All Over

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [i]All Over[/i] is a top-down retro-style pixelated RPG with am emphasis on story progression. The game is in Early Access and not yet completely. So only consider buying if you do not mind that or if you wish to support these indie developers. As of writing, took me a bit under 6 hours to see everything that is currently there while progressing through all of the available story components. I have not gone through the hardest of dungeons to the end or beaten every boss available, but I figure I could do those in the future as the game opens up more, and just playing through more of the story extensions could get me the levels/stats needed to go back and run through those. I personally don't like grinding stats just for one ultimate objective anyway. The game is heavily story-based, but your character has lost all of his memory from the start. So far in the available game content, there may be suggestions as to what his previous life had been, but nothing concrete, so I am left wondering about that. The final game will likely have dramatic content additions because of the few glimpses that you get at a simplified version of a complete world map once or twice. The writing is decent here, the developers clearly put a good amount of effort to make sure that the speech dialogue stand out. That is also what make this game stand out for me, There are some funny bits, but not too much reading, and you are left moving on with the quests, which progress the story further. These developers are clearly ambitious and will listen to player input. The fact that this game started off without an active action combat system and it was later added because of suggestions speaks to the lengths that they will go to in order to make it a player's game. This combat system is being altered and fine-tuned constantly with many updates coming through whenever a suggestion is made that they think would improve the game in any way. It has come a long way since being implemented. The other focus for this game is the puzzles built in. There are not too many and are not too tough, but they are fairly well thought-out and you do not really repeatedly do similar puzzles here. They are mostly for progression and the puzzles are all unique. A couple of them took me a bit of extra time to figure out, but that's mostly on me. This also means that if one puzzle frustrates you, likely you won't have to face another like it. (I am speaking for the currently available content, unsure about future additions.) Aside from that, expect to be performing quests, most of these are fetch quests, at times a quest looks like something else, but ends up being a series of fetch quests anyway. Mostly it's not running from location A to location B and then back, a lot of times they will involve items that you need to get by performing a specific task or maybe you have already done that and picked it up along the way. Mostly these quests are short, except for a couple that took quite a bit of effort. I am curious as to where this game's story will ultimately take me, so I will definitely look into it with future content updates. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Top-down pixelated RPG with a series of story-moving quests, some puzzles, and an active combat system that's being constantly reworked. [h1]Controls[/h1] I played with the controller, and while mostly it was fine, there were a couple of places where I resorted to using a mouse for ease. The developers have taken my thoughts to heart and have made a lot of changes. I am happy about that. [h1]Graphics[/h1] It's a pixelated top-down game, with sprites and simple animations resembling the typical RPGMaker game. [h1]Music & Sounds[/h1] Music is decent, not outstanding. Sound effects are simple. [h1]Pricing[/h1] Base price is $5.99 USD in its current version of early access. This is pretty reasonable, given that it has taken me about 6 hours to complete the available content. It's on the current Steam summer sale at 30% off, so not a bad time to support these developers, who clearly care about their game and their audience as well. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] I have recorded myself playing through all of the available content, going in blind. First video is here, music muted for avoiding copyright, and I offer my version of commentary, which is just gibberish to a lot of people: https://youtu.be/-ZJUccZSSIE If you watch my videos and see the combat sections, know that the developers have already made drastic changes and it looks a lot better already, just a few days later. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]All Over[/i] is a decent indie game that has ambitious developers who want to make a large-scale RPG and could use your contribution to aide them along the way. That being said, this game is incomplete and needs more work still. A lot of people want to wait for the finalized game and play it in that form, and that's perfectly understandable as well. The multiple updates I have seen since starting to play the game about a week ago, some based on my suggestions, is reassuring that the game will continue to be developed and fleshed out. I look forward to seeing where it ends up in the future. [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]