[strike]Meridian Gate[/strike] was originally intended to be a free visual update for the Biomass, but now it's kinda like a soft reboot with new content, better visuals, and improved combat mechanics. Feels like a 70/30 between new and old pathing, although because of all the looping shenanigans it feels more like an addition to the original game, not a replacement, there are even some occasional jokes reminding you that you already played a similar game (sold my soul in the previous game). Developer was giving out this game for free to the previous owners, but I paid instead to support the game, I felt it justified the purchase.
I got the vanilla ending in about 9 hours, but that is not really the entire game, you can replay for new boss fights, different endings, and various collection content, you can drop another 20 hours into it minimum. Like the OG Biomass it's a souls-like with seldom metroidvania elements so there will be some challenge, in my opinion this game was more difficult, having some moments of frustration with obtuse navigation, high enemy damage, sometimes huge hitboxes, and heavy reliance on timings - so if you don't like repetition, you may not enjoy it.
The main combat mechanic in the game is "weapon clashing" that also has some smaller mechanics attached to it, basically you have to clash your attacks with the enemy weapon to deplete their meter, which will give you a free hit. It's sorta like a complicated parry system, instead of 1 hit you just have to do several back to back, some enemies can chain more than 5 attacks, so the game requires some practice to master it. The actual telegraphing isn't too bad, I think the main issue for me is that enemies just do way too much damage, and you don't actually get that much time to practice against bosses, they can easily kill you in 1 or 2 combos.
[b]*Some tips for understanding the nuances in the game*[/b] - so the block in the game is only intended for attacks that you can clash with, so think of it as a sword blocking a sword, but also small projectiles. If you use block on explosions or "area of effect", it won't work, and there are plenty of unblockable attacks too. Essentially the game wants you to combine clashing, jumping over attacks, dodge/rolling, and blocking certain attacks like small projectiles together during fights. If you find that you can't clash the attacks of the bosses and getting hit, your bar next to the character is getting full so you can't clash, or the attack could not be clashed in the first place. It's a bit complicated and you have to trial and error sometimes.
You can still upgrade your stats but with more limitations, notably the missing damage upgrade (although you can still get some damage mods), so the game is kinda balanced around whatever the developer thinks the difficulty should be, and the power-creep does not play as big of a role as it did in Biomass. There is an option to reduce damage by 75%, so you have that in-game cheat if you really just want to see the game with no challenge or get over some absurdly strong boss.
We do have to mention the world-building because I think that was the highlight of the Biomass, with many psychological elements and moments of escapism. The game has enjoyable settings as you navigate between the tall buildings and meeting various factions, weirdos, and lost individuals looking for salvation. There is a compelling mystery in regards to your destination and how it impacts the world around you, seemingly looping the events that recognize your previous actions, almost like disjointed series of alternate realities.
[h1]Pros: [/h1]
(+) Good depth to the combat mechanics with multiple layers of nuances, mods, and various mobility improvements, it's a souls-like but with even more depth. By itself I think the mechanics are good, the number balancing is another conversation.
(+) The world building is what made the Biomass stand out, and you still will find that level of escapism and discovery as you chew your own path through the game. It also has some pretty decent writing, you will find different versions of the same characters and how your choices affected them in the long run.
(+) High replay value, you can take different paths through the game to find new locations, new boss fights, and different endings.
(+) Visuals much improved, lots of nice art panels and great soundtrack, good enemy variety as well.
[h1]Feedback: [/h1]
[u]Balancing: [/u] [b](criticism was reasonably addressed, notes left for context)[/b]
- Risk and Reward on elite enemies is just awful, some insanely strong mobs don't give enough currency if not LESS than trash mobs, so it's better to skip many of them. Currency should reflect the danger. Maybe not in areas with 2 factions so you not doing cheese farming, but if the Elite mob is by itself in isolated area, it should be worth a lot, 2000-4000 depending on the type.
- It might be a good idea to add something so you can't take full damage from multiple sources at the same time, maybe first hit 100%, second hit 25% if in under 1 second.
- On average I felt like enemies were doing 10-30% more damage than they should, there are a lot of AOE attacks that have unintuitive range that always clips you if you not like 2-3 rolls away. Bosses should drop more currency too
- The clashing window with bosses across the board could be a little more generous, maybe 10-20%
- I felt the stat upgrades could be a little closer together, having 50.000 in the pocket is so rare in the game, you basically maxed out because you never stash that much just playing normally.
[u]Navigation:[/u]
- I was completely lost several times (not in a good way), I think those towers in the first hub look too similar, and players can easily miss one of the ladders, and never know it's there. If you miss the hint with the tentacles you never see it again. There are several other areas where it feels like you going the wrong way, and you often second guess if you looking in the right location.
- I felt the game had too many narrative/psychological/linear sections, a lot of space, not a lot of content in it, once or twice is okay, I felt it was more than that, sometimes It felt like souls-like turned into a walking-sim, does not help that some of those corridors are huge as well
- I know there are shortcuts, but I still think the ability to reset the run to the hub would be very welcome so you don't end up replaying the last 1-2 hours of completed runs (if you went the wrong direction or something) Maybe after you beat the game once.
[u]Other: [/u]
- Can you speed up those terminal respawns and pitfalls?
- You don't need to give me the same hint 250 times, also they kinda silly hints too, stand further away, well, it's not always a good idea either, or very helpful. Cut that off after 1 hour
[b]Overall Thoughts: 8/10 (post-patch) [/b]
Even though it improves on Biomass in just about every way, I felt the first game had a better flow to it in terms of navigation, now it's all cryptic and mind games, overdesigned I feel. The game is both challenging and sometimes punishing in a not so fun way, harder than BIomass in my opinion, I felt the enemies were doing too much damage, the AOE hitboxes were crazy and it feels like there is some artificial difficulty there in addition to genuine challenge. The world building and the atmosphere are still great, you still get a sense of escapism and melancholy as you explore, and the new art panels were awesome too. I personally liked OG Biomass a little better because it was more simple I feel.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
