Fatekeeper

I’ll give it a positive review, for now. The game looks beautiful and runs perfectly. I had zero issues or crashes. The combat and blows feel heavy, as they should. The ambient music is nice, although repetitive, as are the sound effects coming from the environment. It’s early access, so there isn’t much story in there yet. It looks and “feels” promising, but there are several reasons it didn’t make me go “Wow!” aside from how it looks. The biggest issue is the controls. It’s keyboard only. Trying to move diagonally using WASD while also dodging with L Alt, using magic with Q, and on top of all that trying to change your spell type by pressing R to access the radial menu... yeah, impossible. Why do that? I mean, even if you couldn’t implement controller support from the start, couldn’t the radial menu be on the mouse wheel click? And weapon swapping on mouse wheel scroll instead of having to press C, which the game doesn’t even tell you about? There are other issues too. Your quick access “belt” items can be equipped in the inventory, a total of four. But when playing, you can see only what’s equipped in the first slot and use it by pressing X. You never see the other three quick items or potions on screen. You have to remember what you equipped and can use them by pressing 2, 3, or 4 on the keyboard. Why is the first one X? You also can’t consume items directly from your inventory. You have to equip them and then consume them. It’s obvious the developers focused more on making the game look great, but the actual gameplay mechanics came second. Not a good way to develop a game. The majority of players will always enjoy a game that looks “bad” but has great gameplay more than one that looks great but has poor gameplay. That's why I stopped and didn't finish the (what I assume is) the final boss of the current EA build. I like hard games but I don't like stupid hard games. Other things I can mention are that the rat companion is barely seen in the game. You literally forget it’s there. There needs to be more interaction with it, it needs to “talk” more, and there needs to be more connection between the characters. The underground waterways area, where there's no combat and you basically just need to find your way out, is the perfect opportunity for the rat and the main character to interact more. Saying things mid combat or commenting on new areas or puzzles would also add to the connection between them two. The whole potion and coating thing is kind of uninteresting. I rarely felt the need to use them and even forgot I could craft them, probably because I was mostly focusing on where my fingers were on the keyboard, trying to hit the correct keys in the middle of combat. Overall, I can praise only how it looks and the overall atmosphere. Gameplay, UI, story... it’s going to be a long journey, and hopefully a successful one, because despite all the flaws, I do like it. A$14 is an okay price for what you get now, but it’s also a bargain price for what we will get if the developers deliver on their promises.