Bearzerk

I was lucky to beta test Bearzerk and watch it evolve. Very impressive, especially for one solo developer. He responded quickly to feedback and improved the game fast. I expect him to keep improving it, although it is already at a nice stage. I can't help but compare it to Vampire survivors, but with challenging and faster pace. If you like chaotic survivorlikes that keep you moving, this one is worth your time.

The first update made the hit-boxes so much better. The game has a great art-style and an addicting gameplay loop. I highly recommend if you enjoy games like Brotato.

Honestly in the current state it's pretty hard. regardless of what weapons and items i pick i can't get past wave 6. the movement feels weird moving up and down to side to side. players hit box is pretty big and you take damage really easy. needs work hopefully this gets looked at, fixed, changed or balanced! great game concept but cant recommend in current state. Edit: movement and hit boxes feel much better! Can say now that the game feels much better to play! Thanks and props to the dev for communication and working quickly to look at and adjust things! I would recommend it at this point and you can't beat the price either

The game does not save any progress whatsoever. Please save your money and play the free "demo" version which has more options avaible already and doesn't save like this one. If the Steam version saved progress I would recomend it this game.

Got to play this a ton during early access and give a bunch of back and forth feedback with the developer. Excellent lightweight game. Has some steep difficulty jumps in some of the middle levels but the developer addressed them and updated the game quickly. Great fun and doesn't require a ton of time to commit to a round or two!

Divertente ma corto.

[h1]===================================[/h1] Bearzerk - Key obtained for Playtesting purposes. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]TL;DR:[/b] Fun and fast, but currently moreso a puzzle of pick the best items than a puzzle of synergizing through the RNG. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Pros:[/b] + Accessible, fun, simple. + Cute and cuddly! + There are pets you can invest your gold into purchasing :D + Dev is active and very receptive to feedback. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Cons[/b] - The wincon is essentially knowing which items have the highest payoff. - Consequentially, build diversity and ability to force builds is low. - Weapon/item pool expansion is planned, but also needed. - There are some bugs here and there. Protip: Don't get the Bouncing Betty yet. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Neutral[/b] ± I have a lot of little nitpicks I COULD make, but honestly...this is a great game to just turn your brain off to, it just needs more depth added over time. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Introduction:[/b] So Bearzerk most closely resembles Brotato, but maybe its simpler younger brother. It is cute, colorful, and approachable. It is a survivorslike with a build-a-bear gimmick and it knows what it wants to be and it delivers on that. As previously stated, it needs more weapon, item, and build diversity to set it apart, as it currently is primarily won by picking essential top-tier items. There is a reasonable amount of fun to be had in trying to break the game WITHOUT doing so, but when you do not "spin2win" you will be punished severely by limiting yourself to inferior choices or trying to force builds. The question becomes: Do you want to try something specific, or do you want to win? I do hope that in the future, the question will be "what can I add to make this work?" as that is my favorite aspect of roguelikes/lites. The dev is VERY open to feedback, and very friendly. I'm sure that even if this game never sees 100% of its potential, Dadbod is going places, because Dadbod cares. For the price, the game is much more worth your time than the latest popcorn flick, and it would be a great way to get kids into the genre! Veterans seeking complexity and polish and something to sink their teeth into for 250 hours can safely stay away, for now. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Gameplay:[/b] Well, you pick a bear, you build the bear with weapons and items from the shop using money earned from defeated enemies at the end of the round. There is a sword and a health pickup that respectively give 10%dmg and 15 max health (and heals you) that can drop from enemies. There is also a magnet/blackhole pickup that can drop. Pick em up if you see 'em, and otherwise enjoy experimenting with your favorite bears/weapons! There's a degree of metaprogression in the form of "stitches" that you are rewarded at the end of a run (20 rounds) that can help you in future runs, but they can get pretty prohibitively expensive pretty fast. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Graphics:[/b] WYSIWYG. One thing that annoys me is when the bosses spawn, there's a sort of delay before the speedline effect starts. Could use a tuneup to be more seamless. Currently, if you get to the later bosses, there's a very high chance they will be fairly insignificant, however. It's a minor gripe. The enemy movement is satisfying. Damage taken could be more noticable. I suppose gems could stand out more? It would probably also help if enemies had a more differentiated color palette from your bears. Either way. Cartoony. Bright. Colorful. Again, WYSIWYG. [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Audio:[/b] The game is admittedly pretty lacking, in this department. I have expressed to the developer that I feel that the enemies should have a more punchy deathsound, as satisfying popcorn is half the name of the game with ARPGs and horde/survivorlikes/bullet heavens. The developer had tried this, and expressed to me that it was...a bit annoying and grating after a while. Maybe there's a middle ground here, or a toggle would be welcome. Still, good sound design is not to be underestimated. The music is good, and is very easily toggled or paused with a controller. Hope you like heavy rock/metal vibes! [h1]===================================[/h1] [b]Conclusion:[/b] Just grab it. Put 2 hours into it, put 10 hours into it, let your kids play it for 3 days, whatever floats your boat. You may not forever love yourself for this choice, but you will feel more lasting joy than a 5$ burrito from Taco Bell, and definitely more than a $5 soda from the movie theaters. All else fails, I promise you updates are on the horizon and you'll get your moneys worth. Again, it bears (hah) stressing that roguelike veterans may come away disappointed here, just go into this looking for some silly fun or a game to turn your brain off to after a long day at work and you'll be fine! [h1]===================================[/h1] This endorsement approved by The Reviewers' Union, providing better standards for reviews and reviewers. [h1]===================================[/h1]