Blightseed

If you ever searched for a slingshot roguelite combined with a narrative and language translating spin, you won't find any other game like this. I still try to figure out how the alien numbers work by purchasing random stuff and making notes on what they cost and how the numbers might work. (Edit: I figured it out (after 3h) and now I am really happy how smart I am xD Finding out what the upgrade and abilities mean is filling a rather big dictionary that might or might not work for you (I am looking at Chants of Sennar or Return of the Obrah Dinn). I always try to find the next big word, that might help to understand, how this alien technology is working. 4,5hrs into it and more to come for sure.

Very interesting action roguelike, with some cryptic elements reminding me of (obviously) Chants of Senna but also Cult Simulator. I have only played a little bit so far, but the core gameplay is very fun. All the weapons and upgrades have their description encrypted in the alien language, so you are basically trying out to decipher what each hieroglyph might mean based on how the gameplay is changing, while blasting all the enemies to pieces. Will continue to play and update this review!

THIS IS NOT A GAME EVERYONE SHOULD BUY The actual gameplay is very basic. You can beat the game in 1-2h depending on how quickly you figure out the game. The point of the game isn't beating it, it's trying to conduct experiments to learn the language. It's a very interesting idea. I'm not sure if it's a /good/ idea or just a neat art game for a few bucks. I enjoyed my time. If you like weird things you probably will too.

Very interesting gameplay, and certainly addicting. Controls are a little fiddly, it's annoying to have to press Q to deactivate the translation menu in order to exit out of a different menu. Would reccomend.

Excellent language decipherment game. At first I was worried the roguelike elements would get tiring quick, but it turns out that they get much easier upon deciphering the language. I had a lot more fun with it than with Chants of Sennaar, Sethian and Seven Days to End with You. To me, it's around the same level as Heaven's Vault and Epigraph, two games I love. As of right now there are some minor glitches and imperfections, but the dev is working hard to fix them. I recommend giving the game a shot and providing feedback on things that have yet to be improved.

Neat game. A bit tricky to progress in a few spots especially with random loot, but the developer has been giving it some smoothing passes.

In Blightseed, all the powerups in the roguelike action game are described in an alien language. You translate the language by observing what the powerups do. There's also another half of the game where you explore the alien network and try to communicate with them. The game will never tell you whether your translations are correct, outside of a few direct hints about more abstract concepts. And yet the language is surprisingly translatable. The action game really helps, and if you're stuck you can just play it until inspiration strikes. My main complaint is that sometimes the hard part of communicating with the aliens isn't translating words, but figuring out what words they want me to say in the first place.

Very cool genre mix and the developer is working hard to polish it and fix issues based on feedback!

'Asteroids' meets 'Chants of Sennaar', with the freedom for you to get everything wrong. Deserves much more attention

Overall I think it was an interesting and novel game! Using knowledge as language discovery as a metaprogression mechanic runs I think works really beautifully compared to something like earning currency you spend between runs. A lot of the game is janky, and controls are fiddly, but there are some brilliant ideas in the game.