Recent reviews by ☥ Docdra ☥

Ooph, I'm torn on this - the game looks good, but as another reviewer put it, the devs made some baffling decisions. Fortunately, they already plan to make some major (?) changes in the Nov update.

So, let's start with the cons:

- Crafting doesn't pull from nearby storage - hate to see this missing in any modern game
- The "amenities" for the spirits appear to be just static placements
- In fact, most of the buildables appear to be worthless cosmetics
- The above wouldn't be so bad if there were a reason to build, well, anything beyond the necessities
- Navigating the boat isn't difficult, but it isn't intuitive either
- No sorting in inventory
- Overall progression feels off/unbalanced
- Feels like they just tacked on singleplayer
- Combat is pretty much boring, long cooldowns, little variety in enemies, mediocre attacks
- Exploring just feels tedious - you aren't exploring because you want to see what's over the horizon
- Animations, especially the harvesting ones, are seriously lacking

So, some pros:

+ Game looks good
+ Game seems stable thus far - not a single crash or game breaking bug
+ Devs have expressed a desire to fix issues based on player feedback

In summary, they've made a game that seems highly focused on co-op play, and just added the things they think co-op players would want - a lot of cosmetics, but no real depth to anything.

Literally, all of the exploration is based on goals supplied by the game - go get this, go get that. You don't really feel the need, or desire, to explore anything, as it doesn't feel compelling. Part of this is due to the layout of the world - small islands/landmasses, a full map, and a rather slow boat/skimmer. You just want to go get what you need, return to base, unlock the next thing, and move on. Yes, there are three "biomes" on the map, but you'll also be thoroughly bored with one biome before you unlock the next. Speaking of "unlocks" - the unlocks aren't well balanced, like in let's say Conan Exiles or Ark.

The game isn't horrible, the cumulative reviews support that...buuuutttt, the game has issues. I suspect the devs will fix the most glaring issues, but not too sure on how long that will take or if they'll do enough before the next big other game release to even make it impactful. I'll cross my fingers, but for now...

I don't intend to go into a long review of what is and isn't wrong with this game, I'll just state that many of the negative reviews (and some of the positive ones) have it right - the combat is horrendous. I don't think the combat is "floaty" - it is imprecise to the point that you don't really know where your attacks will land.

I also don't like the base inventory mechanics, but that could be because they were NEVER explained in the game - something the devs even admitted was an issue.

For now, I'm giving a not recommended, but assuming they fix the above issues, and some other ones, I fully expect this to become a good game in the future...

How many times have people complained about games where you have to repeatedly click to harvest, mine, etc.? Then on top of having to click one tree one.click.at.a.time to cut it down, there's a delay between your last click and when you can click again - making it even MORE tedious...if you can imagine that.

...and that's what the entire thing felt like in the short time I played - tedious.

Well, this is not the same as most match-3 games, that's for sure. Since the "ingredients" are stuck in place on the board, meaning they don't cascade down, there are no real combos or anything - as you can see in the screenshots, you might have an entire column of three or more ingredients, but it won't clear until you make a match of three or more SOMEWHERE on the board. It wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Then, there's the whole thing of re-arranging ingredients by sliding them around. I'm guessing the later levels would pretty much require that, but the game itself doesn't really give a decent explanation of what all could be done with this mechanic - you get a single splashpage explaining the game at the very start.

It didn't really appeal to me, but I'm sure some will like it.

Bit too simplistic for my tastes, but I could see this as an entry point into the genre for younger gamers. Sadly, the demo ends REALLY fast, so you don't really get much of a feel for the game.

In a way it feels like modded Minecraft, but it also feels like it has its own vibe. Obviously, this being a demo of an unreleased game, it is missing many QoL features. However, this will tick many boxes for some, while others will have less enthusiasm for it.

I find it interesting, as someone that used to play Minecraft extensively, and still occasionally does so - variance is missing in the environment, combat is wonky, and some things are locked for the demo, but I still had fun with it.

I do hope they consider allowing mods for the game, but we'll see where it goes from here...

Funny thing - I went back and looked at my review for Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, and noted a few things that seem to have made it into this game. I'm not going to list them all, but the one big complaint I had was that the computer (not calling it AI) opponent seems to know what's going to drop in next from off screen - it will hold off on making moves that look like they'll hurt you, in the hopes you make the move instead, or jump on what seems to be a nonsensical move...and then the combos start hitting you. I've also played the other versions of the game, but not on Steam, and again, that was always a fairly common complaint.

Well, no surprise that this is still a thing - I honestly didn't expect that to be changed anyway though. In fact, once you've leveled up and equipped certain gear, even YOU can chain together some rather impressive combos - even when that wasn't your goal.

So, does the game cheat - oh hell yeah! However, it evens out eventually.

Yes, the game is a bit ugly - like they upscaled the mobile version instead of doing a proper port.

The music is equally good and bad depending on how long you play - I used to mute it and play other music.

The difficulty indicators are practically useless - an "Easy" battle might take you upwards of 10 minutes, or a "Tough" battle could be over in 5 minutes.

They've chopped out some things, which makes no sense to me at all.

However, not one crash, and well, the game IS scratching that itch to play a match 3 puzzle game oddly enough. I hate it so much that I enjoy it.

Meh...

That's my initial reaction - meh. I initially played the base game on MS Game Pass, obviously never finished it, but got further than I am now, while playing the "Choice" edition. I can't say the game is horrible, or even bad, it's just meh. Meh. Meh. Meh.

There are echoes of Obsidian in here, but they're just that - echoes. It is almost as if they were trying to copy past games without being too obvious about it, then ended up with a mediocre game. It is so hard to pin down exactly why the vibe of the game feels so off, even though there are so many other good things going for it.

First, the writing is inconsistent - some good, some bad. Second, the progression (leveling) just feels phoned in, with no real effort to make it meaningful. Third, the combat is just perfunctory - click, click, run, click, click. Fourth, a bunch of item collecting, but no meaningful crafting - just attach this crap to that crap, or pay to do incremental upgrades. Fifth, you're only given the illusion of choice - a lot of games fail at this one, thinking that simply witholding key information is the same as good plot building.

The game LOOKS fine...for the most part.
The game PLAYS fine - I've had not one crash or bug...so far. I do remember issues from the base game on Game Pass when I first played it though.
On the default difficulty level, it seems way easier than the base game did - not actually a good thing.

If you're considering playing this, either do it on Game Pass if you already have an account, or buy it on Steam when it is on sale.

I want to play this and see the content I never got to, but almost 10 hours in and I'm not sure I'll make it. I want to give this a thumb's up, as I'm enjoying parts of it, but then I keep being reminded of why I never finished it to begin with.

Meh...just meh...

There's an idea here, but the execution is really lacking:

1) While picking plants, you'll see them pop-up briefly on screen before they quickly slide off to the side
2) Combat is ugh - killed a skeleton, and just like with picking plants, his bones shot off to the side after he fell
3) Rabbits get stuck on nothing and just turn in place
4) The UI is almost nonexistent
5) Regardless of what I set in the options, performance was stuck at 30 FPS

This feels like a game from someone doing this for the very first time, and while I do hope they stick with it, continue learning, and improve on the game - it is unfortunately a pass for me...

Demo softlocked three minutes in - could manipulate cards, but couldn't progress play in any way.