25.2 hours played
Written 1 year and 11 months ago
Game with lots of fun ideas that were either poorly or partially implemented.
Good:
- Gameplay is smooth, no stuttering or hitches on my 10 year old machine.
- For pixel graphics, its decent. This is not a graphical masterpiece, but it does possess a certain charm fitting for pixel graphics.
- The bosses have some interesting and unique mechanics, and the enemies are varied enough you don't feel like you are fighting a re-skinned version of a previous enemy.
Bad:
- Resource gathering is a pretty extreme slog. You rapidly grow into needing an every growing list of rarer resources while basic resources back up. While inventory is unlimited, its also directly tied to difficulty of enemies, including bosses.
- While the game nominally possesses automation, its poorly implemented. It becomes a chore of playing tetris trying to fit all the necessary machines and resource production buildings within a very narrow range. Add to this that the buildings do not indicate what particular resource they are producing or holding, and there is no way to inject resources into a production chain, and you have to remember how everything is configured when placed. There is also no way to remove a specific resource from a miner/harvester. So if it winds up backed up with something like seeds, which has no use in a production chain, you have to remove both useful and useless resources to restart the production cycle. All told, interesting idea, poorly implemented.
- Difficulty scaling being tied to resources both in inventory and buildings mean a nonstop chain of selling junk to try to prevent the enemies from outgrowing you and your defenses.
- Tooltips and descriptions range from somewhat useful, to nonexistent. Between skills lacking a translation, to lacking any type of description, localization was only partially finished. As I don't read Chinese, I cannot comment on whether its a problem in the original language, or only in localization to English.
- Mandatory online connection for a single player game is uncalled for. Developer supposedly releases codes for in-game benefits, requiring connection for redemption is reasonable, requiring connection to play at all is not.
- Mechanics and features of the game not explained very well. Requires some guesswork to determine what some buildings do, and much of the game will be testing buildings to see if they function as they seem to, or if they function at all. As the game lacks a wiki or much community engagement, if it isn't readily apparent, its unlikely it will ever be understood.
TL;DR
The games okay few a few hours of fun, but lacks the longevity of a well developed indy game. Buy on sale if you've got a few spare bucks. I was seriously considering a refund after only a couple of hours. Had i not already gone over the playtime, this would have become my first refund.