Recent reviews by Arctiq

I've only dabbled in a few ARPGs, mainly Diablo 3, Last Epoch, and Minecraft Dungeons so I'm not sure if my opinion will be helpful... But this game is not in a good state. I really like what they're going for here with the world and mechanics(heck, I even stopped to read the lore), but a lot of gripes start piling up when I hit Act 2 and get amplified when I reach the tail-end of Act 3.

When you start the ascendency trials in Act 2, you really understand how much the devs hate melee. You get this resource called "honor" which acts as a new health bar throughout the trial. Now, I'm playing as a monk, so I'm forced to keep throwing ranged spells at enemies or risk losing honor because every enemy is so fast and you're too slow. I was barely able finish the first ascendency trial, and while I enjoy the roguelike mechanics, I do not want to deal with that trial again just to get more ascendency points.

My second major gripe is with respawning. When you die, you'll respawn at the nearest checkpoint. Sounds good so far. But the problem is every time you die, all the enemies come back. They don't just come back either, they get randomized. It's very frustrating having to clear out waves and waves of enemies, only to die to enemies rushing and surrounding you, only to respawn and die because a rare mob spawned right next to the checkpoint. I understand if they wanted it so you're always getting exp... but just let me grind on my own time. I don't want to deal with the same packs of mobs again and again and again. It got so bad in Act 3 that I just wanted to rush through all the mobs and get to the next checkpoint or area. A simple fix would be to keep the current status of the map, but heal the mobs back to full so you can try again.

GGG also keeps nerfing builds people are spending a lot of time on, and the only way to respec builds is by using gold. When you level up, the respec build costs also increase. So when you invest 50+ hours into a specific build, it could all go to waste because GGG decided that build was too fun and needed to be nerfed. I just don't feel the need to keep playing when at any point GGG can decide the way I'm playing is wrong. At the very least during Early Access, respecs should be free.

Next issue is a bit subjective, but the difficulty is way too imbalanced. Some bosses are far too easy to kill, and some bosses are Jamanra. Jamanra not only has a ridiculously high health pool compared to the Act 1 final boss, but he has a total of around 13 moves that he uses across both phases. That is the very definition of over-designed. Basic mobs also feel way too spongey. They constantly like to rush and surround you. Without any good movement skills, most deaths feel insanely cheap and maps feel like a slog to get through.

At this point I think I'm done with the game. I'll see in about 2-3 months if things change, and I'll update the review if they do.

If there was one game I had to choose to play for the rest of my life, it would be Terraria.