♅︎ѕнϵσɢσʀαтн҇♅ » Reviews » Ancient Dungeon VR
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7 people found this review helpful
6 people found this review funny
Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 23.9 hrs on record (18.4 hrs at review time)
Posted: 13 Dec, 2022 @ 3:05pm
Updated: 3 Sep, 2024 @ 1:03am

Early Access Review
Three years ago, this game promised to revolutionize VR roguelikes, but it hasn’t delivered. After the first year passed with no major updates, we hoped things would improve. Two years ago, the developer responded, explaining that being a solo dev and focusing on things like porting to OpenXR, releasing on new platforms, and adding multiplayer had delayed content updates. They assured us that once multiplayer was finished, major updates would follow.

Now, two more years later, the only significant change is that multiplayer is finally out of beta. The game, once full of potential, is now stagnant and overpriced. What we really need are at least 10 new biomes, far more creatures, and a wealth of new items to keep the experience fresh. The ability to choose different modes with unique stories would also make a huge difference. Unfortunately, despite the developer’s promises, the lack of meaningful content updates has turned what could have been a genre-defining experience into a major disappointment.

it would undoubtedly reignite interest in the game. I'd even go so far as to predict at least another 3,000 copies sold.

I can only express my hope that future endeavors within this genre will prioritize sustained development and deliver on their promises, offering players a truly fulfilling and ever-evolving experience.
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Developer response:
ErThu  [developer] Posted: 14 Dec, 2022 @ 3:22am
I'm sorry to hear that you think the game is dead and does not meet your expectations. I agree that the updates that were released did not have much content and took very long to release. I'm working as fast as I can on new updates, however being a solo developer makes everything take very long. This does not excuse the lack of updates though. The reason for the lack of content updates is that I made some decisions early on that have had a big impact on the development process:

- The first content update (Sealed Souls) came out pretty fast because development was mostly focused on content.

- After sealed souls, I started on porting the game over to OpenXR to make it future proof with new headsets and to clean up the codebase. In hindsight, this was a mistake, because this process took almost half a year, which means no updates during that time that were of significance.

- Once this was done, I had to spend a lot of time preparing the game for the official Quest Store release, which again only resulted in a small content update (Insight Rework and new items)

- Right now most of the work is behind the scenes. The game is/was being ported to multiple different headsets (Pico for example) which again delays content updates for players.

- Since multiplayer has been requested so many times, I decided to spend a big amount of time on making the game have multiplayer functionality. This is still ongoing.

- I'm also simultaneously working on the points of interest update (new content), but because I have to split my workload between porting, multiplayer, and content this takes some time to finish.

In retrospect, I definitely should not have done the OpenXR port after release. Furthermore, I should have focused more on small, but impactful content updates instead of working on multiple big projects at the same time (Multiplayer, porting to other platforms, modding tools rework).

However, all of this delay does not mean that the game will somehow not get all of the promised content. As long as the game is not finished, it will stay in early access and will continue to receive updates. The game is doing well enough to continue working on it for the next few years. This game is not dead.

I hope this gives you some Insight into why the game is being updated so slow.
3 Comments
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Quantum Particles 21 Nov, 2023 @ 8:06pm 
Man, I hate the term "game is dead"
It's so BS.
Omalike 24 Dec, 2022 @ 10:19am 
you sound like an amazing developer that cares about their community and for this i will be buying your game
ErThu  [developer] 16 Dec, 2022 @ 4:01am 
No worries! More of everything is coming. Thanks for replying :steamthumbsup: