (weight 0.21): There is a concern about the long wait for the full release of the game, with players having to wait a couple of years. This is coupled with uncertainty about the full game release and maintaining quality until the ending.
- Dialogue and writing criticism (weight 0.2): The dialogue is criticized for being lacking and uninteresting. Some players also feel that the writing is too modern for the setting and somewhat cliche.
- Character and NPC issues (weight 0.17): There are reports of NPCs not appearing in expected locations and issues with character dialogue. Additionally, NPC names are not shown above text boxes, which can be confusing.
- Demo save file bugs (weight 0.14): There are reports of bugs related to importing demo files and issues with demo inheritance, which can affect the player's progress and experience.
- Story and narrative issues (weight 0.13): The story is criticized for being bland, young-adult, and inconsistent. Additionally, the narrative gets cut off at certain points, affecting the overall storytelling experience.
- Performance issues (weight 0.12): There are performance issues reported, such as fans spinning really fast on SteamDeck and high graphics card usage for a pixel game. Additionally, the game drains the battery faster than expected.
- Comparison to CrossCode (weight 0.11): Players feel that the game is a bit empty compared to CrossCode and misses certain elements from the previous game, such as excessive jumping and puzzles.
- Crashing and technical issues (weight 0.11): There are reports of the game crashing on launch and occasional crashes in the formal version. Additionally, there is an error message related to a specific application.
- Worldbuilding and controls (weight 0.1): Players have reported poor worldbuilding and controls, which affect the overall immersion and gameplay experience.
- Quest bugs (weight 0.09): There are reports of malicious bugs in specific quests, such as the 'One Road North' quest, and general quest progress issues that prevent players from completing tasks.
- Map optimization (weight 0.08): The map is criticized for needing further optimization and being less helpful for puzzle-solving. This affects the player's ability to navigate and complete puzzles effectively.
- Skill tree and rune system (weight 0.08): The skill tree is criticized for needing upgrades, and the rune system feels lacking. This affects the depth and customization of character progression.
- UI and feedback issues (weight 0.08): There are reports of the UI needing improvement and little feedback for taking damage. This affects the player's ability to understand and respond to gameplay events.
- Controller and vibration support (weight 0.07): There is a lack of controller vibration support, which affects the immersive experience for players using controllers.
- Price and content concerns (weight 0.07): There are concerns about the high price point for the amount of content offered and plans to raise the price of the game when it's fully out. This affects the perceived value of the game.
- Multiplayer and additional features (weight 0.07): Players have expressed a desire for multiplayer support and additional features, such as the ability to assign multiple of the same weapon to each loadout.
- Parry mechanics (weight 0.06): There are mentions of parry mechanics, but specific issues or criticisms are not detailed. This suggests a need for more information or improvements in this area.
- Lack of information on status effects (weight 0.06): There is a lack of information on status effects from cooking boosts in the inventory menu, which can be confusing for players trying to understand the benefits of different items.

Gameplay feedback:
- Diverse and responsive combat mechanics (weight 0.71): The game features a highly praised combat system that is fast-paced, responsive, and involves a variety of mechanics such as weapon switching, elemental abilities, and complex combat options. Players appreciate the depth and fluidity of the combat.
- Variety in weapons and abilities (weight 0.44): Players enjoy the wide range of weapons and abilities available, including different loadouts, elemental abilities, and weapon infusion with various elements. This variety adds depth to the combat and exploration.
- Engaging environmental puzzles (weight 0.37): The game includes a variety of environmental puzzles that are well-designed and respect the player's intelligence. These puzzles are compared favorably to those in Zelda games and are noted for their depth and lack of time limits.
- Exploration and world mechanics (weight 0.26): The game features an expansive world with detailed environments and mechanics that change as the player progresses. Fast travel is available early, aiding in exploration and making the world feel more accessible.
- Progression and customization systems (weight 0.24): The game offers rewarding progression systems, including skill trees, leveling mechanics, and gem equipment for enhancement. These systems allow for extensive character customization and strengthening.
- Platforming and movement mechanics (weight 0.23): The game features fluid movement and platforming mechanics, including dash jumps and other jumping mechanics that allow players to overcome obstacles and gaps. These mechanics are well-integrated into the gameplay.
- Roguelite and roguelike elements (weight 0.2): The game includes roguelite and roguelike elements, such as a roguelite dungeon and additional challenges in a dream journey rogue mode. These elements add replayability and variety to the gameplay.
- Boss battles and combat challenges (weight 0.17): The game includes exciting and challenging boss battles that test the player's combat skills. These battles are a highlight for many players and add to the game's overall difficulty balance.
- Visual and auditory design (weight 0.13): The game is praised for its visual style, including pixel art animation and a 2.5D visual style. The soundtrack is also noted as a positive aspect, contributing to the overall atmosphere of the game.
- Cooking and food system (weight 0.13): The game features a cooking mechanic that provides buffs and requires exploring the map for ingredients. This system adds another layer of depth and interaction with the game world.

