Dreadhunter

Dreadhunter is kinda ok now with a couple years of early access gone by, but that's all it is, and clearly that's all it is going to be. It's a bit better if you are the type to want things to scale up to where a lot of your fighting is automatic, but still the price is punching way above what the game offers, or (from watching the project since before early access) what the devs have experience to deliver. Its content is lush without being different or interesting, leading to samey fights, your build is eventually fancy as you let more upgrades take responsibility for you (also leading to samey fights), but building it is mainly a process of time investment and perseverance. The level grind is glacial and comically unrewarding. The gearing is boring, restrictive, and basically sabotages itself and its mechanics. The enemies are each fairly one-note, boring to fight, and sometimes just really annoying as you get to later enemies. Much of the time is spent fighting very few enemies in very few ways, which makes missions feel plodding and samey, up until the end battle which is always a neverending swarm of adds and something you're trying to get damage onto across them. Granted, adds are required for several of the game's core mechanics to work, but this miasma of the game's few enemies does blur the big fights together in their own equally forgettable way. There's so much forgettable time you need to invest in slow, small upgrades, but somewhere between one and two dozen hours, things start to come together enough that it's a mildly fun kind of forgettable rather than pure slog, as long as you can avoid thinking about how much time it took--and how much more time it will take--to get to whatever you were doing here. There are a lot of pain points, especially in the builds/mechanics, that you have to just choke down and put out of mind to play, though, depending on the path you choose. Also, you can't play the higher difficulty until you clear the entire second highest difficulty, and when you move up, you are both locked to that difficulty and the story progress is completely reset, so you have to do everything over again, but it's still the same level as before and drops the same level stuff, just enemy stats are boosted to make it harder than it was, but in no way aligned to where you come out of the previous difficulty. Games shouldn't waste player time on artificial nonsense like that. The back half of the campaign on hard was a waste of time, as is at least the front half of nightmare. ARPG monster level is a well-trod issue, and this is a known poor way to solve it. No one just wants to retread the "story" over again, especially when it's just a list of procedural missions you run down until it stops, and you have to wade back through valueless content to get to where you want to be only because the devs pretend that makes sense. That said, I do think this has a market out there. If you want a lighter top-down shooter where you start weak and slowly get stronger and less nuanced while running basically the same fairly nice looking missions, grinding out the occasional small upgrade, and adjusting your build (which is mostly "avoid the bad options if you can figure them out") when you feel like it rather than getting reset like in a roguelite, this game tries to walk that line, even if it significantly overstates itself on the store page. It's like an overpriced edgelord comfort shooter, so sales may eventually line it up for you.

has potential, but Im not gonna lie, the price is a hard pill to swallow for something thats still in early access/development.

Mod and shop need a major rework. Act 2 doesn't show any significant change in gameplay from Act 1. Enemy and environmental variety thus becomes lacking. The inventory limit betrays build variety. The guns and abilities are fun, the upgrade system makes sense though probably is too heavy on the exponential curve for leveling (later levels cost an insane amount more XP despite you not gaining relatively more XP as the game progresses). I think a roguelike mode would save the game. The campaign feels tacked on, hunting bosses from your station is a nice idea but you don't have choice in your target. Dialogue is edgy and meaningless. The game's own description on Steam says "levels are ever-changing" and "where all items are 'legendary'". Guns, unlike armor, do not possess unique traits that are a part of a set. Higher level weapons you find merely will have +X% of X stat. There is not a rarity system in place. Levels do not change at all while inside of them. Unfortunately I cannot recommend for now, even though the gameplay itself feels uber polished.

[h1]Core gameplay is really stellar.[/h1] The movement, gunplay, using melee, special effects on hits make it incredibly satisfying to play. For that alone i can easily recommend it. The variety of content is currently lacking. Build cohesion as well. Gear does have cool transformative properties, but could use more numerical stats to set gear apart. Personally i think the price of admission for what's offered is currently too high, but on release it would be more than a fair asking price. I would suggest buying the game on sale in it's current state.

I think this game is wicked cool and fun. Especially on the Steam Deck! I highly recommend playing this game. I love games when you can upgrade your weapons and armor.

gameplay is great, price is a bit crazy for an early access game

Really fun gameplay, interesting concepts, and a lot of promise. Has a good loot system too! It is a little buggy, and the story could use some polish, but these things are to be expected in EA. Worth the buy imo, especially if you don't mind playing a game that is still in progress.

A highly movement-based ARPG that I'd summarise as half Diablo and half nu-Doom, with a combat loop of staggering foes with ranged weapons and finishing them with melee to generate resources. A pricetag that might seem steep for an indie game is justified by rock-solid gamefeel backed by gorgeous environments and effects that feel like the work of a much bigger studio.

A tentative positive feedback for now. I only did a few early levels to sample the early access game. Gunplay and movement is quick. Ammo early on if you're like me a 'shoot shoot shoot' kind of guy can run out. I have begun to play with the abilities and there are plenty of special abilities to invest in. (grenades, bulletstorm, unleashing a barrage of missiles etc) Equipment does seem to come with traits that should allow you to specialize. You can carry up to 3 firetypes and I encounter such bullet types liek 'kinetic, electric and explosive'. And equipment traits do play with it. Production values are simple but effective. The world has a cartoonified warhammer 40K meets Metroid vibe. The protagonist and the leading lady are not voice but their headshots vibe with the Warhammer 40K universe. Extra bonuses for: - no modern day American/Corporate nonsense. - no microtransactions or the likes. Temporary conclusion: - Should be a fun simple ARP. - Needs some more content meat attached to its bone i suspect. - I hope the storymode becomes interesting. - Probs needs to have more ammo/health drop. - I'd focus on having good/meaningful loot drop over mass given the nature of this game. - An alternative would be to not go for 'loot drops' but resources/money that drops. And with it you make armor/weapons and add mods in your ship. Adding to the 'Custom Power Armor vibe' of the main character's style of fighting.

Pretty awesome