Grabbus

really not the kind of game that will appeal to many people, and unfortunately that group includes myself

As it is now, the itemization does not work. This could absolutely change, but the symbols for weapon aspects are very unclear on what they represent, and rules governing how items are generated do not produce interesting outcomes. The enemies seem to also be governed by similar itemization procedures and while that's an interesting idea, the resulting enemy variety currently ranges from posing no threat at all or being really annoying to deal with entirely due to the length of time it takes to dispatch an enemy rather than any difficulty in their attack patterns/positioning/abilities. If the trajectory of the project doesn't change to put constraints on the proc gen to produce results that are actually interesting to use or react to, this game is not gonna be a hit.

A strange game where you are a rat with a sticky yoyo that can merge weapons you find in a abstract JRPG world with dungeons full of Dirty Bubbles trying to kill you. Not 100% sure I understand what's going on but I love the music so consider me along for the strange ride

this game is seriously going places. Oozing with style, feels great. Gotta give this a shot!

Grabbus' me bones It's a really sweet game who's abstract world and shapes and themes lend themselves to that very 90's 'liminal nostalgia', while under the hood it's got a lot of depth and systems. It feels more like a tech demo in it's current release, but I can see that as the economy and power scaling is improved upon and goals and quests are added to the long-term meta game, this could be something really special. There's definitely a lot of tuning that needs to be added from the default controls, to the visual noise in combat to the effectiveness of it's ambitious merge system. But it's worth having in your library, if not to enjoy it's current rouge-lite gameplay, then to see just how the development will add and improve over time!

This is one worth getting on the ground floor for IMO. The current gameplay loop is small but absolutely oozes potential. Infinite map, infinite upgrades, infinite weapon fusions, it's hard not to see the scope present in the bones of this. Also the art style is really great! Worth checking out

Honestly a little complicated but the devs clearly poured their heart and soul into this one. DEFINITELY worth it at this price. The pixel art is amazing.

Grabbus at it's core is a top down twin sticks shooter with a dash of roguelike, dungeon crawler, and a bit of town building on the overworld. The premise is simple, you enter dungeons clearing floors by defeating all the enemies on a given floor all whilst collecting items and resources. The resources are used on the overworld map to place structures the facilitate further progression and growth of towers. You can also use them to purchase skill points to open up nodes on a skill grid or place new structures. One of the main mechanics is using Grabbus to fuse items and weapons to enhance their effects or experiment and switch things up! It keeps things fresh. The fusion is done on the fly by selecting the two items you want to fuse from a radial menu using the shoulder buttons and BAM! You got a new item, probably with a new shot type. You can also use the grab and throw stunned enemies using Grabbus, which seemed a bit tricky to pull off. Music is pretty reminiscent of a 16-bit era game. I got vibes of Sim City on the SNES on the overworld. The sprite work is good too, though there's not a ton of enemy variety at this early stage. My only complaint is the inventory, it's so small! But that is already something I know is being addressed by allowing you to rotate the radial menu for more slots. ; ) Maybe have a way to directly use or fuse items on the ground that won't fit in your inventory, much like a lot the mystery dungeon let you do. Otherwise a great start for a game with some solid mechanics! Get it now and watch it become even better when fleshed out with more characters and story elements.