Recent reviews by NeXtGen

This game had a weak start, became more interesting later on, but then ended up feeling so much like a chore to play late-game that I couldn't be bothered to finish it. It's a shame because this would be a positive review if the game didn't turn into a total grindfest towards the end.

The game was pretty boring at the beginning. The combat, level design and even the music was rather uninteresting and repetitive. But two hours or so later, once you reach the sanctuary, that's when the game really starts. The previously hidden content in the game opens up to reveal arenas and some level of character customization. A better understanding of team building and combat mechanics became more important as you encounter more monsters. The level design gets more interesting with precision platforming and puzzles here and there. The background music while still repetitive also improves.

Then towards the end of the game, progression was slowing down to a crawl. Battles took longer and experience gain didn't reflect that. There were items to raise levels but there was a level cap based on your highest level monster. When I got to this point of the game, I spent more time reading the monster journal than trying to progress. The lore behind the monsters in the journal was fun to read and the pixel art in it is really good, but the fact that I found that more entertaining than actually playing the game didn't sit right with me.

So I stopped playing the game for a while, thinking I'd feel like finishing it soon, but never did. I don't feel like I'm missing much by not playing it all the way to the end anyway since the story up to the point I left off was bland and forgettable. I experienced enough of this game for me to put it down for good. Too bad it couldn't have been after I beat the game.

I love the narrative aspects of this game. The plot, the dialogue, the characters, the setting, etc. keep me engaged. I love the option of choosing between three different factions with different abilities so I can pick one tailored for my play-style. I love the expansive and immersive open world. I love the character and enemy designs. There's a lot to love about this game. So where did it all go wrong?

The combat and player character progression. The combat mechanics being terrible as well as the overall sense of progression being slow makes for a dreadful combination.

Combat with brutal difficulty can be a great thing if it allows the player to strategize and feels rewarding after the fact. But that's not the case with this game because combat is brutally difficult without the strategy and reward. It's also just janky. The player hitbox is large enough to allow for deaths by cheap shots from enemies even if dodges are properly timed. Also, fighting more than one enemy at once is simply impossible, at least for early-game and mid-game. For most encounters, the only reasonable thing to do is hold down that sprint button and run away. But why do I need to run away from most enemies? Couldn't I just level up my character enough in easier areas to come back ready to deal with them? That brings me to my next point.

Then comes the sense of progression. I haven't found any reliable locations in this game to grind XP for all the exploring I have done up to this point. And even if I did, we're talking about hours upon hours of grinding here because the XP given out by defeating enemies isn't anything substantial compared to completing even small missions. Many missions require some exploration which I find great in most open world games but not this one. There's an enemy lurking around every corner and chances are that I can't beat it.

Moreover, I had my suspicions about how player stats worked in this game and read up on some guides. From what I've gathered, stats work a bit differently than how they work in other games. Stats are purely for equipment and ability purposes. Increasing the strength stat doesn't increase the damage dealt onto enemies, increasing the constitution stat doesn't increase the amount of damage you can take, etc. So I am at the mercy of the equipment I can find and use at my level. And for early-game, there isn't much at all.

I really wanted to like this game. I really wanted to play it until the end. But I realized I wasn't having fun anymore and called it quits. The progression of the plot, as good as it is, is just not worth the unbearably slow progression of my character.

At the moment, there is little content and a handful of bugs in the game, which I am sure would change as time goes on. Yet, this game still managed to draw me in. There's something about this game that sets itself apart from other community-based survival games. There are in-depth interactions between the player and NPCs, and even NPCs with other NPCs. This allows NPCs to seem a little more "alive" and have complex relationships. While I think this game is far from complete, I am recommending it now because of recent workshop support. Several other players have several other ideas they would like to implement and now they have the means to do so.

Don't play this game if you have anger issues.

This is a great and unique puzzle-platformer game. It could be beaten in roughly 2 hours but this game is no joke. You're gonna have to be talented to beat that moving trash platform level.