A few neat mechanics (such as merging) buried under a needlessly copycat interface and terrible control scheme for no other reason than "pokemon did it." This game is needlessly janky and archaic, not charming. I could understand emulating the best parts of pokemon, but why steal the worst parts too?

Siralim is honestly a hidden gem of a game that I hope more people hear about in the future.

The pacing is extremely nice, and the amount of customization you're allowed to do is pretty staggering. This was a game built with endgame content in mind, and chances are you probably won't stop at just the end of the main storyline content.

I very much enjoy the fact that not a lot of time has to be spent trying to acquire creatures in this game, as it speeds up the process of getting new things to work with, and the game truly rewards the player for being creative and experimental with how they build characters.

Combat in Siralim feels less like commanding a Pokemon-style team of a few monsters, and more like leading a small army instead, with many creatures able to unleash an ungodly amount of moves in one turn, and while the game is 'grindy' by nature, it rarely feels like it with the way combat tends to go by so quickly. Running through full dungeon floors is kind of a breeze, and typically they take no longer than 5-15 minutes or so.

It's a game that rewards players for strategizing about their team builds ahead of time, and still presents players with good challenges very far into the game. If you ever lose in combat, it feels fair because you know there's always something out there somewhere that can mitigate the difficulties you're having.

Siralim is also a game that forces players to constantly make choices about what they're going to loot, and in turn that makes a difference in terms of what kinds of things they are working toward, whether it's better spells, better weapons, new decorations for their base, the ability to summon and fuse more monsters, etc. There are also options for converting currency as well, and the option to undo a lot of things, but I do think they really should be introduced sooner in the storyline segment of the game.

The music is pretty good. Not super catchy at first, but it's the kind of music that will grow on you over time. And the developer left those files open to replacement, so you can make your own soundtrack if you want. There are some issues with some monster sound effects being a smidge too loud and jarring, but for the most part audio stuff is alright.

My one real nitpick with the game, though, is that the menu really needs some more details in some parts, and there's plenty of room for it. Like when I'm trying to look at bonuses I've put on weapons and whatnot, there's no real way to see what things do, and the game kind of expects you to try to memorize a lot of things. I am very impressed with the amount of content this game has, but at times it presents it in menus in a cumbersome way that requires players to navigate in and out of menus to see all the information they need.

Overall, though, very fantastic game with a ton of replay value. I'm 205 dungeon floors into the game so far, with no shortage whatsoever of things to do. This game is definitely a must-buy for any fan of JRPG-style creature collector style games, and has the same level of charm and detail as some of the greatest oldschool titles out there.

This is Pokemon meets Dwarf Fortress, but way better than pokemon.
The level of combat and creature type depth is awesome.

It is as simple or as deep as you want to get.
Decent if you play low difficulty and don't know what you are doing.
Awesome with the difficulty turned up and I just summoned an ethereal spell gem, which triggered two random spells and gave everyone else the ability to summon an ethereal spell gem, then my ranger attacked 4 times, which triggered a spell gem, then I cast a spell which summoned an animated spell gem, which triggered an additional spell on the next attack.
You'd just have to play to really get it. Or just play and do what feels right.
I'm that friend that eats paint and loves pascal's triangle.