Recent reviews by iao

Surprisingly competent base of a game. Not bogged down by MMO tropes, 99% of my attentive playtime is in-combat. Solid amount of mechanical differentiation among character classes. Would like to see equipment and card options expanded so build theorycrafting can flourish.

EDIT: The game has since swapped their director, who led them to destroy the game balance and add gacha mechanics. So the following review is outdated, but I stand by what I said in regards to Season 2. The game is probably still pretty good for a F2P campaign playthrough.

I challenge anyone worried about "pay-to-win" to play the campaign free and tell me this game is bad. Its development momentum has been promising ever since its current director was instated, and they've addressed the main issues people had at the time of the global launch. It's an intentional Path of Exile competitor with Korean studio sensibilities, so I'll be making some direct comparisons to it.

Its main features are fast and fluid combat with high monster density, endgame dungeon grind with a variety of gameplay mechanics, mechanically-demanding bosses/raids, variety in aesthetics, high amount of skill/link runes with an evolution beyond PoE's socket system, possibly the best crafting system for Diablo-like items, many systems for and to reward character growth, etc. Main gripes I have is the loot filter is rudimentary, communication with the developers is harder because the language gap, and the auction house fluctuates in activity.

Character building is more straightforward than PoE, partially because systems are more streamlined. PoE achieves depth with more variety in passive skill tree and unique items, Undecember does with layering of many small systems. As a balance nerd I have a massive spreadsheet comparing most damaging skills, and result is the devs have done quite well. Almost every skill meant to be used as a main damage option is fine in endgame (i.e. able to reach 300m+ DPS), and you'll find top players simply use whichever skill combination is most fun to them (observable when you do group content like raids). There are "metas" but that's because of playerbase trends, not because they're "forced". When skills underperform or become outdated they are addressed, and overperforming ones are toned down but tend to remain above-average.

The size and length of seasons/content updates are about as good as you can expect for Diablo-likes, and the only one to rival or perhaps surpass PoE's leagues. So far, for each season you can expect an act's worth of new quests/areas/enemies/bosses, a new gameplay feature that takes place in late/endgame dungeons (like PoE's league mechanics), a new character growth mechanic, new skills/links, sizable balancing overhauls, and QoL tweaks. The upcoming one (Season 2) includes all this as well as 2 new modes (Hardcore and Origin).

For endgame, 3+ of the stash tabs are essentially the price of admission, modeled like PoE. However, you only buy 1 of each type you want and they are permanent/one-time purchase. For those that wish to "whale", you benefit by buying auction house currency at exorbitant prices, which stimulates the economy (making its way to other players) but doesn't make you more competitive on ladders (which are moreso based on skill/knowledge/time-investment). Pets with auto-looting are paid for with auction house currency, but at such a low amount everyone keeps them up permanently without issue.

Cool amalgamation of design ideas with notable influences coming from the likes of Shin Megami Tensei and Slay the Spire. Party building and combat are quite deep and there's just enough well-placed randomization so no run ever feels like the previous, even if you try the exact same setup. Its developer Xendra is ambitious and inventive yet the game's scope seems well-defined. Great music and art design to accompany the gameplay, giving the experience a distinct setting and vibe. It's still in Early Access at the time of this writing, but updates have been abundant over the time I've had access to it.