Dolls Nest

Tldr; I only recommend the game for fans of both the anime/mecha genre. If you're not into this, don't bother. Imagine that there's a fist-sized gold nugget that's buried under a fresh, waist-high pile of ♥♥♥♥. That's Dolls Nest. Not just the gold nugget or the pile of ♥♥♥♥; it's both of them. With this I mean that, yes, I really enjoyed Dolls Nest, but it was only AFTER I finally learned the level layout, understood the features, and dealt with some extremely annoying things. In a nutshell, I played through the game 3 times, and started to enjoy the game only halfway through my first playthrough (around 5-9 hours in) Dolls Nest. Did I like it and see its potential? Yes, it has a lot of that. Did I get covered in ♥♥♥♥ while digging for that gold nugget? Yes as well. Would I do it again? Now that I see what the game has to offer, yes, but I'm going to give you a heads up as to why it took me so long to like it, and why I disliked it at first. THE BAD STUFF - Some of the worst level design I have ever seen. Sprawling, confusing levels plague this game. It is SO easy to get lost in this game. The levels are unintuitive, confusing, and had me looking at guides to find my way. Probably the worst I've played in the last 4-5 years. - On that previous point, how come you get massive megastructures with one or two enemies in it? This game wastes so much space on empty zones when it should have smaller maps and more enemies. - Despite having a lot of megastructures, there's nothing to look at. Compare this to a game like AI Limit or Nier Automata. There's a lot to take in and explore. Here, the environment is completely inert and empty. - It is absolutely criminal that the game's biggest strength, meaning the Doll vs. Doll combat is hardly explored outside of bosses/optional fights. This should be the biggest focus of the game, and not something you come across sparingly, or after you go back to a cleared level. - About the soundtrack... WHAT SOUNDTRACK? It only plays during bosses, the rest of the game has nothing but wind howling and your doll's sounds. Whyyyyyy...?! Auditorily, this game is bland and boring, outside of the bosses and main hub. - For completionists, to get all the achievements you need to play the game at least 3 times or modifying your save. Lame. - There's a lot of mods that fix a lot of the game's jank. Go get some of those if you want to make this game better. The game's got a lot that really got on my nerves. Honestly, my first 10ish hours with the game were so bad, I nearly dropped it. But, ever the completionist, I persevered and saw some of its better things. And, believe me, it has a lot of good things. Just, as I mentioned earlier, they're buried under a pile of ♥♥♥♥. THE GOOD STUFF + Nearly limitless customization options for your doll. I kid you not, I had 10 builds that were incredibly fun, and I don't think I even covered 40% of the possibilities. + The amount of weapons is massive, and weapon variety is pretty good. From flamethrowers to grenade launchers, and your basic ARs, snipers, and chainguns. + You can turn your doll from a jet fighter, a speed-blitz samurai, or a literal tank (I'm not kidding) and it is SO COOL + The combat is actually fun. Especially against other dolls. It's one of the few games that actually captures a mix of "anime" fights and airplane dogfights. + The boss soundtracks are bangers. + Melee is hard to learn, hard to master, but it's awesome. Especially the Sabi Katana. Chef's kiss, an exquisite weapon that singlehandedly made me want to play a samurai-centric game. + Optional hard mode that makes the game really hit that souslike difficulty (your biggest enemy is the map layout on normal difficulty). Although, why this game is considered a souslike is beyond me. Outside of the "bonfires" there's nothing else that's even close. + The NPCs (few as they are) are great, charming, loveable characters (especially Hati and Yoyo). + Voice acting is quite excellent, a bit on the "anime" side of things. + Surprisingly, it's not a game for perverts. I would say that, after 100%ng the game, that the positive edges out the negatives juuuust enough for me to recommend it, but only to a limited crowd. Honestly, the game's foundation is excellent, but it's missing out on polish. If you don't mind the jank that much, then give it a shot. I recommend this game exclusively for gamers who are interested in the niche that Dolls Nest offers, which is mechs, anime, and character customization. Other than that, just don't. 6.1/10 for me, with minus points for awful level design and lack of soundtrack.

地图设计精妙，但巨大的地图同时匹配上没有的传送点与不存在的引导也是大粪，仅有出生点一个篝火，神与屎并存。深层关卡蓄光石效果堪比自拍闪光灯，其他关卡丢出去起步照明弹室内亮如白昼。怎么丢道具还要匹配环境，魔神z陆地移动力提升海洋机动性下降吗？去体验了一下照明无人机...也挺滑稽的。 游戏性还行，怪伤害虽然不低但也只要打不中就行了，手残也有轮椅能玩。虽然肉眼可见的贫穷但在关卡地图和怪物设计上下足了功夫。 剧情单薄细碎，不能苟同，同时优化感人。 在地图上我选择接受，其他一些系统虽然比较尴尬但问题不大。可是配上为了膈应人而膈应人的深层设计（同一个道具在不同地图的巨大性能差异，说的就是你蓄光石）与稀薄的文本感人的优化，神与屎并存评价很难给好评，但必须二选一。综上建议折后购买。

I like it. Hoping for a sequel

Great game!

Mech-Loli Souls-like. Not a fan of the entire world being lolis, but that's minor. ;) The animations are rough compared to Armored Core, but still fun. There's LOTS of options for armor and weapons. Many of which are designs from AC. Had to mod it to max out the handling since it's impossible to play well when your x axis feels like it's on level <1 sensitivity. I thought something was wrong with my mouse, but nope! A bit disappointed with the story endings since nothing really changes, but there's barely any story to begin with. But hey, for $15, I got more value than a AAA game would deliver.

The game good, like icecream in summer.

It's not for me and I don't think it's for you either. From the start, the "mech + anime girl" aesthetic is strange and not in a good way. That alone made me hesitant to give the game a try. When I did finally give it a try, the mostly empty levels with copy-pasted enemies everywhere compounded on the impactless combat. Weapons have no impact or feel, they just kind of *do damage* reflected via a number. It doesn't feel good. Despite this, I gave the game a solid attempt anyway and made it to the first boss. Upon reaching the boss, it was braindead easy to beat the boss, until the boss did a charge move and I got stuck underneath them (not intentional) and eventually I died as they did their AOE explosion move a few times, their other attacks did not hit me. It's unpolished, unrefined and unless you saw the anime girls and said "yes!!", you probably won't be impressed.

This game is truly a hidden gem that I recommend to anyone interested in classic Armored Core gameplay mixed with Demon's Souls level design.