Hyforge

Pre alpha by the looks of it in game, Painfully slow movement speed. no real direction of where to go, very empty world that's not interesting. I will update as it changes

Anyone who remembers killing droves of Mudcrabs along the riverbanks of Morrowind will surely feel some nostalgia playing Hyforge, as the developer clearly intended. The core systems are strongly reminiscent of that game, with a unique art style that I found satisfying (running the game on max settings with my GTX 1660 Ti.) The contrast of pixel art against the 3D environments is already striking, and the in-game lighting effects such as fluorescent subterranean crystals playing across the characters hands freshen the atmosphere of the familiar dungeon crawl. Said dungeon crawling is the centerpiece of the gaming experience currently. After exiting an initial crypt area, the player is left to traverse an attractive, yet somewhat sparsely populated world (although the NPC villagers you eventually come across all have humorous things to say that hint at the developments to come, or poke fun at its current early access state.) From what I understand there are two dungeon locations in the game; I’ve currently found and run through one location about a half dozen times. The density and variety of enemies in the dungeon is on point and I was surprised by the variety of loot you’ll come across in completing a run. Every piece of armor or weapon has some flavor text to it; some pieces regaling you with extensive stories or pieces of the world’s history. The game has some minor bugs that let you know it’s in early access. I found a zombie walking through the sky. Some of the text boxes could use a bit of alignment, and the UI can at times display incorrect information (for example displaying full majika (magic) when in fact you have less.) I personally don’t think that they ruin the experience, and I think the game is at the right price point for what you’re getting as a proof of concept and really a canvas of sorts that, given consistent developer communication and player feedback, has a lot potential.

TL;DR: Option 1: Support Dev, buy it and sit on it for a while, on sale if you can, and wait to play until more work is done. Option 2: Wait to buy, watch for developments and work to come out on it. At the time of writing, which is exactly when this became available (more or less), the game is effectively proof of concept early. While I can see potential in where it's going, where it's at right now you should only buy it if you intend to support the dev, and believe in an end product. Currently, from what I can tell, it has many, many 3D placeholder assets. The pixel art is decent, though I would like to see it crisped up a bit. Personally I'm a fan of pixel art, and in 3D environments it can be done well, i.e. Ragnarok Online. The story sounds like everyone is faceless until they become worthy. If that theme carries through to the NPCs, who are also faceless, I would like to see additional models and other variety which can still present the "Nobody" style they are going for. There do not appear to be an abundant number of animations yet. Item/Money economy appears to not really be a focus right now, yet, as materials I've picked up from mobs are worth zero. Weapons and armor have some value, and the spells were free, essentially, from the first merchant. I have yet to die (at the time of writing) so I am unsure how that all works, but it sounds like a reset except for your unlocked lineages. Realistically my recommendation would be one of two options: 1.) If you want to support the Dev: Buy it (on sale if you can) and sit on it and wait until more work is completed, or 2.) If you want to wait: Put it on a follow/watch list and keep an eye on any developments or changes.

Haven't played too much yet, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I dig the combination of high end 3D and pixel art 2D graphics. The game is clearly in need of some more polishing via coming updates and patches, but it seems to be quite strong. I reached out to the developer with some minor issues I had with a couple things and the developer was not only receptive to the notes I presented but also said they would be addressed in a near future patch. This is what indie development is all about, and I'm happy to support this game and anything more from this publisher in the future.

There is nothing to do, there is about 10 enemies in the opening area, and nothing else in the game to do, i hope it gets updated soon.

I wish I can play it more but my game is bugged when I entered a giant door in a canyon next to a chest. I was having fun exploring and fighting and finding loot. [b]Pros [/b] -Controls are easy -Graphics when talking about environment are awesome -The game does not hold your hand in any way. ⁃ The music is good despite it being repetitive sound loops. It fits well I think and gives that exploration feel, which this game at its current state is really good at. It lets you explore and figure it out. ⁃ The art style is awesome, I love it. Even the 2d images of the enemies that are just scattered everywhere. And the 2d images of chests and plants. ⁃ water. They do water really well in the game. It looks amazing. Although there is not sound to it. [b]Cons [/b] -The sound settings just drop off when lowering it because it starts off deafening you. But when you slide it half way to the left it’s already at 0. -You cannot change the controls or key-binds in settings yet. -The game does not hold your hand. It tells you what you are looking for by an NPC and tells you GL HF! And let’s you figure it out. ⁃ I ended up dropping my sword at the beginning by accident and I’m not able to pick it up again, it just falls into the void to not be seen again. ⁃ just walk. No sprinting or anything. But maybe it’s too early to say anything. But also not all great games have a way to travel any faster. [b]Notes for developer: [/b] ⁃ holding space bar does not drain stamina ⁃ You can jump and drain stamina in your character status. ⁃ While scrolling text might be cool to view inventory items and info on it. It is not practical and may I suggest letting the player to scroll. ⁃ Hud overlaps the one tip on the loading screen at times. And the loading screen took over and is frozen. ⁃ I’ll send a screenshot. I walked through a door and it bugged my game so I had to uninstall the game and loose my progress to play again. There might be a grammatical error at the beginning. I’d have to check if I can. I'd like to continue to play so I can better improve this review.

During a stream someone joked this should be called Elderly Scrolls given how slow you walk. There's no run button at least from what I could see. Really nothing to do other than walk very slowly and kill the occasional enemy. I did find a single chest that took 20 minutes to walk to. The idea of the graphics is actually really interesting. This doesn't do that idea justice.

無意味に広いだけのオープンフィールドに、写実的な背景に対する貧相な2Dキャラクターというグラフィックの落差、ゲームの目標はこれといって明示されず、チュートリアルと言えるようなものも皆無、移動は遅く、戦闘も単調、と何一つ美点を探せない内容なのにレビュー時点で半年アップデートが無かった。 売りもんじゃねーわこれ