Conquest Dark

I rarely give negative reviews but this game is just one unbalanced piece of crap of a game. Basically if you want to win, play a build that can block and reflect damage. Anything else is subpar. Maybe to someone who likes cheesing with a single broken build in games, this would be fun. But not for me. I'm not interested in abusing one single broken mechanic to beat everything, it is boring as hell.

Lamest possible RNG in an arpg. No way to change gear after your selection so the meta is to run around naked on the off-chance you find something of high rarity with perfect stats. If you don't your run is bricked and you start over. I don't get it.

This game has been in open development for years now. It had promise, but as it stands I treat it more as (EDIT: " ̶a̶ ̶s̶c̶a̶m̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶b̶a̶n̶d̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶") an unfinished production and not worth it if it were to stay as it is. The game also has a minimal development team. DO NOT BUY if and until it becomes fully released.

"Oh, you like those builds you spent so much time making and enjoying? Well, I'm gonna nerf things into the ground and destroy your fun." Terrible game design philosophy. Helldivers 2 mentality of destroying the power fantasy and pushing players away.

So, if you don't like horde survivors/bullet heavens, I'm not sure if this game will convince you otherwise. If you do like them, even a little, holy **** this game is incredible. It's not doing anything incredibly original or groundbreaking, but from a mechanical and feel perspective, it is truly special. For example, let's talk about the nudity. You can play as a naked character. I thought this was goofy af the first time I played. But the idea is that you are being dropped into this ritual with no chance of survival. If you succeed, you'll be slain by ghosts anyway. And instead of even picking a starting weapon, you have to kill your first enemy with your bare hands to get your first piece of gear; each item you get turns your character from naked and afraid to a badass barbarian warrior. Another "sounds meh but works great" system is the healthbar. You have 10 lives; your healthbar going to 0 heals you fully and you lose a life. However, whenever you lose a life, you start to bleed out, faster and faster. You may have beaten the boss, but now you're losing the war of attrition. But some effects such as berserker rage scale your damage with how many lives you've lost to an impressive degree. And as an added visual bonus, as you (and your enemies) lose lives, your bodies are reduced to half-undead husks. Movement is also done well this game. You have a dodge skill with generous iframes, which I always appreciate, but instead of being just a plain dodge, or your typical "dodge but you leave fire behind you," there are a wide variety of dodge skills that all have different cooldown times and fixed distances. Gauging the correct distance to leap from a mile away and crash down onto enemies as a frozen comet is satisfying as hell, and the blend of defensive and offensive choices makes even movement feel cool. Even something simple like the plain circular arenas has a level of style. Different lightings and enemy varieties add to the atmosphere; one cave level in particular comes to mind where only the middle of the level is well lit and a rain of arrows will soon descend on you from the darkness My last bit of praise for the game is the buildcrafting. Many games of this genre have buildcrafting and ways to micromanage and optimize your build. This is the first I've ever played to actually have memorable boss fights that forced me to restart and play different. The one that comes to mind is a hulking flaming skeleton with a fixed-distance heat field and a massive mace, forcing you to combat at exactly mid-distance to avoid being trapped. Runs are a satisfying length, the level curve is smooth, different weapons and skills feel genuinely different to use, and the setting and style feel trope-y in a good way. Play this game.

Where did my thigh go?

if vampire survivors was a spreadsheet with a dodge button

Yes

we need Chinese

very good und huge endgame if you like trying new builds