Info about Don't Die, Minerva!:

Official game description:
On a dark and stormy night, 11-year-old Minerva discovers a haunted house deep in the woods and before she knows it, she is in for the fight of her life!  
Don't Die, Minerva! is a rogue-lite action RPG set in a haunted house. Armed with a flashlight and a backpack full of friendly stuffed animals who are brought to life by the house's magic, Minerva must explore the mansion and defeat its ghostly inhabitants.  
Along the way, Minerva meets helpful characters who can aid her on her quest. Death is nearly inevitable, but with each run you will gain valuable essence that can unlock new abilities and better loot.  
With multiple levels of difficulty ranging from an easy stroll in a moonlit park to a punishing challenge only to be faced by the bravest of souls, Don't Die, Minerva! offers crisp controls, exhilarating action, spectacular visuals, and a deep stat-driven loot system.  
Dungeons, loot, and enemies are all generated randomly, meaning no two runs are the same.

Release date: Dec 5, 2019

Categories: Rogue-lite, Action RPG, Twin-stick Shooter, Procedural Generation, Flashlight-based Combat, Companion and Pet System, Loot and Inventory System, Haunted Mansion Setting


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviews consistently report session lengths of 1-3 hours, with the most specific English review stating 'about 2 hours'. The French and Turkish reviews also mention sessions of 1 hour or 2-3 hours, supporting a typical session length around 2 hours. No reliable evidence for completion times or endgame playtime is found.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Player sentiment is divided: some find the game instantly addicting and fast-paced, while others find it repetitive, boring, and lacking progression, with boredom setting in after a few hours.
  - Stance: Mixed
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: Slow progression due to essence requirements for skills; Repetitive procedural generation substituting for content; Lack of save or checkpoint system; Unresponsive mouse clicks on some interactions; Scarce combat items and limited variety; Long character growth cycle
  - Unlock drivers: N/A
  - Conditions: Player patience for grinding; Desire for co-op mode; Tolerance for repetitive gameplay; Need for a sense of progression; Difficulty level; Reaction time requirement; Time investment (2-3 hours before boredom)
- Player Archetypes:
  - Roguelike Newcomer (buy)
    - Motivation: Learning the roguelike genre in a forgiving environment
    - Playstyle: Cautious, explores slowly, uses easy difficulty
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Disillusioned Supporter (no buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of the game's unique charm despite its flaws
    - Playstyle: Seeks progression but finds grind tedious, encounters bugs
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Genre Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoying a well-executed haunted house twin-stick roguelike
    - Playstyle: Engages with combat roll, flashlight mechanics, builds
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - 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:
- Engaging and addictive gameplay (weight 0.84): Players find the gameplay highly fun, engaging, and addictive, with a fast-paced and adrenaline-filled loop that makes them want to keep playing even after death.
- Beautiful and charming graphics (weight 0.8): Players widely praise the game's art direction, including cute and adorable graphics, a charming cozy atmosphere, and a well-executed spooky theme that appeals to a broad audience.
- Smooth and responsive controls (weight 0.62): Controls are repeatedly described as smooth, responsive, and intuitive on both keyboard/mouse and controller, with satisfying hit feedback that enhances combat feel.
- Polished early access experience (weight 0.6): The early access build is considered solid, polished, and close to finished, with good content updates and a strong foundation that promises future improvements.
- Procedurally generated levels (weight 0.6): Procedurally generated levels and rooms ensure that each run is unique, with random maps, loot, and enemy placements that prevent boredom and increase replayability.
- Rewarding RPG and loot system (weight 0.6): The RPG system includes equipment slots (flashlight, familiar, boots, necklace, cape), item rarity, skill modifiers, and a currency/upgrade system that provides rewarding progression.
- Cute stuffed animal companions (weight 0.54): Stuffed animal companions and deployable plush toy turrets are a standout feature, adding charm and gameplay depth as players can customize and deploy them in combat.
- Diverse and interesting enemies (weight 0.49): The game features a wide variety of enemies including rats, ghouls, ghosts, and silly ghostly creatures, each with distinct behaviors that keep combat engaging and fresh.
- Deep customization and upgrades (weight 0.48): The game offers deep customization through an extensive upgrade system, gems that alter weapon elements, and mods for stuffed animals, allowing players to tailor their loadout and abilities.
- Variety of unique flashlights (weight 0.41): Four distinct flashlight types (cone, balls, mortar, electricity) offer unique projectile patterns and aiming mechanics, making combat accessible and varied for beginners and veterans alike.
- Deployable turret pets (weight 0.39): Players can deploy toy pets as turrets and use flashlights as weapons, with a variety of companion options such as monkey, cat, and dragon that assist in combat.
- Atmospheric haunted house setting (weight 0.34): The game successfully creates a Western haunted house atmosphere that is both simple and elegant, with gothic and spooky elements that enhance immersion.
- Fair permadeath and persistence (weight 0.33): The four power management system and permadeath mechanics encourage cautious play rather than being punishing, with skills and progression persisting after death to reduce frustration.
- Multiple difficulty options (weight 0.26): Four difficulty levels provide options for different skill levels, with the game becoming progressively more challenging as players level up, offering good replayability.
- Rewarding progression system (weight 0.26): Unlocking new items and upgrades provides a strong sense of progression and discovery, with rewarding gameplay that makes players want to keep exploring and improving.
- Good value for price (weight 0.26): Players feel the game offers great value for its price, with many considering it worth every penny and a good purchase at $12.99 for the content provided.
- Skills persist after death (weight 0.26): Skills and permanent bonuses like crystals remain after death, providing a sense of persistent progression that rewards continued play and reduces the sting of permadeath.
- Unique charm and originality (weight 0.25): The game has a unique charm and original universe that reminds players of classic good old games, making it a treat for fans of the genre.
- Creative hub world (weight 0.18): A creative hub world allows players to upgrade abilities and unlock new content between runs, adding structure and long-term goals to the rogue-lite experience.
- Lively and amusing movement (weight 0.18): Character movement is described as lively and amusing, contributing to the overall satisfying and whimsical gameplay that keeps players entertained during exploration.

