This review contains spoilers
It's insane how Mullins has somehow managed to recycle the same plot for the third time in a row. Same concept, same story, same ARG creepypasta bullshit. Absolutely nothing interesting about it. No one would give a damn about this dude if Pony Island hadn't been released at the perfect time it could. I'm so fucking angry because I think of him as one of the most uncreative people ever and when he finally has a great idea in his hands he just fucks it up, and I'm honestly happy that so many people lashed at him to the point of Kaycee's Mod existance.
Act 1 is insane, I was instantly drawed to the game by the style alone (which happened to a lot of people from what I see). The atmosphere is great, Leshy being a pair of eyes and hands floating in the darkness, how the scenery changes depending on where you fall (the boss fights are insane highlights here), even standing up and exploring the cabin, as small as it is, just makes you embrace the mood. Then there's the card game proper. Look, totems, sigils, fusions, there's insane ways to break this game and make it easy af for you, but it's just so damn engaging anyway. The way sacrificies work make it go smoothly, it lacks the hammer from later acts but that only makes you think harder about your positioning, managing your blood and bones to try surviving and dealing damage as hard you can. The fact that you can sacrificie your eye in a desperate attempt to win, everything works here and blends perfectly with the atmosphere. I tend to really like rogue-likes, but it's hard for me to stay with them till the 100%. Here tho? If you gave me a full game of just Leshy's cabin I would've 200%'d or smth.
Then act 2 comes up and it fucks it up. The new card systems aren't really intuitive and it's quite hard to get used to them, mainly due to the sudden, drastic and boring change in presentation the game has in every single way. Energy and necromancy are manageable, but Mox is just so badly thought up I can't see anyone sticking with it to the end. Good ol' beasts end up being the best, more familiar option you have available, and even then it just isn't good because the game becomes so boring. Transversing the map, fighting bosses, collecting cards, even just battling becomes so redundant when the game takes this boring retro ass aesthetic it just feels like a drag. I complained about this act being the easiest one but honestly I think it might just be better to phase through it. There's also no mystery about what's going on anymore, because you know it's just the same bullshit again: some random dude playing with a game cursed by some creepypasta-tier entity or something.
Act 3 is a lot better, not quite as act 1. The bases are back, the way the game is presented and how you build and upgrade your deck is almost the same, but there's the new card system, energy, which is more fleshed out than mox and necromancy, but not nearly as engaging as sacrifices. Sigils are fine, bosses are stupid yet engaging, rogue-like elements are a lot less present and a bit more annoying, but it's addictive and fun again. It just lacks everything that drawed you towards the game in the first place: the atmosphere, the presentation, the way the mechanics blend with the style of the game. I know it's the point, P03 doesn't give a shit about all that, but that just makes me think about other stuff: how cool the concept of 4 game masters battling to make a card game in their own image is. You get glimpses of it in the end (Magnificus' sucks of course, and it's honestly one of the best moments just because it makes you think of what could've been.
It's a real shame, because I genuinely like this game, I had fun with it, but it's creator just can't untie himself from concepts and stories that came directly from 2012. He can't just make a cool game, it has to be meta, a game about a game, some horror here and there, pull the rug, subvert it, whatever. At least I can repeat act 1 as much as I want now.
Act 1 is insane, I was instantly drawed to the game by the style alone (which happened to a lot of people from what I see). The atmosphere is great, Leshy being a pair of eyes and hands floating in the darkness, how the scenery changes depending on where you fall (the boss fights are insane highlights here), even standing up and exploring the cabin, as small as it is, just makes you embrace the mood. Then there's the card game proper. Look, totems, sigils, fusions, there's insane ways to break this game and make it easy af for you, but it's just so damn engaging anyway. The way sacrificies work make it go smoothly, it lacks the hammer from later acts but that only makes you think harder about your positioning, managing your blood and bones to try surviving and dealing damage as hard you can. The fact that you can sacrificie your eye in a desperate attempt to win, everything works here and blends perfectly with the atmosphere. I tend to really like rogue-likes, but it's hard for me to stay with them till the 100%. Here tho? If you gave me a full game of just Leshy's cabin I would've 200%'d or smth.
Then act 2 comes up and it fucks it up. The new card systems aren't really intuitive and it's quite hard to get used to them, mainly due to the sudden, drastic and boring change in presentation the game has in every single way. Energy and necromancy are manageable, but Mox is just so badly thought up I can't see anyone sticking with it to the end. Good ol' beasts end up being the best, more familiar option you have available, and even then it just isn't good because the game becomes so boring. Transversing the map, fighting bosses, collecting cards, even just battling becomes so redundant when the game takes this boring retro ass aesthetic it just feels like a drag. I complained about this act being the easiest one but honestly I think it might just be better to phase through it. There's also no mystery about what's going on anymore, because you know it's just the same bullshit again: some random dude playing with a game cursed by some creepypasta-tier entity or something.
Act 3 is a lot better, not quite as act 1. The bases are back, the way the game is presented and how you build and upgrade your deck is almost the same, but there's the new card system, energy, which is more fleshed out than mox and necromancy, but not nearly as engaging as sacrifices. Sigils are fine, bosses are stupid yet engaging, rogue-like elements are a lot less present and a bit more annoying, but it's addictive and fun again. It just lacks everything that drawed you towards the game in the first place: the atmosphere, the presentation, the way the mechanics blend with the style of the game. I know it's the point, P03 doesn't give a shit about all that, but that just makes me think about other stuff: how cool the concept of 4 game masters battling to make a card game in their own image is. You get glimpses of it in the end (Magnificus' sucks of course, and it's honestly one of the best moments just because it makes you think of what could've been.
It's a real shame, because I genuinely like this game, I had fun with it, but it's creator just can't untie himself from concepts and stories that came directly from 2012. He can't just make a cool game, it has to be meta, a game about a game, some horror here and there, pull the rug, subvert it, whatever. At least I can repeat act 1 as much as I want now.
gucci_speedboat
1 year ago