This game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ PEAK. I'm the type of person that loves to grind a game to its fullest, and my motivation to play this game was at an all time low since I got so good at monsoon around 150-200 hrs of playtime. I thought there was nothing more to the game, but later on I came back to play it when I found out about eclipse during a rough time in my life. Grinding from e1-e8 on all the survivors really helped me get through that period of my life. I was so focused during runs that this game became my escape for 1-2 months of my life. It was one of the best feelings when I finally hit my goal of beating e8 on all the survivors and becoming so good and consistent that e8 felt like drizzle or rainstorm. Every time you die in this game, it's always your fault, and I think that's beautiful game design especially for a game as hard and in depth as this. This is my definitive favourite game of all time, and I don't think that'll change any time soon. 10/10

This is by far my favourite roguelike deckbuilder. The art style is stunning and the gameplay is so unique and beautifully balanced. The balance between dealing dmg to yourself and enemies, as well as healing yourself and enemies is handled very well. The game is developed in such a way that it rewards calculated high risk high reward gameplay because of how the power scales throughout a run and it feels so good when you win because of that. It's very in depth and a lot more reading/learning is required if you're going to win a run in this game compared to other roguelike deckbuilders. This game has so much depth and resource management that it reminded me of my time playing risk of rain 2 where every time you lose a run it's always your fault. You can learn from every death you have in this game and there's always a way to manage the rng aspects of a roguelike. The overall gameplay is very rewarding once you get the core mechanics of it down. For someone like me, it's truly a masterpiece.

I've yet to unlock the sixth character because I've only beat the game with two out of the five characters so far (Cellarius and Hevelius), but the way you progress and unlock a more difficult character each time is a perfect introduction to Astrea and its difficulty/complexity. Moonie is as close as you'll get to a normal roguelike deckbuilder experience, but she also slowly introduces the player to the different kinds of crazy and wacky mechanics that are in Astrea. The first time I played Moonie, I could tell how much effort the devs put into the game and each individual character because there was so much to learn about in the game's most basic character. I've played all the five characters that I have unlocked and I think Austra might be my favourite roguelike character across all the roguelikes I've ever played. As soon as I got into my first run with her and started reading about her mechanics, I quickly fell in love with the absolute chaos that is Austra. The only reason I haven't won with Austra yet is because I have too much fun gambling with her unique and crazy mechanics that I'm suffering because I'm literally having too much fun trying out all of her different mechanics. I can't wait to unlock the last character to see what they are like because if Sothis is a 5/6 difficulty character, I can't wait to see what the 6/6 is like.

Overall, the amount of work and effort the devs put into this game is insane. Everything about the game is beautifully developed with such care and love that it's really hard to not appreciate. The sound design is also amazing considering the theme they went for with Astrea. The amount of unique and overall mechanics in this game is like a dream for someone that loves to grind roguelikes like me. I can't wait to unlock the sixth character and beat anamoly 10 with all of the characters. I can see myself pouring hundreds of hours into this roguelike because it is just that good. For me personally, this is a straight 10/10. It's exactly my type of game and is easily my favourite roguelike deckbuilder of all time. Thank you so much to the devs for gracing me and everyone else with such an exquisitely crafted game. If there are any doubts about purchasing the game, the demo is a really good representation of the game. It's pretty much identical really and you can play as Moonie and my personal second favourite character, Cellarius. I can't wait to play this game to its fullest and complete everything there is to do in Astrea. I just wanted to put out this review early because I haven't played a game of such high quality in a long time and I really want Astrea to succeed and for the devs to be properly acknowledged for their work.

Gameplay - 10/10
Art Style - 10/10
Sound Design - 8/10