Recent reviews by mittens

Gameplay loop is wildly addictive.

Love it. 10/10.

Yup, it's a recommend. Solid shooter.

This game is absolutely incredible.

This game is super fun, period. Yeah, it's a warframe/destiny clone, but both those games are killer and this game just kinda merges teh best of both worlds. Big recommend from me.

Also, the colossi battles are straight up mayhem.

It's early access, I get it. But some of the core mechanics are so flawed that I just cannot recommend a buy at this time. I wanted to like this game so badly, I have been looking forward to it for months. Argh.

Gameplay loop is good, the pressure of the timer introduces a fair bit of urgency/stress and really propels the game forward. Voice acting is passable, which is an achievement in these times all by itself. Game doesn't stink of DEI yet either, but I only played it for an hour. On it's face just seems like a straightforward survival game with a cool loop. I thought it was visually impressive as well.

The bad part of this is the timer runs while you are reading docs that explain the story, and running while in the settings menu, and these particular details aren't urgency so much as terrible design, in my opinion. At least for a singleplayer game. That just isn't fun. Gotta run to the bathroom or grab a drink? Better exit the game first. For a game whose story is partially told through documents you find laying around, you better think twice before actually reading one unless you are close to an absorber. Half your time with be spent figuring out the interface at this time anyway, at least early on in the game.

Devs, for God's sake, fix the buggy absorber. For such a critical component of the early game phase, it is just baffling to me that a timer would be running during unskippable dialogue that lasts way too long for the timer, while standing in front of an absorber and being unable to use it because of the unskippable dialogue. All the while timer is ticking down. This alone made me refund the game. Sure, you can still use serum during moments like these, but it's just a bad mechanic to force me to do so while standing 6 inches away from an absorber.

The gate puzzles need a tutorial. It seems obvious to get the green line from one side of the screen to the other, using flowgates that you can rotate, but both times I solved the puzzles I was confused at how completing the flow one way would fail, but completing a flow the other way would succeed, when both times the flow reached one side of the screen to the other. Not to mention the W/S (presumably Y axis) component of the puzzles, which made no sense at all, and as far as I can tell had no impact on the puzzles whatsoever. You really should throw together a tutorial for the puzzles. And pause the timer while reading it.

Most importantly, the combat is flat out *terrible*. I felt completely disconnected from my targets. There was no impact to any of it, I mean at least sync the blows of the machete with the sound of hitting a target. It just felt so soft and underwhelming. IMO there needs to be more impact, better sounds, and at least some feeling of connection with the target I am attacking. The combat in this game is almost as bad as the 'combat' in Icarus, and that alone is so impressively bad it deserves some kind of award itself.

Lastly, the encumbrance mechanic was when I tapped out for good. The interface was bad enough as it is, but I could not figure out how to divest myself of extra weight in the time I had left on the timer. Largely due to how unintuitive the interface is. Cutting my move speed down 95% so I couldn't get to a chest to unload what had made me encumbered to begin with, coupled with no idea how to do it from inventory, and no meaningful tutorial explaining the mechanic is just chef's kiss level of annoyance.

As a side note, I am convinced whoever designed the interface hates both me and the entire human species. Maybe Ultron designed it to confuse and demoralize us. Maybe the design plan was found in Hitler's bunker and was specifically created to baffle people into a zombielike state so as to easily conquer them while they stared slackjawed at the monitors in front of them. Or maybe it just needs a seriously fresh perspective applied to it.

To be clear, I really liked the framework of this game. There are just so many poor design issues, my God. But for the reasons above, no way I can recommend the game in this state. I will seriously consider giving this another shot later, principally when the combat is more refined. Good luck, devs.

Updating to recommend.

They fixed the standoff bug so I am happy. Disabling the PS helper .exe fixed all my other issues with the game,. Personally I think this game plays way better with MKB than a controller.

Absolute recommend. I don't generally care for isometric games, but this one doesn't bother me at all. The combat in this game is fantastic, and the sound design is excellent. I do get FPS drops pretty consistently in this game, depending how much is going on - But most of this seems to be in town and right before loading cutscenes. Hasn't really impacted my combat experience.

Starts out quite difficult, at lower levels - And by about lvl 10 you should be good to go and not feel overmatched nearly as often.

Note: "The early access launch includes a substantial section of Isola Sacra, with players being able to visit the following zones: The Shallows, Orban Glades, Sacrament, Nameless Pass, and The Black Trench. The game's first story update will unlock three more areas: Marin Woods, Lowland Meadows, and Hunter's Vale." Thanks to @Gyson for this information in a steam post, I wasn't sure if I had completed all the EA content or not until I read this. Turns out I did.

I'd say you should get around 20 hours of you take your time, at least for now.

This game is a ton of fun. And it is absolutely beautiful, so far. Like many other reviewers have said, there is a fair bit of jank, I feel mostly in the characters strafing + camera movement, but that is my only gripe. B-Movie dialogue, sure, but it just feels right for the game. Definitely old-school vibes on this one.

No ragrets, pick this title up! We need more games that feel like this one does.

Already incredibly impressed with Puck's narration - This is the only game I recall playing where I didn't read the dialogue and then move forward. Instead I am actually letting it play out. It's so impressive, the tone, writing, and cadence.

Visually gorgeous. I can only hope the entire game is this impressive.

Runs a solid 120FPS with a 3080 10GB, 64GB RAM @4000, and a 5950X CPU.