Elements and build

别买，制作组跑路了

是不是跑路了啊

[h1]Warning[/h1] I am a player who likes to try and solve games. If you're just looking to shut your brain off entirely, ignore this review as my focus is on gameplay systems and how they work. I also won't talk about the unfinished translation as parts of the game are not in English. I will also slot in (see : x) to tell you that this idea is discussed properly in a later part of the review. [hr][/hr] [h2] Initial Rambling [/h2] Elements and Build is fundamentally a fun game that borrows ideas from autobattlers and tower defense games. It also manages to sneak in some original ideas through the tower combinations. However it's incredibly uncreative at a strategic level (see : strategic breakdown) and was likely designed by somebody who wasn't very good at the afformentioned genres. (see : talent tree discussion) What it does right is present a cute, approachable game for beginners who don't mind a slow early game grind to unlock the upgrades needed to consistently win. The towers that attack are fun to use and when you force a specific type of towers will grant bonuses that feel good to use. The levels are varied and fun, with novel ideas present across them, which makes for more variety in the gameplay. [hr][/hr] [h2] Strategic Breakdown [/h2] Want to know the secret to winning every time? Put your base in the corner and build a maze around it, using the corner walls to force enemies to a corner. Now once you've done that just pick any tower and stack whatever goes with that tower. You'll win every time once you have a few upgrades. Unfortunately that's the whole game. Once you realise this you'll no longer feel the need to play. At no point do your choices beyond this matter thanks to the... [hr][/hr] [h2] Talent Tree [/h2] Of the several meta systems (talent tree, equipment, base building) this one is by far the most game breaking and the worst in design. When designing a talent tree you want to feel that you're asking players to make a choice, but in this game you're expected to simply unlock every single node on the tree and become strong enough to overpower the game. Which is precisely what has happened for me. It's entirely impossible for me to die now in this game if I follow the afformentioned strategy. The solution however is a full rework of this system. Instead of buying upgrades that eventually lead you from being not quite strong enough to consistently win, to consistently winning. You should be given paths to go down with choices that make engaging gameplay changes that reward using different types of towers. Then allow players to freely change their choices between games and you'll have a system that can be balanced and give strong bonuses exclusively for varying playstyles. With the current system however you're simply grinding the game until you can't lose. It feels like playing an RPG in the starting area and overlevelling so you never take damage and kill everything as they spawn. [hr][/hr] [h2] Equipment [/h2] This meta system is one you're less likely going to engage with. After finishing a level you're rewarded with equipment that you can equip for minor boosts going into the game. However it's not fully translated and from what I did understand I realised that it's too weak to make a significant different vs the talent tree. However you can sell the equipment to just buy points on the talent tree. This whole system exists just to funnel extra money into you for talents. It should be removed until the designers can find a functional use for it. [hr][/hr] [h2] Starting Buildings [/h2] Of all the meta systems this one is actually good. Your starting base can be augmented for a meaningful and quite dramatic change in the early game. I don't understand how to unlock these but I've unlocked quite a lot and they're incredibly fun to play with. This is by far the strongest and most positive gameplay decision you can make. This is like selecting your character. [hr][/hr] [h2] What I'd change. [/h2] Okay I'm sort of losing my trail of thought. Here is a list of what I'd do to dramatically improve this game, this is subjective but my focus is on engaging players at all skill levels. 1) Force flying enemies. When playing you can select what enemies you're against, players should always be forced to handle flying enemies at some point. It will reduce the effectiveness of hiding in the corner and doing nothing. Which allows you to play far greedier than you should. 2) Rework talent tree. Start with studying the old League of Legends masteries/modern runes + WoW talents to understand what small and large choices could look like. Play to different strengths a player may invest in across the game. Give talents that are viable most of the time and some that are only viable some of the time as it'll engage players when making decisions. Also make it an "account level", so you're not farming currency that can only be used in one system. (I have nothing to spend the currency on now.) 3) Remove the equipment system that is just used to get more currency. 4) Nerf all synergy bonuses when maxed out but buff the smaller bonuses to incentivise exploring the different bonuses together. As it stands you don't need to think, just stack 1 bonus. [h2] Final Thoughts [/h2] This game isn't finished. The translation isn't done and new content is being added. I will keep an eye on updates and if this game gets an overhall or new content that justifies the decisions currently made I will update this review. The core game is very fun but it simply isn't strategically engaging enough once you learn the basics and unlike the autobattler genre it borrows from, it has no social element that would keep you playing.

？你怎么敢的，刚发布更新了一点点内容，两个月没有任何更新也没有解释，跑路脸都不要了

Seems like a very awesome Towerdefense Game that has very deep mechanic and offers complex Builds and replayability! But as other People already mentioned, The translation is absolutely horrendous in english. Half the stuff you can go ahead and take a good guess and 3/4 of the Time you´re probably correct, the other half is more like trying to figure out a dead language. Especially for games like this where its 80% about trying to make the best synergies, combinations etc. it´s all about knowing and understanding what Stuff actually does and how it works with each other. I really want to play the Game after just seeing a bunch of what it has to offer, but having to take a wild guess about alot of the game mechanics and what what certain buildings actually do, would drive me insane. so its refunded for now while i hope to comeback when it actually got translated by an human-being instead of poor Google-translate.

I only spent roughly a half an hour playing this game and, while it is fun and entertaining, the biggest draw back for me is the translation. Certain things in the tutorial windows don't make sense or aren't described correctly due to the English translation and normally I just look past it but I felt like I needed to know every aspect of this game to enjoy it. But I wasn't going to get that knowledge from their own tutorial. With all that said though, it was an amazing game and if they changed/fixed a few things, I'd definitely buy it again. Give it a try though.

[h2]Pros:[/h2] - Bright, cheerful graphics with vibrant colors. - A variety of unique and interesting items. - Challenging gameplay that combines multiple factions, similar to Auto Chess. - Everything is straightforward and compact. [h2]Cons:[/h2] - Poor translation quality, with many parts untranslated or using unclear abbreviations. - Some information isn't displayed clearly, making it difficult to understand. - Lacks necessary effects and animations, such as damage indicators, collision effects, event rewards, etc. Gameplay 3h (Vietnamese): https://youtu.be/Koddq029DfQ

很久没见更新了 不值这个价格了

遊戲的元素和BUILD看似很多，但很快就有重複感，不需多久就會明白強的BUILD只有1、2個，玩下去的感覺也很重複，不過數值的堆疊，已棄GAME。 這是我第2次在STEAM買GAME，感覺後悔。

I was able to play a couple of rounds but after my 5th or 6th play, the game suddenly not summoning any monsters/enemy. I was going through rounds without enemies and I think this is a huge bug that needs to be fixed. For now, I don't recommend this game.