Performance notes:
- Crashes on launch (weight 0.15): The game experiences crashes on launch and occasional crashes during gameplay.
- Steam Deck compatibility (weight 0.14): The game runs well on Steam Deck OLED and has good compatibility with Linux PCs.
- Battery drain issues (weight 0.1): The game drains the battery faster than expected, affecting portable gaming devices.
- High fan speed (weight 0.06): Players report that the game causes fans to spin really fast, indicating high system load.
- Save file bug (weight 0.06): There is a bug related to save files from the demo version.
- Ultrawide support (weight 0.05): The game supports ultrawide monitors, enhancing the gaming experience for users with such setups.
- DLSS support (weight 0.05): The game includes support for DLSS, which can improve performance on compatible hardware.
- Ray tracing support (weight 0.05): The game supports ray tracing, enhancing the visual quality for users with compatible hardware.

Recommendations:
- Must-have for CrossCode fans (weight 0.21): If you are a fan of CrossCode, this game is highly recommended and considered a must-have.
- Highly recommended game (weight 0.19): Many players strongly recommend the game to others, indicating high satisfaction and enjoyment.
- Buy and try the game (weight 0.14): Some reviews suggest buying the game immediately and giving it a try, indicating a positive initial impression.
- Worth for ARPG and pixel RPG fans (weight 0.11): The game is considered worth the money and time, especially for fans of ARPGs and pixel RPGs with humor.
- Try the demo first (weight 0.1): Several reviews mention that playing the demo is a good way to get a feel for the game before committing to a purchase.
- Support the developer (weight 0.1): Players encourage supporting the developer or the development team behind the game.
- Recommendations for similar games (weight 0.06): Players recommend other similar games such as 'No Rest for the Wicked' and The Legend of Zelda.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Excitement (weight 0.3): Players are thrilled by the engaging combat mechanics, detailed world, and high-quality gameplay elements. The anticipation for future content, story developments, and the overall positive experience with the game contribute to this excitement.
- Excited (weight 0.14): The excitement stems from the overall positive experience with the game, including its gameplay improvements and visual style. Players are eager for future updates, content, and the full release, often drawing positive comparisons to other games like CrossCode.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): Players feel disappointed due to the game's short content length, poor translation quality, and various technical issues such as crashing and localization problems. The incomplete state of the game and lack of certain language supports also contribute to this sentiment.
- Frustration (weight 0.08): Frustration arises from game-breaking bugs, difficulty navigating the world without a detailed map, and issues with quest NPCs. Poor translations, lack of map markers, and targeting/combat issues further exacerbate this emotion.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Players are satisfied with the enjoyable controls, story, puzzles, and art. The smooth and high-quality gameplay, along with the combat feel, contribute to a positive experience.
- Approval (weight 0.07): Approval is driven by the game's combat depth, art style, and overall gameplay. The sprite work, OST, story, and visuals are also highly appreciated by players.
- Hope (weight 0.03): Players hope that Alabaster Dawn will become a true successor to CrossCode, with a compelling story and successful full release.
- Admiration (weight 0.03): Admiration comes from the developers' passion and the game's polished state. The intriguing narrative also adds to this sentiment.
- Hopeful (weight 0.03): Players are hopeful about the end of Early Access testing and look forward to further improvements. There is a hope that the game will maintain high standards and potentially become a masterpiece.
- Anticipation (weight 0.03): Anticipation is driven by the intriguing story and the desire for more story content. Players are looking forward to the finished product.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.02): Nostalgia is evoked by the pixel art style, which reminds players of classic games like Terranigma and Secret of Mana.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern arises from the fear that Alabaster Dawn won't stand up to the same height as CrossCode.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Players express joy and excitement about playing the game, indicating a high level of enjoyment.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Players are very excited and curious about how the game will continue to develop.
- Blown away (weight 0.01): Players are extremely impressed by the presentation of Alabaster Dawn.
- Pain (weight 0.01): The pain comes from the long wait, specifically the two years spent in Early Access.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players love the art style and the 2.5D animation of the game.
- Addiction (weight 0.01): Players are addicted to the game and find it hard to stop playing.
- Nostalgic (weight 0.01): The game evokes a sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of SNES games and Secret of Mana.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Players are having a great time with the game, indicating a high level of enjoyment.}