35.3 hours played
Written 11 days ago
Long Review, No Spoilers!!
(Critical stuff first)
I wanted to wait until I 100%ed the game before writing this review, but I don't think that's going to happen. All I have left are the 2 minigames to wrap up, and the hunting journal. I 100%ed every dungeon and evolved every creature. I don't think I have it in me to play another ~100+ floors of Deck Rock.
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The fishing minigame is a Vampire Survivors clone that's just not deep or very fun. But it's ultimately harmless. The last handful of stages are brutal though, almost unfair. The Slay the Spire clone they have is the real problem. The game is so unbelievably easy that it's utterly braindead. Each run takes SOOO LONG, and you're just sitting there bored to death, one shotting every encounter as you slowly crawl through a 5 floor dungeon. BORING. SO TERRIBLY BORING!!!! OH MY GOD!!! I don't think I can spend another 12 hours grinding out that game. I was really hoping to platinum this game but I just can't do that anymore. Mind you, I love the art style of this game and it's fun enough for a little while. Just not for 30 games of 3-5 floors each. I'd rather have the runs be only 1 floor, but actually difficult. This is SIDE content; it shouldn't take as long as the actual game. C'mon, man.
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Minor bugs/oddities:
- Sometimes in the later dungeons, camels are seen as enemies. This might be intended, but it feels more like a placeholder. Their attacks don't make sense for a camel. Not a big deal
- Sometimes when travelling with the camel, another camel will spawn in the world. Just weird, not some game breaking thing
- When in a location with a % marking by the name, fast travelling to another location will keep that text until it's replaced by a new location text. Not a big deal at all, just figured I'd mention it.
- Travel Naiads cost 2000gp to travel, but you can buy teleport stones for like 1400. Why? I bought a stack of stones near the beginning of the game and just used those.
- Why is meat in the game? I have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of chunks of meat. I feel like cooking was originally in the game and they left it out. If you want to complete the item dex, you have to go to each city buying some food from merchants. Not some big deal, just feels kind of unfinished in that regard
- Pets will always try attacking enemies on the other side of a wall. This isn't as big of a deal as it might sound, but it's always kind of annoying. You should always have revive/life circle on hand anyway so whatever
- Sometimes enemies will get clipped into the 3d parts of the environment, and it's hard to hit them with spells. They fix themselves after a second, it's just one of those tiny quirks that you get used to
- First person mode is a nice novelty, especially in towns, but when you have 8 dragons following you it's hard to see anything. I couldn't imagine playing the game like that, as easy as it is
- Is there a limit to buffing pets? You can buy items that boost their attack/def/hp, but it seems like you can just dump stacks into them. The game's already very easy, so it doesn't really matter. Just seems loosely-tuned.
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Good things:
- Most fun/addicting game I've played in years. It just aligns itself with my brand of 'tism so nicely
- Beautiful spritework/design all around
- Great writing!! A lot of RPGs like this try too hard to be funny, and it comes off as grating. This is not one of them. The humor in this game is actually great-- not overbearing, but genuinely charming and fun. A lot of the NPCs you deal with are just stupid, arrogant, gaslighting mouthbreathers, but that's funny! I'm very surprised by how well the writing worked for me.
- Great gameplay. I played a level 100 fire mage, and just rolling around exploding the screen in damage numbers feels great.
- Retroactive casting (ex: you can cast Fire Blast 4 while Fire Blast 5 is on cooldown, etc.) FUN!!!
- Intuitive and simple pet/evolution system. It's just nice and fun to collect these creatures; I LOVE the fact that it's just the enemies from the game. I've never seen a game do something like that before.
- Free respecs for ability points and attributes. I wouldn't have minded at all if this cost resources, but it's free! I only respecced a couple times over my 35 hour run, but the option being there is really nice. Lets you experiment with new spells and stuff without feeling risky
- Simple and effective crafting system. I really loved finishing the item journal by crafting/buying every item in the game. The auto crafting mechanic is really nice too.
- UI is great, once you get used to it. Good font choices/design all around.
- Dungeons and towns have a completion % attached to them, so completionist types like myself can scratch that itch and not miss any treasure
- After you beat the final boss, you can buy any amulet/ring/trinket in the game. This is GREAT, not just to max out your spell damage output in every slot, but to finish the item journal
- I'm looking forward to playing this again later down the line. I'll try a melee build next time. I'll also buy the other 9th Dawn games and try those. I'm nitpicking a lot of minor things, but this game really is fantastic. I can't understate how much this game works for me on almost every level. Seriously. I spend hours scrolling through Steam, trying tons of different games, and not liking any of them. If you're a restless ARPG fan looking for something to scratch that itch, THIS IS THE ONE!!!!
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TL;DR: Yes. Get the demo, at least. The only real problems I have are related to the 2 minigames, which are both completely optional. Fantastic game otherwise.
