DIVE or DIE - Children of Rain

Absolutely loved this game. As a fan of Lovecraftian games I've played in the past, such as Darkest Dungeon and Dredge, I had this on my radar since I saw the first trailer. If those sort of vibes are something that interests you, that honestly is a good indicator of if you'll enjoy the game I think, because the developers did a really good job curating the atmosphere and mood. If you take that away and your not as interested in Lovecraft type things, the game will still be pretty decent I feel, but getting immersed and into the mood for the game is a big factor in enjoyment, at least it was for me. The art and environment are top notch. It's not going to necessarily overwhelm you with an abundance of a lot of greatly designed things, this isn't a AAA title with way too much fluff, but what exists all feels very coherent and well tied together. If you immerse yourself and get into the lore and atmosphere, you get a sense of believability - as much as that can apply to a "non-realistic" style of video game. The music and overall sound design fits extremely well and is well done. There isn't that much voice work (not because there's unvoiced things, just because of the scope of the setting and game), but the voice acting that's in the game is really well done. Honestly one of my biggest motivators for making good progress at an objective, was to hear more of what Old Jack was going to say. The biggest reward is the exploration. Not just the exploration, but the progression in your own mind of how you feel about the different areas you encounter. This isn't a straight up roguelite per se, but there is some sense of repetition in returning to areas you've been to before. So that feeling of unfamiliarity and excitement at first transitions into knowledge and strategy each new time you go to a familiar locale. It's wild how something that you encounter for the first time and makes you feel a certain sense of scare will later still feel scary, but you feel so much more prepared, due to both your increased knowledge and also your better equipment loadout. The map is not procedural, it is handcrafted and each area is designed, though certain resources are lightly procedural with how they spawn. This could be seen as good or bad. Mainly good, due to how it plays into the game mechanics. I don't see it having as much replayability as other roguelike style games (this really isn't one, overall), but that to me doesn't detract from the value of the game. Because the map is fixed, it could seem to some as repetitive to always be going to the same areas... but familiarizing yourself with the static map and planning out objectives to increase your odds of getting further are part of the game here. There's even a dedicated building in your town specifically for reviewing the map and bestiary and other resources, to better optimize your chances of survival by knowing how to prepare. It was actually one of my favorite parts of getting ready for another dive. Playing on the base difficulty, I found the game fairly difficult. Not like, Dark Souls or Ninja Gaiden level difficulty, but it's not a cakewalk. The reason the game is difficult never feels unfair though. Pretty much any time I had what I'd call an unsuccessful dive, I pretty much understood what I messed up or didn't account for. There is some amount of RNG that can make things more challenging (mostly looking for specific resources or survivor traits), but none of it is going to break you into a bad cycle you can't work out of. I'd stress this point as hard as I can, this far down in my review.... this game is difficult (and rewarding) because of the unfamiliarity and preparation. But everything that is there is designed to be there. What I'm getting at is if you feel overwhelmed or don't know what to do, and you go and look up guides or tips or stuff like that... the game is mostly deterministic and not random, so the answers are going to be there for you... but you will be cheating yourself out of the actual satisfaction of putting in the work and experiencing the game and finding the answer yourself. The game can feel overwhelming and confusing, but try to minimize looking to the internet for help with this one. If I had to list any downsides... there mostly are none that are major in my mind, but one did kind of come to mind right away. The game is overall rewarding and well made, but I did feel that the difficulty curve was a bit unbalanced. Mostly in that once I got towards the end of the game, I almost felt a little *too* powerful and prepared. And this on it's own lends itself to the end of the game feeling less meaningful, but even with the ending gameplay segments, I did feel like they were a little less fleshed out than the core middle of the game, in terms of end game areas and gameplay. It will be different for everyone, but for me I felt like there was a definitive middle portion of the game where my progress towards objectives was trudging along, and then once I got over a certain hump and had things figured out, objectives were just checked off at a rapid rate. There's a couple pieces of gear you can get in the late game that can really take you from feeling overwhelmed and maybe hopeless to damn near godlike and fearless. Now, if the biggest criticism I could level against a game is that the middle feels like it holds the most of the content and challenge, and there's a slight fall off at the end, I would say you have a pretty good game. Especially because, I want to specify, it's only the gameplay segments at the end that felt "lesser". Narrative wise and artistically, there's not really the same sense of fall off. You'll feel powerful at the end, but the story ties in nicely and you can finish the game with a sense of closure and enjoyment. Lovecraft game fans will definitely want to check this one out.