[Early Access Review]

Halls of Torment is everything I wanted from this emerging genre.

I tend not to be in the business of reviewing Early Access titles and I imagine I have untold gameplay hours ahead of me still, but as I near the 20hr mark I can compare apples to apples and oranges. And, confidently state my complete satisfaction with what I've got out of my investment of time and pocket change. Halls of Torment is amazing. It's challenging. It's a steady grind. It's got charm. It's got style. And it's plain fun.

I think 'Survivors-like' is the term we're using for these style of games after the craze of Vampire Survivors. That game hit at the right time and took off like wildfire. I for one made the aforementioned 20hr mark on it before tapping out. It was a new feel and style. It played well with my shiny new Steam Deck. But I was left wanting a lot more than what it was. For better or worse, Vampires Survivor is mostly just addiction. You reach over powered levels VERY quickly. But there's new folds and dice rolls to be seen. Very inventive secrets and visuals at that. But hardly a handful of hours into it and the challenge was gone entirely. You're just addicted to the sights and sounds getting a dopamine hit when some new achievement pops. It's a thumbs up in my book but I had to stop. I wasn't gritting my teeth and clawing my way to earn anything, I was just drooling. Still all love. I even bought the DLC just to support with no intention of playing it. They crawled so others could run.

Halls of Torment is everything I wanted out of a 'Survivors-like' experience. A little nuance everywhere. Twinstick instead of singlestick. A steady progression through steady challenges. Still feeling vulnerable 20hrs in. Still having to earn each step. All while seemingly perfectly fitting my gamestyle and approach. Never have I loved sampling EVERY option a game provides as much as I do here. I cycle every character, swapping each run. I tackle every level with each of them. I'm willing to take any powerups. I change my gear up every run. I'm willing to try different trait builds. Any and all. I absolutely love it. I couldn't tell you the game meta or the cheese builds. I'm just enjoying it all. I've reached the same amount of play time I put into Vampire Survivors and have been rewarded X fold over, and over, for my efforts. With plenty still ahead of me! I just unlocked two more characters! I just beat the third map with my first character. The game is still in active development. Bring it on.

Obviously I'm going to crest the peak eventually. I will reach that point where I've maxed things out and spent all the gold. The challenge will leave and I'll just be drooling. But for $5USD? And already 20hrs and counting? Easy sell. Easy recommend. And yes; Right at home on the Deck.

[copied from my Steam review]

Just recently started, but this has already hooked me more than any VS-like "bullet heaven" has so far, besides Vampire Survivors, and I've tried a decent amount of them.

Aesthetic is awesome. I've been wanting more indie games with Diablo 1-2 artstyles and atmospheres for quite a while. And the music is somewhat reminiscent of dungeon synth and 90s dark fantasy RPGs, which I love.

Gameplay is super engaging. Attacks can be aimed, unlike many bullet heaven games. Each class feels unique with their signature attack that specializes in different types of enemies. Most bosses feel challenging the first few times you encounter them. The quests and game loop of sending gear to the wellkeeper is addictive.

Would recommend to anyone that likes bullet heavens, twin stick shooters, and the first 2 Diablo games.

Content wise, this was a great addition to Titan Quest. The visual style was so unique even from similar settings like God of War, owed to the more diverse aspects of the Greek underworld it chose to depict. The Oracle inspired "Dream" class it added was particularly novel to me.

However, despite all the amazing content additions, I also remember just as many technical issues. Some sections were downright unplayable on our hardware back then. I imagine the newer rereleases are much nicer (seeing how they're still updated consistently and thoroughly) but I'm rating this for what it was then: a very nice cake with a few bits of gravel baked in. Fun until you miss one.