Recent reviews by Dredgemire

I have no experience with this game prior to this month's Echoes update, but so far I've been having a blast. Melee combat feels weighty yet responsive and slick, and player movement feels almost like a 3D PS2 platformer with the ability to double jump, sprint, dodge, and ledge grab short walls. I absolutely adore the expressive art style and variety of character customization options, and I greatly appreciate the decision to have all cosmetics, characters, and player housing furniture earnable through regular gameplay.

I have huge respect to the devs for deciding to re-release this game as an offline singleplayer aRPG with co-op, rather than just letting it die completely or go on life support like so many other MMOs such as WildStar or Spiral Knights. Though the player hub understandably feels a lot more lonely now, it still has enough personality in its layout and design to prevent it from feeling like a complete ghost town. I wish all the best to Airship Syndicate going forward, and I'm definitely looking forward to the addition of party matchmaking, as well as the rest of the upcoming 1.0 update.

This game is truly THE Dark Souls Platformer of all time

This demo absolutely oozes style; the music and graphics are incredibly charming and bring me back to older 3D platformers on the PlayStation and GameCube. The bouncy character animations really make you feel the speed and weight of your movements, and it feels so good to almost fly through levels once the controls are mastered.

Getting used to the controls and movement techniques can be a bit of a challenge, and there's very little hand-holding when it comes to traversing the different levels. Movement is heavily momentum-based, often requiring the player to think outside the box and build up speed from bouncing off of sloped surfaces, falling from great heights before grappling onto objects, or wall jumping to get to higher ledges just barely out of reach. The challenges presented by the different levels felt extremely enjoyable to finally overcome (if not nerve-wracking, especially when doing a particularly long platforming segment with no checkpoint or shortcut in sight).

Failing a jump that doesn't kill you can often force you to trek a long distance back to where you were, and even with the shortcuts you can unlock, these treks can take a few minutes. I was able to collect all 688 coins to unlock the final dungeon, but having to backtrack to find the last several coins I'd missed without any sort of tracker or indicator as to which levels were completely cleared out felt incredibly tedious.

Despite my gripes, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this generous demo. I feel like I haven't experienced a 3D platformer this engaging ever since my childhood, and I'm definitely looking forward to the full game when it comes out!

DEMOCRACY HAS PREVAILED ONCE MORE, FELLOW DIVERS

Thrilling co-op game with numerous opportunities for teamwork, and maybe a bit of accidental (?) friendly fire on the side. Gun play and combat feel tactile and visceral; rather than having visible health bars, enemies have various weak points and respond uniquely to player damage.

The progression system is one of the most fair I've ever seen in a game, with premium currency being earnable as collectible items in the missions themselves. Their "battle passes" (referred to as "warbonds" in this game) can be acquired with said currency without spending a single real life penny, and they are never on some kind of timer that pressures you to grind out all the tiers in a limited amount of time before they go away forever.

Ultimately a fun and heart-pounding team-based experience that doesn't demand your time 24/7 like many other live service games.

WE'RE SO FREAKIN BACK FELLAS

Addicting gameplay loop, extremely satisfying sound design, and a charmingly dark artstyle.

The play style diversity between characters and progression system make for exciting subsequent runs, and the addition of bosses with unique attack patterns can keep you on your toes.

The developers update this game fairly regularly with numerous quality-of-life features, and the detailed descriptions for abilities, statuses, and how traits specifically affect your characters are things that I greatly appreciate.

I can say with certainty that Halls of Torment has very much been worth every ounce of the time and money I've spent on it, and I'm looking forward to see where else the devs might take it.