13.4 hours played
Written 14 days ago
Chill soundtrack, roguelite mining, fights to break up the monotony. It's a pretty brain off experience, but not in a bad way.
You scramble up or down the wall, dig out deposits, slowly unlock permanent progression, and the closest to a complaint I have is that the game *requires* that permanent progression to get anywhere. The final boss is an invincible instakill otherwise, and it won't let you cheat your way past that instakill with a resurrection item. So even on your good runs, you're still losing at the end.
However, this isn't a particularly strong complaint, and the rest of Wall World makes up for it. The art is lovely, the soundtrack is pleasant, and there's a lot of homely little details like your mech being buried under snow if you leave it parked in certain areas.
There's a variety of weapons and types of construction equipment alongside all the expected upgrades and modifications, and while the weapons really aren't that compelling (you never have a reason to upgrade more than one weapon, and most weapons that aren't the singularity generator are worse than the starting machine gun) the construction equipment is all great. Every piece leads to a different playstyle and workflow, and you can mix and match to create your own OSHA certified worksite.
I haven't gotten to the story's twist yet, so I'll update as I play further, but as is I feel like I can comfortably recommend it at full price. It's a steal at 50% off. And if the sequel is anything like the original, it'll be excellent.
Edit: The ending of the main game feels very deflated, especially given that you have to grind random drops across multiple playthroughs to unlock the way to kill the boss... and then that way is just an instakill cutscene? A lot of this game is good. The core gameplay is relaxing. I don't think the ending fully undercuts it, but it feels like it falls short of the game's potential. We'll see how things are in the dlc.
2nd Edit: The DLC is a solid length, and builds on the core gameplay, and has some cool new features. It's also subject to basically the same problems as the core game, including the boss instakilling you the first time you fight it. The weapon balance continues to be Everything < Singularity Gun, and bosses here are massive hitsponges. To make matters worse, there's really no hyperarmor on anything in this system, so if an enemy hits you with an acid slick or something else that damages you while you stand in it, you take a billion ticks of damage back to back. If you happen to be standing on the enemy mech's tile when it does its missile barrage, the scuffed hit detection causes the whole thing to instantly autohit you, killing you from full health and shield. If you really like the core gameplay, it's a good expansion, but it definitely feels just a little too grindy.
3rd Edit: Youtubed the ending. Apparently the upgrade you need to buy to not be autohit by the dlc boss isn't really for that, and you just need to run for the top. Which is, uh, not well communicated if that is the case. The ending is also fine, if a bit of a change in tone. Overall, I think this is a fine game + dlc, especially on sale, but you have to have some patience for it wasting your time occasionally. I see no reason to believe the sequel won't be great, and will happily check it out when it releases.