ALARIC

the game is good. the only other review is from a dude that doesnt like metroidvanias. thats fine but why buy one to leave a bad review. just play dusk. that said its not perfect but it has a cool atmosphere, fun combat, cool exploration, metroidvania progression, runs perfect on steamdeck. 7.5 out of 10

I think the only way I could see myself giving this game a positive rec was if it were free. It’s kinda clunky, and at no point did I really have fun, despite it being quite playable. If anyone says this is better than mid (mid would be quite the compliment) they are lying or drinking some kind of koolaid. You want more retro FPS games? There’s great obscure stuff like Nightmare Reaper, A.W.O.L., Zortch, Meatgrinder, Chop Goblins, Extraneum, Herald of Havoc etc. The game isn’t remotely close to those. You want great obscure first-person metroidvania and/or adventure games? Then play great stuff like Supraland (and Six Inches Under), Frogmonster, Northern Journey, Prey (2017) and AntiChamber. Even the games I don’t like as much (but did more or less enjoy) like All would cry beware, Powerslave Exhumed, Vomitoreum, Lycanthorn 2 and Paradox Vector compare favourably to Alaric, they feel far less janky and raw. If you instead look at this game through a lens of sympathy (solo devs first game) then there is plenty of things you could compliment and you could even say they did a decent job, but at the end of the day, Steam Recs ought to be primarily for the consumer, rather than 100 false positive reviews born out of sympathy for someone's efforts to come up through the field. I’ll list a few gripes. On their own they are minor, but together they only contribute to the clunky mediocrity of the experience: -The interact key (E) should also work to close dialogue boxes. It’s weird going up to interact by pressing E and then having to remember to press the mouse to close it. -Enemies and chests respawn when you exit rooms. Whenever there’s a potion in a chest by a door, you can abuse it and max out your potions because every time you exit the room it resets the chest. It’s mildly tedious going into the loading screens and back and forth to remax like this. Ideally the game should either: max potions out when you collect one OR don’t respawn them. -Music loops are godawful and repetitive. The music does do a cool trick where it ramps up and gets metal, but most of the time you’re not listening to that. -Combat is basic and boring. Occasionally there will be a boss where you strafe in a circle and jump which is a little more like it, but yeah.. There is no kind of autosave after killing a boss. I died after clearing a boss and a bunch of rooms and decided to stop there seeing as none of that was saved. I could have spent 10 minutes redoing that section very easily, but I am bored out of my mind playing this one.

Бумершутеры я люблю, но делать игру "под старину" - это не значит, что можно делать спустя рукава. Alaric просто скучная. Здесь не за что зацепиться. Геймплей? Он надоедает практически сразу. Проблема не в его простоте: беги вперёд и кликай мышкой, - а в том, что нечем эту простоту компенсировать. Зрелищности нет, экшна нет. Дизайн? Рядовые зомби (это ведь зомби?) напомнили таковых из Red lake (и тут даже есть такие же зомби, но моделька у них в два раза больше - тоже как в RL), грибочки как будто сбежали из какой-то рофлоигры (а у нас тут сюжет про месть владыке демонов). Оружие сделано скучно (пистолеты выглядят как леговские пистолетики), какого-то импакта от него нет (а дробовик в итоге слабее пистолета). И оно не перезаряжается. То есть у вас есть двустволка, но сочной анимации не завезли: выстреливайте все 40 патронов, как из пулемёта. Локации - во дворах замка похоже на Worms 3d какой-нибудь. А в замках пустота и разве что разбиваемые канделябры (с них лутаются патроны и монетки). Когда игра вдруг ставит где-то ящики и/или бочки, появляется мысль, что это для секретика поставлено, чтобы куда-то запрыгнуть. Ну потому что обычно не балует даже этим. Но нет. Просто бочки и просто ящики. Короче, самое стильное, что есть в игре - вступительная заставка. Зачем было делать её такой резко контрастной по стилистике? Враги? Помимо того, что они однообразны и выглядят нелепо, двигаются деревяно, они не создают интересных ситуаций. Максимум: в тебя на небольшой арене кинут кучу болванчиков. Всё их различие: одни бьют, другие швыряют проджектайлы. Единственный босс (кроме вступительного), которого я видел: это просто та же моделька, но большего размера. Огромный гриб. Почему грибы служат владыке демонов? Кто решил, что это круто выглядит? Механики? Зачем в игре есть хил отдельным расходником? Это не делает сложнее или интереснее. Это как будто лишнее. ГГ мог бы постепенно восстанавливаться, выбивать хилки из врагов/предметов и ничего бы не поменялось. Почему нет системы автосейвов? Создание отдельных комнат для сохранения - оно зачем? Оно может только раздражать, если забудешь "посидеть на троне" и придётся потом перезагружаться (погибните вы вряд ли, а вот поймать баг - легчайше; я собрал два: застрял в текстурах). Зачем в такой игре торговец и система улучшений? Представьте если бы в тетрисе можно было покупать улучшения. Например, чтобы квадрат становился ещё квадратнее. Зачем покупать хилки, если сундуки с хилками обновляются после прохождения через дверь и можно "нафармить"? Зачем в игре система диалогов и выбор (!) реплик? Всё перечисленное как будто бы лишнее для продукта с таким унылым геймплеем. Музыка? Тема первой миссии начинает раздражать уже на середине пути, потому что успевает пойти уже на десятый круг к этому моменту. А металлические запилы - это мы уже в Doom слышали. Сюжет? Хз, зачем он тут. Он не цепляет. Детали подаются в диалогах. Понадобится подзорная труба или лупа, чтобы разбирать эти буковки. Пример удачного бумершутера - тот же Cultic, проект кратно более интересный, стильный и не дающий заскучать. Буквально все аспекты, что плохо сделаны в Alaric, нормально реализованы в Cultic. Да одна только анимация перезарядки, где как будто не хватает фпсов, уделывает Alaric.

