I'm putting this as completed because technically I beat this... on drizzle... on online co-op with old friends who know this game very well. basically I'm writing this and journaling it just so I can remind myself I actually did play games in jan '22, and because I probably won't be playing this much more. I've tried some single-player runs, but I am complete garbage at this game and it runs at like 20 fps on my computer on the lowest graphics settings, so I've had my fill.
I'm not a roguelike fan, and beyond a couple titles like vanilla BoI and gungeon I have rarely interacted with the genre. I don't mind the focus on replayablity (I play arcade games all the time after all) but it's the RNG that usually gets to me; I hate feeling like a run was wasted because I ended up with items I couldn't exploit as efficiently as other item sets. this game thankfully has a much more balanced item pool in my opinion, and very rarely in runs have I ever picked up anything that felt completely superfluous. the combat is as frenetic as you can get for a third-person shooter, though base movement is sort of slow, even when running. enemy variety is well-done and each level feels unique, which is especially impressive given that the layouts never vary (something I honestly appreciate). getting shown all of the secret-ish areas like bazaar between time and void planes was cool too, though I'm not sure how I feel about having to sit through void planes every time you wanna do a viable run (I'm sure better players don't have to but still). all the bosses were solid too, even though I feel like the throngs of enemies that overwhelm you at the teleporter site are even more dangerous. probably will still pick this up occasionally when friends want to play, but I think I've gotten a good taste of the game by this point and won't be touching it any more on my own.
I'm not a roguelike fan, and beyond a couple titles like vanilla BoI and gungeon I have rarely interacted with the genre. I don't mind the focus on replayablity (I play arcade games all the time after all) but it's the RNG that usually gets to me; I hate feeling like a run was wasted because I ended up with items I couldn't exploit as efficiently as other item sets. this game thankfully has a much more balanced item pool in my opinion, and very rarely in runs have I ever picked up anything that felt completely superfluous. the combat is as frenetic as you can get for a third-person shooter, though base movement is sort of slow, even when running. enemy variety is well-done and each level feels unique, which is especially impressive given that the layouts never vary (something I honestly appreciate). getting shown all of the secret-ish areas like bazaar between time and void planes was cool too, though I'm not sure how I feel about having to sit through void planes every time you wanna do a viable run (I'm sure better players don't have to but still). all the bosses were solid too, even though I feel like the throngs of enemies that overwhelm you at the teleporter site are even more dangerous. probably will still pick this up occasionally when friends want to play, but I think I've gotten a good taste of the game by this point and won't be touching it any more on my own.