Recent reviews by The_Hob

This is very explicitly a review for the game as a souls-like isometric arpg (by literal definition, it is not an arpg in the vein of Diablo or PoE at this time). Which is decent, payed more for worse games and was still happy. I'd say let it cook before recommending it though.

The combat is decent, but formulaic. Most encounters are dealt with easily by being patient and attacking in the rather obvious openings most enemies have. I have not felt the need to interact with the parry or block mechanic at all up until the point, but I will likely try it out in my next full run. Difficulty in the game has so far been entirely based on time to kill, if you have appropriate dps enemies die in 3-5 hits, if you don't then the fight is long and plodding and you should upgrade. Boss fights have all been relatively easy as well without much beyond visual design to separate the 'feel' of each boss.

The areas are pretty enough with decent diversity for having a low number of currently available areas. The best part of them is their interconnectedness, and finding all the connections between the first set of zones was definitely a highlight for me.

Build craft is, well there is more that it isn't than it is. On the positive side there is no locking you to a class, and instead the game uses stats as a barrier to use weapons and level as a barrier to use armors. The downside is there is very little identity to your character besides what weapon you are using. Late game your build is more about your weapon than anything else. For all intents and purposes you might as well be the weapon, the schmuck holding it doesn't matter so long as they check the appropriate stat boxes.

Honestly the game feels more like an isometric soulslike. This isn't bad, but as an ARPG it does not deliver what a lot of people want in the genre. It's woefully lacking in player progression and meaningful build choices. My full int first build ended up using an int scaling sword that I could throw for cheap and cleared most everything easily, even easier when I remembered I had consumables. This would have been functionally the same if I went faith or strength, the only thing different between characters is the animations unique to the weapon type. Additionally, due to the lack of impact from stats, you are best served holding half of your stats for when you find a cool weapon and putting the rest into health, focus, stamina, and carry weight. In essence the only true choice you make for a character is whether you prefer light weight dash, medium weight roll, or heavy weight flopping for dodging. Resources go into building up the town shops and your house/equipment. I actually forgot about leveling for close to 4 levels at one point (level 25-30 seems to be about the top end of the EA), so not the most compelling there.

Unfortunately does not redefine the genre at this time. I will be making another character for heavy weight, heavy armor, 2 handed smashing, so also not bad. It's holding my interest more than D4 so far.

Updated TLDR: Game has a bunch of conflicting systems that will inevitably annoy many people, BUT as of now most, if not all, of those annoying mechanics can be turned off both before you start a game and mid play through. Additionally the base difficulty actually removes a portion of my initial complaints outright while allowing more sadistic players to turn them on to bump up the difficulty. The modularity of the games difficulty makes it stand out and is the main reason for the review change.

Edit 1: They have removed recycle cost for camp resources! They now pay you for camp resources. This helps a small amount with early credit pressure.

Edit 2 (7/1/25): As of returning to the game I can say I am pretty happy with the game at its current price point and would go so far as to say the game is well worth it especially if on sale. The major downside of the game as it stands is that you have to discover the mechanics you like and dislike and build your own preferred difficulty. This is good for people doing multiple playthroughs or coming back after putting it down, but could be seen as a detriment to new players. On top of that, the base difficulty of the game is easier than it was on launch, removing some of the tedium that lead to my initial negative review. Personally, just turning off the production costs makes the game far more enjoyable by removing what felt like an arbitrary progression blocker/noob trap.

I still have the general feeling that the game layered too many restrictions/timers/costs all on top of each other, but I greatly appreciate the Dev(s) devotion to fixing the game post release and their addition of the difficulty system allowing players to tailor the experience to their preferences. All told, I hope to see more from the Dev(s) in the future!

I will be leaving the initial review for posterity's sake.
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First off I just want to say the game is so close to being good, but a number of decisions all pile up to make it rather middling, ticking it into the negative for me personally. It's right on the line though. Unfortunately all this game did was make me want to play other games in the genre.

It is a conglomeration of decent and average held down by little things. The graphics are good and probably the biggest pro for me. The combat is well animated for the genre and feels fair. The progression is satisfying but not the most interesting. In all it feels like a game made in someone's free time while they work a 9-5.

There are a couple big sticking points though that lead to a cascade of small issues.

1. Most importantly: the credit system. It is, quite frankly, an arbitrary system seemingly put in place only to restrict progression. The logic behind it is absolutely flawed (only one guy can get us resources to save our lives! But we won't bake him that bread unless he coughs up some coin. I know we'd die without him so refusing him food is actually a drawn out suicide plan, but ♥♥♥♥ em). It also is the pure cause of a number of other issues that would be resolved if the system weren't there.
- The shops: there are a number of npcs you can trade with, they are not marked or denoted in any way even after talking to them so better remember where they are. Also their buying power is limited by their shop inventory size even though they have a separate credits amount.
-Progression gating: honestly it just feels like the dev didn't want to spend the time tweaking drops and spawn rates for resources and added the credit system to restrict the players ability to progress faster than intended.
-Recycling: IT COSTS CREDITS BUT DOESNT TELL YOU IT DOES, that is all They removed this in an update.

2. The timers(yes multiple), almost entirely made a problem due to the credit system.
-All things take time, research to make new items, scrapping junk to get materials for new item, making the new item, they all have separate timers. Then there is the invasion timer for getting back to base to defend against a wave(so far seems kinda binary, wither you have enough defenses and win without issue or you don't have enough and lose out of pocket), and a difficulty timer (more turns taken = harder enemies).
- Most things are consumed over time. Such as O2 tanks while underground, and your light source while it's on. Your hunger, water, and sleep all also go down over time.