Common complaints:
- Game is abandoned (weight 0.97): Multiple reviews state the game has received no updates since mid-2020, making it abandonware. Players report no communication from developers and fear the game will never be finished.
- Many bugs and crashes (weight 0.44): Players report game-breaking bugs, crashes that cause save loss, and graphical stuttering. These issues severely impact the experience and require patching.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelite action RPG (weight 0.97): The game is described as a roguelite action RPG with procedurally generated dungeons, combining elements from The Binding of Isaac and Luigi's Mansion. It features permadeath, progression persistence, and a die-and-retry mechanic.
- Loot and inventory system (weight 0.68): The game features a hack-and-slash style loot system with rarity, modifiers, and a limited inventory. Players can collect items, gems, and crystals to upgrade stats and abilities.
- Flashlight-based combat (weight 0.68): Combat revolves around using a flashlight as the primary weapon to banish ghosts, with multiple flashlight types and unique projectiles. The flashlight has a wide cone attack and is central to the gameplay.
- Progression system (weight 0.6): Players level up and unlock permanent upgrades using crystals and gems, with progression persisting after death. The system includes stat building for health, damage, and defense.
- Companion and pet system (weight 0.52): Players can collect and deploy plush toy companions and pet turrets that fight alongside them. The companion system includes different combat features and multiple pet types.
- Procedural generation (weight 0.42): Rooms, enemies, loot, and floors are randomly generated each run, providing variety and replayability. This is a core roguelite feature.
- Multiple biomes and levels (weight 0.39): The game includes 3 biomes, multiple levels, and 9 levels with 3 bosses in early access. Players progress through different areas with increasing difficulty.
- Equipment and loadout (weight 0.39): Players have equipment slots for weapon, familiar, boots, necklace, and cape, with customizable loadouts. Gems can alter weapon elements and provide stat bonuses.
- Enemy variety (weight 0.34): The game features 19 enemy types, including ghosts, with multiple enemy types encountered throughout the dungeon. This adds challenge and diversity to combat.
- Haunted mansion setting (weight 0.33): The game is set in a haunted mansion or Gothic mansion, with ghost enemies and a spooky atmosphere. This setting is inspired by Luigi's Mansion.
- Difficulty levels (weight 0.11): The game offers 4 difficulty levels, allowing players to adjust the challenge. This caters to both casual and hardcore players.
- Controller support (weight 0.1): The game supports controllers, which is important for players who prefer gamepad input over keyboard and mouse.

Performance notes:
- Crashes erase saves (weight 0.13): Players report that the game crashes and subsequently causes their save file to be lost, forcing them to restart the game from the beginning. This is a severe progression blocker that can completely halt play.
- Intense scenes stutter (weight 0.12): Graphical performance drops in the form of stuttering are reported during scenes with high visual intensity, such as combat or cutscenes. This reduces immersion and can affect gameplay responsiveness.
- Windowed mode runs better (weight 0.12): Performance improves noticeably when the game is run in windowed mode and at a low resolution, suggesting the game has difficulty optimizing in full screen or high-resolution settings.

Recommendations:
- Good for casual play (weight 0.26): Several reviews recommend the game for casual fun, relaxation, pick-up-and-play sessions, and for players who dislike repetitive levels.
- Recommended for rogue-like fans (weight 0.23): Multiple players recommend the game to fans of the rogue-like genre, particularly those who enjoy twin-stick shooters and a challenge similar to Souls games.
- Wait for discount (weight 0.23): Several reviews advise waiting for a significant discount before purchasing, with one specifying a 75% off sale and another noting it's suitable for midcore gamers on sale.
- Strongly advised to avoid (weight 0.23): Multiple reviews strongly advise against purchasing the game using phrases like 'Do not buy,' 'Probably best to avoid,' and 'Avoid,' indicating clear negative sentiment.
- Good value for price (weight 0.21): Positive reviews note the game is worthwhile at its current price (e.g., $12.99), with players finding it engaging and worth replaying.
- General recommendation given (weight 0.16): Two players explicitly recommend the game to others and to friends, indicating general satisfaction with the title.
- Good for genre fans (weight 0.13): The game is recommended for fans of twin-stick shooters and the broader genre, suggesting it delivers solid genre-specific gameplay.
- Game is abandonware (weight 0.09): A player cannot recommend the game because it is abandonware, meaning it is no longer supported or updated by its developers.
- Bug prevents purchase (weight 0.09): One review warns not to purchase the game until a game-breaking bug is patched, highlighting a critical technical issue affecting gameplay.
- Feels unfinished (weight 0.09): One review states the game is not recommended for those expecting a finished product, indicating it feels incomplete or in early access state.
- Avoid supporting developer (weight 0.08): One reviewer advises against giving money to the developer, likely due to dissatisfaction with the company's practices or game quality.
- Recommended for specific genres (weight 0.08): The game is recommended for fans of top-down action-RPGs, twin-stick shooters, and haunted house themes, appealing to specific genre and aesthetic preferences.
- Like Binding of Isaac (weight 0.08): One player recommends the game to fans of Binding of Isaac, suggesting similar gameplay mechanics or design elements.
- Better to watch than play (weight 0.08): Due to the game's difficulty, one reviewer suggests streaming it instead of playing it personally, implying the game is more enjoyable to watch than to play.
- Not for die-and-retry haters (weight 0.08): The game is not recommended for players who dislike 'die and retry' mechanics, which are common in rogue-like games and may frustrate some players.
- Okay with early access (weight 0.08): It is recommended only for players comfortable with early access and the possibility of the game being abandoned, reflecting caution about its development status.
- Good as a gift (weight 0.08): One review recommends the game as a gift for a niece, suggesting it is family-friendly or suitable for younger players.
- Good for beginners (weight 0.08): The game is considered good for first-time players of the rogue-like genre, indicating it has accessible mechanics or learning curve.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
No emotions}