Othercide Review Summary

Praised art style and visuals: The game's art style and visual design are frequently highlighted as unique, stunning, and atmospheric. Players appreciate the distinctive use of colors and the overall aesthetic, which fits the game's setting well.

Unique and engaging gameplay mechanics: The game offers a unique blend of gameplay mechanics, including tactical combat and roguelite elements. Players find the mechanics thoughtful, challenging, and rewarding.

Excellent music and sound: The game's soundtrack and sound effects are highly praised for their quality and how well they complement the visuals and atmosphere.

Deep and engaging lore: The game features a dark and deep lore that players find intriguing and well-developed. The narrative and characters are engaging and add depth to the game world.

Challenging and rewarding bosses: Boss battles are noted for being challenging, unique, and rewarding. Players enjoy the variety and the difficulty level of these encounters.

Repetitive enemies and maps: Players report that enemies and maps are too similar, leading to a repetitive experience. Enemies often feel like reskinned versions of previous ones, and maps are reused frequently.

Monotonous and tedious gameplay: The gameplay is often described as monotonous, tedious, and lacking variation. Players find the pace slow and the overall experience boring, especially in the late game.

Final boss is unbalanced: The final boss is widely criticized for being overly difficult, unbalanced, and frustrating. Players find it unfair due to excessive attacks and mechanics that make the fight tedious and poorly designed.

Confusing and uninteresting story: The story is hard to follow and often confusing. Players find the narrative vague and not very interesting, suffering from obfuscation and complication.

Poor UI design: The user interface is criticized for being poorly designed, clunky, and buggy. Players find it uncomfortable and difficult to navigate, with severe UX/UI issues.

Roguelike and tactical gameplay: The game features a blend of roguelike elements such as permadeath, meta progression, and resetting progress, combined with tactical turn-based combat and strategic planning.

Character progression and customization: Players can develop and customize their characters through various progression systems, including leveling, skills, traits, and unique abilities tied to different character classes.

Sacrifice and resurrection mechanics: Character sacrifice is a key mechanic for progression and healing, with high difficulty and permadeath adding to the game's challenge.

Mission variety and difficulty: The game offers a variety of missions and enemies, with varying difficulty levels including challenging modes like 'Dream' and 'Nightmare'.

Enemy AI and behavior: Enemies exhibit unique behaviors and patterns that players must learn and adapt to, adding depth to the strategic combat.

Frequent bugs and technical issues: The game is plagued by numerous bugs and technical issues that can hinder progression and sometimes require restarting the game. These issues are widespread and significantly impact the gameplay experience.

Graphical and UI issues: Players have reported various graphical issues and UI problems, including visual glitches and overlapping menu displays. These issues can be distracting and affect the overall user experience.

Positive performance on Steam Deck: The game runs great on Steam Deck, with smooth performance and short loading times. This is a positive aspect highlighted by players using this platform.

Game saving and freezing issues: There are significant issues with game saving, including crashes that can result in lost progress. The game also tends to freeze, which can be very frustrating for players.

Clunky controls and poor interface: The game's controls are described as clunky, and the interface design is poor, leading to a frustrating user experience. This includes issues with the UI being buggy and slow.

Mixed recommendations on purchase timing: Reviewers have varying opinions on when to buy the game. Some recommend buying it even at full price, while others suggest waiting for a sale or deep discount.

Recommended for strategy and tragedy fans: The game is highly recommended for those who enjoy strategic gameplay and tragic themes. It is also suggested for fans of turn-based strategy games.

Similar to XCOM and Darkest Dungeon: Fans of XCOM and Darkest Dungeon are likely to enjoy this game due to its similar tactical and strategic elements.

Recommended for challenge seekers: The game is recommended for those who enjoy challenging and rewarding gameplay, as well as those who prefer playing on higher difficulties like nightmare mode.

Gameplay tips and settings: Reviewers suggest using mouse and keyboard for a better experience and enabling animation speed settings. Additionally, some gameplay tips include skipping turns to let enemies come closer and avoiding spending points on movement.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $25.00.

Game completion: 30.0h.

Story completion: 20.0h.

Endgame: 10.0h.

The game has a steep learning curve and challenging mechanics that initially hinder enjoyment, but it becomes more fun once players overcome these barriers and understand the gameplay.

Reported time to anchor: 2h.

Friction: Steep learning curve; Challenging mechanics; Slow progression; Tedious healing mechanics.

Grind-Tolerant Strategist: Grinding through repetitive elements for rewards and progression. Motivation: Challenge and meta-progression. Stance: sale.

Aesthetic Enthusiast: Enjoys the game for its visual and atmospheric qualities. Motivation: Artistic appreciation and unique visual style. Stance: sale.

Casual Strategist: Prefers easier modes and less stressful gameplay. Motivation: Relaxed and enjoyable gameplay experience. Stance: deep sale.

Steam Deck: The game generally runs well on the Steam Deck with good controller support, providing a positive user experience. However, there are some minor UI issues reported when using an Xbox controller.

External guides: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues related to the lack of in-game explanations for complex mechanics and the presence of well-documented bugs that require external resources for resolution. These issues are categorized as 'Complex Mechanics' and 'Bugs,' both with high severity. Additionally, there is a positive note from a user who did not need to use external resources, indicating that the game can be enjoyed without them.

Character model bug reported: Players have reported a bug where a character's model changes unexpectedly during gameplay. This issue affects the visual consistency and immersion.

Gender ratio in development team: Some reviews mention the gender ratio within the development team. This feedback is more related to the development context rather than the gameplay experience itself.