So let's walk through the crafting loop.
1. Research item:
- consume researchable item
- pay credits (not a small amount)
- wait until research is done
2. Scrap items for material
- consume scrapable item
- spend credits (small amount but doesn't tell you)
- wait for it to be scrapped
3. make item
- spend credits
- spend resources
- wait for it to be crafted

This means for every item, from quest based/repair, to progression mandatory armor and weapon upgrades, to the very consumables necessary to go into the mines you have to spend credits, resources, and time at all points in its cycle to get. All the while your food, water, and sleep need go up. Sof if we wrap it all together the whole process of making a new item costs:
4 × time (all crafting steps plus sleep)
5 x resources (all crafting steps plus food and water)
5 x Credits (all crafting steps, food, water)

Additionally the writing is most definitely not a selling point, which on its own wouldn't bother me, except that I want to break Tau's kneecaps because, being the lone hope for survival these people have and all, he'd have to shut up and take it unless he wanted to starve or be eaten by mutants, something that the whole operation doesn't seem to get BECAUSE THEY STILL CHARGE ME FOR EVERYTHING.

Game is... Decent.
It feels like a game that just hasn't gone through any large scale QA, which is not unexpected for small scale games like this. The bones are there and it isn't far off from being very good in many ways. Above all, the artwork is stunning.

To prospective buyers:
Probably hold off for a month or two depending on development time and patch rate if you want a good game as a product.

To the Developer:
- A big catch is the dice simulation feeling a little less than random, if at all possible make the dice bouncier and give the dice throw a natural 'spin' rather than the sort of light drop it has. I have been using auto-roll to simulate this, though this makes the game harder in some ways because of the bounces increasing cost.
- A map key would be tremendously helpful for those just starting, though it becomes less necessary as you learn what the symbols mean through trial and error. The downside is that any extended time away from the game could result in the necessity to relearn the symbols.
- Garmonbozia: Unless I am missing a distinct way to make more, up until some upgrades are purchased you are looking at 10-20 runs to get your first meta upgrade. With runs averaging 10 minutes to the first boss for me, that seems like a bit of a high time investment for me.
- The tutorial right out of the gate is odd, not necessarily bad, but out of the norm enough that I likely missed a bit of info before I noticed it when first visiting the lodge. I'd recommend actually dropping the player into combat first, in the vein of Darkest Dungeon, before exposing us to the meta progression of the Lodge.
- - Also, personal anger, screw pigeons, they seem distinctly harder than anything else at the same level as there is no way initially to deal with their summon a friend passive and have so far been the sole cause of my deaths. I am likely just bad, but I felt like mentioning them. I'd almost rather them be introduced later, but not limit their flock passive to one.

Now a running review I guess, lol. Based on the recent official statement from Sony I will be returning this to a Positive review, but any more BS it goes negative and stays negative.

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Previous review below: Now a negative review due to the PSN enforcement change. There are other, more informed, reviews arguing against it. It's still shady, and possibly illegal in the EU.




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PSA: As of this moment there are quite a few bugs that can make the game unplayable for users, I am not one of the ones affected by this. Additionally quick join just doesn't work. These are very likely to be fixed in the near future, but if you won't purchase a game that launches broken on principle, I respect that and want to enable you to make an informed decision.

Now for the review proper:

This is by far some of the snappiest, most satisfying gun-play I have ever experienced. Damage makes sense and information, such as hitting an armored body part, is clearly shown and easy to parse. Quite frankly the mechanics and game play loop are the ONLY reason I feel this game deserves a positive review and its only bound to get better when I start playing with friends. Missions are hard, side objectives are compelling, and at least as of early game, feel very worth pursuing.

Progression is relatively low quality, though, and is innately linked to a battle pass system. On top of that, the way the battle pass is designed makes it so you can pay for more progression options, thus opening the door to paying for power. Right now it doesn't seem to be directly giving power just an alternate path to the same perks on gear, but the potential is there and so very likely.

Be suspicious, be cagey, these are some shady practices.... But seriously this is some top notch game-play and far and away my favorite shooter mechanically.

IMPORTANT: As of the moment of writing this there is very little content. This is very much akin to a trial of the game upon release. There is one area, one boss, and 6 characters. Each character has some meta progression track which helps with replay-ability, but that is all.

That out of the way what IS here is top quality and I look forward to playing more as they develop it. If it ends with near as much polish as the other title by this developer that I have played, Curse of the Dead Gods, then this will easily find a place in my favorite games.

Alright, honesty time. I play both Overwatch and Paladins, though I seem to be leaning into more Paladins at this point. This is where your supports are guys, playing Paladins because supports are fun here.

So let's start with the bad:
1. The game can feel very swingy at times.
2. At most casual levels of play mechanical skill wins more so than strategy, though it is best to have at least a Frontline to capture and push objectives
3. The game is heavily monetized and it no longer has an all heros one time purchase (though it did on the past)
4. There is a fair bit less polish then overwatch, but that seems to be shifting as overwatch continues to cut off its own foot.
5. It's published by Hi-Rez


Now the good:
1. There is a lot of positive feedback the game gives you for what you are doing and it denotes kills streaks of 3 or more on the character image in game.
2. There is a strong progression system for characters that feels rewarding and you can modify characters through a perk system (small numeric changes to abilities or base stats) and a talent system (choose one of 3 that can drastically change how you play)
3. There are a ton of characters and a rather aggressive character release schedule so people like me who don't like focusing on one character won't get bored.
4. Many character models are designed with the fans in mind if you know what I mean.

I forgot to eat.... for a week.
11/10 would become malnurished again