Recent reviews by KendoKaeru

One of the most unique roguelikes that I've ever played, even in it's demo phase.

The "Choose your Location" system is really cool, and I think matches the game in a very engaging way, where the player is in control of where they go looking for rewards, but has to account for potential risks and possible downsides. It's also incredibly ironic, since when it comes to Locations, the game is incredibly informative as to what can happen, but story-wise, you're mostly dropped into it with barely any knowledge.

The battle system is a surprisingly engaging loop where it becomes less a battle for survival and moreso item management, where the drop of a bullet is enough to decide whether you leave the fight with more or less than what you entered with, which fixes an issue with a lot of roguelikes where a lot of fights feel inconsequential.

The various characters are incredibly fun to play as, offering unique experiences and glimpses into more lore, as well as rewarding more strategic gameplay, but not being annoying to unlock. Alongside this, the main starting character is balanced incredibly well, so that you still have an incentive to play as them if you want a more balanced experience.

The Unexpected Events being a Percentage without gaining or losing anything could be argued to be more annoying than interesting, but the 1% means that it's still rather unlikely, and can catch the player off-guard. My literal only complaint about them is that once you've seen them it does feel like a waste of a Percentage, but that's not even really a criticism and moreso a small gripe.

The Items are handled quite well, being spread across the various rooms, and each being either "found" in that room, or having to fight someone for them, which isn't as much of a downside due to Blood Fragments being rewarded upon defeating them. The shops are very useful as well, being put in locations that CAN be a lot more risky to go to, with the Fish selling these items and the Frogs selling passive abilities and equipment, but at a higher price.

NO-SKIN's death mechanic follows the logic of a lot of Roguelikes, where upon death, you can spend a specific currency for permanent upgrades, most of which will help you get closer to completing your goal. The death currency isn't rare, but isn't given that often, meaning that as long as you make an effort and don't start instantly firing bullets and refuse to pray, you'll steadily collect the upgrades.

My ONLY complaint about the Lunar system is that I wish that some of the upgrades were able to be toggled on and off, most notably the bonus encounters, as they seem to run away rather fast and are near impossible to kill without a way of dealing more damage than your base numbers, which can be rather annoying. Even then, the bonus encounters are still more of a help than hindrance, as they can act as a temporary breather, or a replacement for an outcome you weren't hoping for. There seem to be plans to make the bonus encounters more rewarding, with specific new items, so my complaints about the bonus encounters are subject to change. A toggle WOULD be nice either way though for a more unique experience.

One thing I haven't touched on yet is the artstyle and music. The game's atmosphere is incredibly tense, where we aren't entirely sure WHY the events of the game are happening, although context clues as you progress through a run and dialogue with characters may be enough to make some connections in your head.

The artstyle is apparently going through a current shift before the next release, where the characters will gain new appearances and be more detailed. Both the previous and new artstyles of the game's characters are incredibly unique, and both work well at giving them all a sense of vague intrigue and lethargy found within the character dialogue. I'm definitely welcoming the game's new artstyle but I can understand why some others may not feel the same as the lack of faces gave a more mysterious appearance to them, but it's a lot more limiting in terms of character design. The characters do feel very real, despite the game possibly being played through an unreliable narrator, as the shift in tone is quite heavy, and some of the post-run dialogue does seem to mess with the game in some way.

The music helps match the game's uncanny enemy appearances and demeanours, helping in tacking on pressure despite there being no real time limit. It has a sort of vibe of searching through something forbidden, or trying to figure out something you've pushed to the back of your head, which makes me wonder if something like this will be explored in the full release.

Overall, NO-SKIN is a very unique and intriguing Roguelike, that lures you in with it's style, and watches you as you become curious about it's story and what it's hiding from you, holding knowledge far out of your grasp, but rewarding you for experimentation in an attempt to try and lead you to an ending that doesn't yet exist.

I'm honestly super excited to see where the game goes from here, and can only hope that it gets the attention it deserves. I can't wait to find out how the story unfolds, and what it'll do next!

Damn, I was having so much fun, I forgot that corporate greed exists!
Sorry to Arrowhead and those who are now unable to play the game they enjoyed.

DISTURBING THE PEAAAAAAAAAACE-
LOOK INTO MY EEEEEEEEEEEEYES-
NOW TELL ME THE THINGS YOU'RE LAUGHING ABOUT BEHIND MY BAAAACK!
THE TENACITYYYYYY!
OUR HOPE IS HARD TO BREAK DOWN!
IT'S TOO LATE FOR APOLOGIES, IT'S GOING DOOOOOOOOOWN...
Now...

Amazing story, soundtrack and gameplay. Makes you depressed, and happy. Play it.

The Pizza.

This game is worth a lot more than it costs and is absolutely a purchase. The gameplay and mechanics as well as enemy and boss patterns keep you on your toes. Once you grasp the mechanics, you will fall in love with this game and never want to put it down.