Alaric definetly is an amazing and unique game, it does have some roughness around the edges, but boy do I love the CUBE. Alaric combines BOOMERSHOOTER action with METROIDVAINIA mechanics and vibes. Its like smoking cigaretts on a nice summer evening with a beer in your left hand. YUMMERS. It’s like Doom, but if Doom-Guy wore a cape and had unresolved family trauma 🤘 The Soundtrack Slaps So Hard It Should Be Illegal (like rlly for a metal fan this is just it, at least it is for me) its the kind of game that feels like someone blended Castlevania, Doom, Devil May Cry, and a heavy‑metal album, threw some sicc art direction into the mix, nodded and shiped it. One of the best aspects of ALARIC is definetly the music with the atmosphere and artstyle. Love the retro look, especially epic once you walk up to the castle, its storming, rain pouring I just love how epic everything looks. And the combat is as you would expect it to be from a boomer shooter with a few tweaks which rlly bring everything together. For the weapons I have seen ( without spoilers): Whips Guns Kicks Probably emotional damage If you enjoy boomershooters you are definetly at the right adress, get it for yourself, with that pricetag you can only win imo.

I can see this being a good game in the future but this should have been an early access game there is some minor quirks that seem fine at first but get grating it needs alot more polish but if it gets that polish i can see it being a great game The music when entering a new area should probably have a phase out then phase back in and unless it's a different song it should try and stay at the same place it was The enemies respawning when you leave a room and go back in they should only respawn either on a timer or when you make it to a throne room to save the game And then I would like to see a better level up menu instead of just going to your inventory maybe something like dark souls where you have to make it to the throne room to level up but if you want it to stay as it is I fully understand that I won't put all of my gripes here because not all of them are due to polish and it's just me either being bad or just not liking something small but it's good so far and hope it gets the love it deserves

Was looking forward to this and it has not disappointed. My 2 favorite genres coming together in damn good harmony and a much welcome dessert to Mina the Hollower. My cup runneth over

Alaric is a hard game at times (especially when you have a shaky dominant hand). I did, however, enjoy it! The idea of a boomer shooter Metroidvania mix got me excited about a year ago and i love it! 10/10 Sidenote 1: Controller aiming is sensitive as heck BUT i went into the steam input settings and was able to lower it to a good speed. Sidenote 2: I found it easier than with mouse and keyboard with the state of my dominant hand

muito bom, gostei bastante das mecânicas e o combate rápido

It's a cool and unique game, so far it's very fun :) Can recommend.

Alaric has a great atmosphere and some really beautiful locations in a low poly retro appearance. Developed in the unreal engine, the quaint style brings back memories of playing a late 90's PlayStation or N64 game. You start with a whip and pretty quickly get a pair of guns and gain the ability to kick which will restore a bit of ammo. You can alternate your guns, kick and whip to do some basic combos, which are useful due the large amount of enemies that can attack at once. There is no map and no fast travel, but most of the game is linear and I almost never got lost except in a few rare occasions, when in doubt, look up. Most of the exploration involves a bit of platforming which is actually very solid and feels great. getting to the next main area usually involves acquiring new abilities and finding keys to open doors. The controls work very well but they are intended for keyboard and mouse. headshots are a thing and most enemy hitboxes can be small. There are no I-frames when hit, so you can get chain killed if you're unlucky this mostly happens with boss AOE Waves on the ground. I still don't like the ranged enemies, some of which have high hp, and a lot of enemy encounters are won by letting them chase you around a room, or just circle strafe, baiting them. You can't respec your stats when leveling, so prioritize crit chance and defense. There are places where you can walk into to a room and get infinite keys and bags of gold, which is good for farming, but there are entire areas that can be skipped completely by going back and stocking up on keys. I don't know if this was intended. Overall I am very impressed by Alaric. For a project made by a solo developer, it's a robust game that provides fun combat and exploration while keeping a great retro feel. Video Review Here: https://youtu.be/wPiWlZcUj68?si=3tLFd21KDksvbUtJ