Archvale

It was a fun and smooth experience. Handcrafted rooms were significantly better than random ones as the latter often just spam you with whatever biome has. There’s some variety in gear to create a build suited for your preferred playstyle but I’m not sure there’s a significant difference between weapons. You can freely swap things so there’s no commitment to a class or anything. You can be a “warrior” for the first half of the game and “mage” for the second half. Game has nice difficulty curve but you cannot get overpowered with some "broken build" so it’s more catching up with the game than getting ahead. There are optional challenges that will test your dexterity and they are really fun. Also each final dungeon has some dash related sections that were really creative and refreshed the gameplay a bit. Not a fan of the graphics and music/sound but it’s rather personal preference than complaint. Narrative is minimal but there’s not a bad idea for the main chain of events. I think I would prefer it to be a bit shorter. That being said, I don't regret my time with it and I would gladly try the second part if it ever gets made. Good to know (no spoilers): - 10-11h to 100% the game, there are no missables. - I recommend playing on normal. The game isn’t always fair and it becomes more challenging fast. Hard just double the damage and health of the enemies. No new patterns. You cannot change difficulty mid-game. - Screen shake can be turned off