Aether

When purchasing an indie game, anticipation and anxiety always coexist. I may not always be satisfied with the game, but I think this game is worth purchasing. The way it works is unique and special.

In my incredibly-too-early first look at it, Aether definitely has some promise! The gameplay was pretty smooth (nice hit detection, responsive controls, etc) but the menus are a bit clunky, both visually (i.e. misaligned options) and their navigation (via controller). That said though, that is something that can definitely be refined throughout Early Access and I look forward to checking this out further as the updates, and eventual 1.0, roll out!

This is a nice foundation for what will hopefully soon be an excellent indie game, with a great core gameplay mechanic set around building up elements to form your build. The important parts of the gameplay, the skill selection and upgrading over the course of a run are done well. It gets to be very fast paced and requiring sharp reflexes after just a short time into a run, leading to that great feeling of fighting on a knife's edge but making it out without getting hit. The parts that are not quite done yet are the fuller gameplay loop, more maps or end bosses, the UI is fairly awkward and clunky, and i would like a invulnerability on the dash and better telegraphs for enemy abilities. So perhaps by the end of an early access time period it will be quite polished in those areas. There aren't too many games that specifically do the elemental abilities and their possible combinations as a core feature but i like the ones that do, this takes inspiration from Wizard of Legend and it does it well. The main difference being that of larger open maps versus narrow corridors in WoL, changes how you approach enemies. So at the moment perhaps not for everyone unless you're looking for that gameplay experience, with some polishing updates i feel many people will enjoy this title.

Came here from reddit and was not disappointed thus far, the game is an extremely fun bullet hell roguelike and I love it excited to see what's to come with future updates

Initially thought to be a typical Bullet Hell game, it turns out to lean more towards action, akin to Risk of Rain with time constraints. The character possesses 8 elements with 8 distinct playstyles, each with its pros and cons, and can upgrade into 4 additional forms, providing depth to gameplay and various unique skill-build strategies. Currently in Early Access at a very reasonable price, and I highly appreciate this aspect. Gameplay: https://youtu.be/RSUOHakmeKo

Taking inspiration from great titles such as Wizard of Legend, and Risk of Rain, this top-down action roguelike really took me by surprise. I played it as a demo on a whim because it looked unique, and fell in love with it immediately. It is created by a solodev but already has obvious signs of becoming an amazing hard-but-fair indie roguelike. You got to check this one out, especially with the low price point.

It's not a bullet heaven, not a roguelike exactly, it's somewhere in the spectrum of heaven-like-ARPG-ish something. I appreciate the choice you have in your builds, and the game is clearly very indie but the dev is active to discussions and the game has strictly improved every patch so far which is a nice thing. Partially giving it a review to help get more eyes on it, but I absolutely think it's worth the fiver to muck around with elemental skills for a while at the very least, but it's fun enough for me to keep coming back to periodically too.

such an epic game

Me: Can we have Wizard of Legend? Mom: No, we have Wizard of Legend at home Wizard of Legend at home: Being a bit more serious: The game is VERY barebones. It lacks spell, item and enemy variety. The maps are like Russia, so much land filled with nothing. Spawning in a new map is a dice roll. (even with that short immortality you are given) as soon as you spawn you are surrounded by enemies from every direction. The item balancing is awful, a lot of the time you just chose the item that gives the most stats rather then thinking of what would be good for you. (why would you choose an item that gives you an increase to one stat when you can get one that gives an larger increase and to 2 stats at once) I understand the game is still on early access so I will revisit the game at a later gate to re-review it. The game has some potential however for now It sounds, looks and plays like an asset flip.

Honestly, this game needs a lot of hitbox work, and the dodge should make you invincible or at least ethereal. Obstacles are obnoxious and hard to move around and the enemies can pin you in with no way out whatsoever. I really like this game a lot and I think everyone should give it a try.