- Engaging and high-value gameplay experience
- Addictive, relaxing roguelite tower defense hybrid
- Severe performance issues and numerous bugs
- Limited content impacts overall replayability
- Full game lacked significant improvements
- Insufficient character and skill differentiation
Emotions
Players experienced significant frustration due to widespread technical issues including frequent crashes, severe lag, poor optimization, and numerous game-breaking bugs that hindered progress or made certain mechanics unplayable. This was compounded by poor game balance, problematic mechanics like 'Whispers,' and a general lack of quality-of-life features such as a speed-up option or clear UI.
Disappointment stemmed primarily from the perceived lack of content, short game length, and limited replayability, especially in endless mode which often felt monotonous or lacked challenge. Players also expressed dissatisfaction with unfixed bugs from the demo, poor balancing, and the game not meeting expectations for genre depth or unique character builds.
Satisfaction was driven by the game's good value for its price point and its addictive, fun, and simple gameplay which served as an effective time-killer or casual distraction. Positive sentiment also came from developer responsiveness in fixing critical bugs and improving the game experience, alongside the joy of progression and unlocking achievements.
Players found enjoyment in the game's fun, simple, and addictive gameplay loop, often highlighting its good value for money and the engaging nature of skill combinations and progression. The relaxing 'auto smash' gameplay and cute art style also contributed to a positive experience.
Excitement was generated by the game's strong potential for future development, the thrill of creating powerful builds, and the addictive nature of its gameplay. The release of the full version with new content and expanded skills also fueled enthusiasm, especially when crushing enemies with overwhelming power.
Verdict
Mostly negative
Summary
Positive 48% · Negative 52%. Score: 52 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently praise the game for its excellent value, often highlighting its low price point ($5-7 USD) for the amount of enjoyable and addictive content provided. Many were drawn in by the demo and found the full version to exceed expectations with its engaging, casual-friendly gameplay.
- The game is highly praised for its simple, yet deeply addictive gameplay loop that provides continuous satisfaction, especially when mowing down enemies. Its relaxing nature makes it perfect for casual play, multitasking, or simply de-stressing, often leading players to become completely hooked.
- The game is highly lauded for its innovative and refreshing blend of genres, successfully combining roguelike elements, bullet-heaven action, and tower defense mechanics. This unique hybrid approach creates a nuanced and engaging strategic experience that appeals to a broad range of players.
- Developers are praised for quickly addressing and fixing technical issues, particularly lag and performance problems, post-launch. The user interface and controls are also noted for being thoughtfully designed, intuitive, and performing well, especially compared to earlier versions.
- Users appreciated that their save data and progress from the demo version were successfully inherited and transferred to the full game, allowing for a seamless transition.
Negatives:
- The game suffers from frequent crashes, significant lag during gameplay and UI interactions, and numerous bugs. Many of these issues persisted from the demo, severely hindering the overall play experience and game progression.
- Players quickly exhaust the available content, finding the game too short and repetitive, especially after maxing out skills or talents. This leads to boredom and a feeling that the full game lacks depth and value for its price point.
- Many players feel the full game offers insufficient new content, features, or bug fixes compared to the free demo/prologue. This lack of significant improvement, combined with inherited progression, leads to disappointment and a perception of poor value.
- The skill system is perceived as chaotic with limited synergistic options, leading to a lack of build variety. Character choices feel superficial because classes lack unique skills or meaningful differentiation, forcing players into similar optimal builds.
- The endless mode is often described as tedious and suffers from frustrating mechanics, such as skills that drastically reduce max health ('Whispers'). These design choices, combined with progression-breaking bugs, lead to sudden, unfair deaths and diminish late-game appeal.
Gameplay:
- The game features both robust in-game upgrades (Vampire Survivors-like 3-choice skills, attributes) and significant out-of-game permanent progression via a talent tree, skill books, and gold-based enhancements. Killing monsters grants experience for in-run upgrades, and completing runs provides resources for meta-progression.
- Players control a character fixed on the screen's left, battling waves of enemies advancing from the right. The game leans towards an auto-battler style, with auto-aiming often proving more effective and widely used than manual aiming, which can be challenging to cover all areas.
- The game offers multiple stages and challenge modes like Abyss (with increasing difficulty levels) and an endless mode, culminating in distinct boss battles at the end of each major wave or stage, providing significant replayability.
- The game is best described as a hybrid, combining elements of roguelite progression, side-scrolling survivor-like action, and tower defense strategy, where players actively participate in combat while managing defenses.
- The game features multiple playable characters, each with unique abilities and characteristics (e.g., the 'Hunter' with long range), allowing for different playstyles and strategic choices.
Performance:
- Feedback indicates issues with acceleration not working as intended, specifically noted on the Steam Deck, but also mentioned as a general problem initially present in the game.
- A specific technical error message 'draw_text_transformed argument 5 incorrect type (unknown) expecting a Number (YYGF)' occurs during drawing, suggesting a significant rendering or display bug.
- Players acknowledge that stuttering issues, which were present in the game's demo, have since been fixed, indicating an improvement in performance since that time.
Recommendations:
- Many players highly recommend the game for its relaxing nature and suitability for casual play, especially for fans of tower defense or idle genres. It's seen as a potentially memorable title that can be a 'little obsession' for disengaged players.
- Developers are praised for promptly fixing bugs, such as lag issues, which led some reviewers to change their negative stances to positive. However, there's a strong desire for more content, improved playability, and better progression mechanics in future updates.
- The game is considered by some to be a title worth keeping an eye on, indicating future potential and an expectation of further development. This is a softer recommendation, suggesting interest in its evolution rather than an immediate endorsement.
- Players found the achievements enjoyable to pursue casually, suggesting a lighthearted approach to completionism that fits the game's relaxed playstyle. This is a minor positive point for achievement enthusiasts.
Miscellaneous:
- Players strongly desire frequent updates, new characters, maps, skills, and bosses to expand the game. They also expect ongoing bug fixes and see future development as crucial for the game's success, especially during Early Access.
- Specific balance feedback includes re-evaluating 'Low Whisper' mechanics, potentially removing 'Survival Instinct,' and adjusting 'Whispers' probability. Players also desire more unique initial skills per character, more heroes, improved specific builds (e.g., slime summon), an enriched tech tree, and general adjustments to enemy difficulty or leveling speed.
- Players request quality-of-life improvements such as keyboard hotkeys for potions and skill selection, automatic skill/upgrade selection toggles, and an auto-mode switch. Displaying defense stats and options to disable visual effects or damage numbers would also improve the user experience.
- Players are looking for increased complexity and variety, suggesting new challenge modes with unique restrictions, stronger enemy variations, and a multiplayer option. Ideas like seasonal rankings for endless mode and distinct currencies for progression are also mentioned to enhance long-term engagement.
- There's a request for an in-game compendium or bestiary to provide detailed information on skill interactions, damage outputs, treasures, and monsters. This would significantly aid players in understanding game mechanics and strategic planning.
