- High replayability and addictive gameplay loop
- Challenging yet fair difficulty balance
- Fluid and satisfying combat mechanics
- Procedural generation with meaningful variety
- DLC aggressively gates significant content
- Permadeath resets progress too harshly
Emotions
Players frequently cite the game's high difficulty, permadeath mechanics, and repetitive gameplay loops as major sources of frustration. Many also highlight unfair or RNG-dependent mechanics, such as cheap deaths, difficulty spikes, and inconsistent weapon drops, which disrupt progression and create a punishing experience. Additionally, issues like unresponsive controls, lack of checkpoints, and poorly designed DLC gating exacerbate the frustration.
The game's dynamic and addictive gameplay, characterized by fluid combat, build variety, and procedural generation, generates excitement. Players enjoy the constant discovery of new weapons, mutations, and strategies, as well as the adrenaline rush from challenging boss fights. The replayability and ever-evolving content, such as unlockable mechanics and expansions, keep the experience fresh and engaging.
Players derive satisfaction from overcoming the game's challenges, mastering combat mechanics, and unlocking new content. The sense of progression, whether through deep runs, boss victories, or discovering hidden secrets, is highly rewarding. The game's balance, responsive controls, and long-term replayability also contribute to a fulfilling and enjoyable experience.
The game's engaging combat, diverse weapon variety, and smooth gameplay mechanics provide significant enjoyment. Players appreciate the personalization options, such as skins and unlockables, as well as the satisfying flow of exploration and discovery. The addictive nature of the gameplay loop and responsive controls further enhance the overall enjoyment.
The game evokes nostalgia through its art style, references to classic games like *Castlevania* and *Legend of Zelda*, and Easter eggs that resonate with long-time gamers. Players with a history of gaming or personal connections to the genre often feel a strong sense of familiarity and fondness for the game's tone and atmosphere.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 90% Ā· Negative 10%. Score: 10 / 100
Positives:
- The gameās roguelike structure, combined with unlockable content and procedural generation, creates an engaging and addictive gameplay loop. Players report hundreds of hours of playtime due to its ever-changing challenges.
- The difficulty is well-balanced, offering a rewarding experience without being punishing. Players appreciate the adjustable settings and the satisfaction of overcoming tough but fair challenges.
- Combat is fast-paced, responsive, and deeply satisfying, with strong feedback and a high skill ceiling. Players praise the tight controls, animations, and rhythmic flow of battles.
- Levels, enemies, and loot are procedurally generated, ensuring each run feels fresh and unpredictable. The randomness is well-balanced, avoiding frustration while maintaining excitement.
- The pixel art is vibrant, detailed, and visually appealing, with smooth animations and a distinct style. Players consistently praise the art direction and its immersive quality.
Negatives:
- Base game feels incomplete due to DLC-locked zones, achievements, and progression paths. Players criticize the excessive number of paid DLCs, which are perceived as overpriced and necessary for a full experience.
- Curses (e.g., plague, damage penalties) and poorly designed enemies (e.g., non-parryable bosses, overwhelming density) exacerbate difficulty. Some mechanics rely on audio cues, excluding deaf players.
- Losing all progress (e.g., gold, items) upon death is demoralizing, particularly when combined with high difficulty. Players find replaying levels tedious and frustrating, especially without meaningful checkpoints.
- Many weapons feel underpowered, gimmicky, or repetitive, while others are overpowered. Shield mechanics and build restrictions limit combat variety, making some loadouts ineffective or frustrating.
- The storyline is criticized as shallow, underdeveloped, or inconclusive, even with DLC. Players feel the game lacks clear lore and narrative purpose, failing to justify its price.
Gameplay:
- The game features a unique difficulty system using 'Boss Cells' (1ā5 levels) to progressively increase challenge. Players can adjust difficulty dynamically, with higher tiers unlocking new mechanics and rewards while maintaining balanced combat.
- The game blends roguelike mechanics (permadeath, procedural generation) with Metroidvania-style exploration and progression. Players experience randomized runs while unlocking permanent upgrades and abilities that expand traversal options.
- Players can experiment with a wide range of weapons, abilities, and mutations, enabling multiple playstyles (e.g., melee, ranged, traps). Build synergy and customization are central to gameplay, with unlockable schematics adding depth over time.
- Bosses feature distinct attack patterns and reward players with unique loot or progression options. Difficulty scales with Boss Cell levels, and elite enemies add optional challenges for skilled players.
- The game includes assist modes (e.g., auto-attack, unlimited retries) to lower barriers for players struggling with its high difficulty. These options coexist with hardcore difficulty settings, broadening appeal.
Performance:
- The game runs smoothly on mid-range and low-end hardware, including older systems like a 2009 laptop, with stable 60 FPS performance. Some users reported occasional performance drops, but overall compatibility is high.
- While some users reported no bugs or minimal technical issues, others encountered minor problems like camera glitches and saved game issues in offline mode.
- The game is well-optimized for the Steam Deck, delivering smooth performance and good battery efficiency. Compatibility and responsiveness are frequently praised.
- The game is optimized for multiple platforms, including PCs and iOS, with UI scaling well on high-resolution displays like 4K TVs.
- A subset of users experienced severe technical issues, including game crashes, unresponsive keys, and forced reboots, indicating potential stability problems.
Recommendations:
- The game is repeatedly recommended for fans of roguelikes, roguelites, metroidvanias, and challenging action-platformers. It blends these genres effectively, appealing to both genre veterans and newcomers.
- Reviewers broadly recommend the game for its quality, fun factor, and unique design. It is praised as a must-play for fans of action games and a benchmark for the roguelike genre.
- The game is ideal for casual or quick sessions (20-60 minutes), making it accessible for players with limited time. Its design encourages frequent, bite-sized engagements.
- Many reviewers justify the game's cost due to its content, replayability, and quality. It is considered a high-value purchase even at full price, with DLCs adding further justification.
- The game is lauded for its frenetic, skill-based combat and exploration. Players enjoy the strategic depth of weapons, mutations, and shields, which cater to different playstyles.
Miscellaneous:
- Players report inaccurate or bugged playtime tracking, particularly when playing offline or on specific platforms like Epic Games. Some mention specific durations (e.g., 72 minutes) that donāt reflect actual gameplay.
- Players recommend using controllers (including arcade sticks) for PC play, citing better compatibility and comfort compared to keyboard/mouse setups.
- Players suggest new weapons (e.g., chainsaw, giant needle) and mechanics (e.g., summonable pets, dragon punch skill) to expand gameplay variety and depth.
- Some players discuss switching platforms (e.g., MacBook) or purchasing the game multiple times (e.g., PC and PS5) for convenience or preference.
- Multiple reviews highlight that the gameās development has been halted by the developers, raising concerns about future updates or support.
