Recent reviews by Riley

List of pros:
-Very engaging and compelling story
-Great soundtrack
-Adorable cat antics. (I know you're tired of just seeing "CAT!" but it is a fair point)
-Rewards exploration
-Unique gameplay
-Great graphics

List of cons:
-Very short (6 to 7 hours max)
-There is no way to manually save
-Most areas are locked behind story progression, never to be accessed again
-No resolution to what I consider to be the most important plot.
-It lagged my $6k computer after each major story point was completed
-Cannot create cat

Now for the original review, which basically explains most of the above points in greater detail.

I'll start this review off by saying that this game will not be for everybody. I loved and hated this game, but in the end I do recommend it. I beat the game (not 100%, more on that in a bit) in 7 hours. I probably could have done it quicker, but I went AFK a couple times. If you don't think 7 hours is worth the money, don't buy it. However, this game has a fantastic story for it's short period of time. It kept me engaged the entire time. There is one glaring issue that irritated me when I realized. There is no way to go back to most of the areas, so if you don't collect everything the first time, you're SOL because you'll have to start an entirely new game to do so. This is due to their autosave (only) "feature" that prevents you from loading back into the previous areas. There is minimal combat in the game though there are enemies. You mostly have to dodge the enemies except a short period of time where you can fight back against the enemies after leaving the first location. (I call it first, though there is a starting location that is before this location) Another glaring issue is that there is no resolution to the main plot in the game. (Or what I considered to be the main plot)

From here on is spoilers!

The "main plot" that I mentioned before is finding your way back to your family that you lose in the prologue. However, there is no gameplay once you return to the surface and you never see your family again.

Serin Fate is fun! I absolutely love this game! I supported this game with $150 and I am proud of that decision! I know that this isn't very informative, but there's a free trial going until December 1st, so I highly recommend you check it out and see for yourself!

Edit:

The time to play a four hour free trial is ending tomorrow, and I figured I could write a better review for a game I care about. :) Veth deserves more effort. So, without further ado, here is my second draft:

Serin Fate is a game that stole my heart from the moment I read its description. On the surface, one might compare it to a mashup between Pokemon and Stardew Valley, where instead of a regular person, you are a witch. That, as I said before, is only the surface of the game. There is so much more to the game that make it its own game.

For starters, I'll give a list of facts that I deem as pros. (please keep in mind that if I put something here, that does not necessarily mean the aforementioned games do not have it or that everyone reading this will find these facts to be in the game's favor as these are my opinions.)

*Serin Fate has a great soundtrack.
*Serin Fate has a cute, pixel art style of visuals that I believe to be fantastic.
*Serin Fate has a unique system for opening menus paired with a familiar one. You use the middle mouse click to open a wheel of different menus and select one by moving your mouse in its direction and releasing middle mouse click. Or you could use hotkeys.
*Serin Fate has an engaging story that isn't time sensitive, so you can go through the game at the pace you feel comfortable with. Keep in mind that this game is in early access right now, so the amount of depth in the story at this point is commendable.
*Serin Fate is family friendly. The monsters you fight are cute. Though the game has its moments of difficulty, nothing overly violent happens and there is no gore.
*For those of you that wish to have a challenge, Serin Fate has a hard mode that you can activate with permanent deaths. I have not tried this, so I can not say how difficult it is.
*There are many fun puzzles and minigames in Serin Fate.
*Serin Fate has secrets hidden all over the map.
*Speaking of the map, it's quite large.
*The NPCs in Serin Fate have varying personalities.
*Serin Fate has plenty of activities to do whilst you are not pursuing the story.
*The way to cast spells is unique, and you must learn the spells in the game before being able to cast them.
*There is a plethora of different Chimera, which are the "pets" you use in battle and in everyday life.
*The character creation system is good, allowing for the choice of three races with varying customization options and perks that are lore friendly with the race you choose.
*Serin Fate has in-game historical data that helps add flavor to the game.
*Serin Fate has realistic menu navigating mechanics such as the fact that the game does not pause when in menus (other than the pause menu accessed with Esc) and you cannot attack and eat at the same time.
*Serin Fate has a unique mechanic of consuming an item to learn about it and add it to your notebook.
*The notebook has a list of known spells, so memorizing them is not required.
*There is a unique mechanic for regaining mana, the main way to do so being astral projection during sleep. While in this spirit form, you must collect falling asteroids to regain mana.
*There are several RNG mechanics, such as resource spawning, chimera spawning, chimera stats, loot drops, and gear stats, giving each playthrough it's own unique feel.

*There are more things that I find appealing about Serin Fate, but I believe the list is long enough to get my point across, aside from one last thing.
****Serin Fate is a work in progress game, with an active developer that listens to community feedback. There is a constant flow of updates and patches that help improve the game each time.

Now, I will list the things that I find negative about this game.

*You cannot yet rotate things before placing them on the ground.
*There are no local maps at this time. Only the world map.
*There is not an in-depth dev-log detailing the changes made each update.
*There are some major updates that require save wipes, causing all of your progress to be lost. If this fact is too negative for you, I recommend one of two courses of action.

1. Purchase the game now and then play when it's fully released. or
2. Wait to purchase the game until it's fully released.

*There may be more. However, at this time, I cannot think of anything else that stands out to me as negative.

I want to leave this review with a final statement about the game and the community.

Serin Fate has its own Discord server, where the developer is active and there are people who can answer most questions you may have. This game, amazing as it is, is being developed by one person. They could really use any support you can give them, so even if you don't think you'd be interested in the game, tell anybody who you think would be. If you do buy the game and enjoy it, please leave a review. It doesn't need to be long, it can be as short as you please. If you buy the game and find something you dislike that you think could be improved without drastically changing the game, join the Discord. Tell the developer your thoughts in the suggestions channel on the Discord. This game has a very active developer that cares what the community has to say, if they say it in the spirit of bettering the game rather than belittling it.

If this game sounds like you'd be interested in it, I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing it while it's on sale or trying the four hour free trial. These options will not be available much longer, so act now. It's worth it. :)

At this point, I've only played 2.5 hours, but I can say that I like the game. Although the movement within combat system gave me pause for a positive review, I believe it just takes a little time to get used to. At first I found it difficult to dodge and stay locked on to the target, speaking specifically from the first encounter with a creature from the island. Within the small space allowed for the battle, I found it difficult to dodge the beasts attacks while remaining locked on. Oftentimes I found myself launching my magic spells in random directions, as I had dodged into that direction. Also, the 'Q' attack for magic was a let down, as it says it "never misses." This is in fact not true, as I attempted to cast it in the opposite direction of the beast, and it did not change course before hitting a wall. This attempt was made due to the frustrating way movement works in combat. With the beast in question, the power move would instantly kill me, as in that small area, if I did not manage to dodge the first hit, it was nigh impossible to do ANYTHING before the second hit. Keeping these factors in mind, however, after about 5 very frustrating attempts, I defeated the beast. I had intended on leaving a negative review for the game because of the frustrating way movement works. I decided against this as, overall, I like the game. Combat just takes a bit to get used to. Especially in the small area that is allotted for the first encounter with a creature from the island.