Loopmancer

This game is freaking great. I dunno what the negative reviewer is talking about, this game goes hard. I've played some janky indy rougelikes, this is NOT one of them. Note that I played this for the steam games fest, so I've a lot more playtime than my 2.9 hours on record attest to. First off, unlike most rougelikes, each level is one fluid level, just like a normal single player game. Not a bunch of connected squares. This alone would make me love the game. I'm getting seriously tired of the 10 mini arenas making up a level gimmick. [b]Combat[/b] Quick, difficult, extremely varied. You have melee weapons, guns, gadgets, and a special attack. How you chain that together is up to you but there are a buttload of each to unlock. You starting loadout is randomized, but you can purchase weapons and abilities for the current run when you get to a shop. There are a few shops per level and you can teleport between them to come back later. How do you unlock the weapons and abilities? Well, during a run, you come across these item terminals. You can choose to put some of the coins you have toward unlocking the item. This persists across runs and once you pay the full price, any time you come across that same item it will be free for you. These are not static terminals. They change what items are available and where they are between runs so you never know if you will get access to them or not. [b]The Story[/b] Better so far than any other rougelike I've played. Its a detective story mixed with a sci-fi "reliving the same day over and over" scenario where the detective is trying to solve a mystery by putting together the clues he gathers each time he goes through the loop. The order you choose to do these levels in and I'm assuming a few other things will affect the outcome at the end of the game. I'm only into the second area so no idea how that pans out yet. Also, there are huge lore dumps lying around everywhere. POV stories, histories, Wikipedia-like entries, and they are well written in perfect English (no idea what other language translations end up like). They are also pretty damn long. Someone put a lot of work into this. [b]The Rougelike Elements[/b] There is permanent progression for things like health, health vials, stamina, keeping money when you die, a free res, etc the normal rougelike stuff. But also you can unlock a bunch of different combat abilities that enhance how you fight like the ability to repel ranged attacks or do slams from the air and things like that. [b]Unique Elements[/b] In addition to the unlocking weapons thing mentioned in the combat section, here are a few more I've seen. You have checkpoints that you can teleport between like normal, but those stations can be used to heal yourself with some restrictions. First its only a bit at each and if you use it all you have to pay to reload it if you want to use it again in that run. They make for nice little boosts to heal up after fighting a big group of enemies, but not wanting to waste your precious potions. Boxes that refill ammo are 1 use each, but you can teleport back and grab ones you left for later if you didn't need it at the time you first passed it. [b]Conclusion[/b] I REALLY like this. Keep an eye on my total play time if you want to see if the game is actually good or not. Some people leave a good review no matter what so they can build up a reputation to get free games and such. I'm not one of those people. I like rougelikes, I play the ones I have fun with, and I'm going to be playing this one a bunch. Here's some short clips if you want to see what the combat and lore of this game looks like in action. [url=https://www.twitch.tv/twohandedslap/videos?filter=highlights&sort=time]Link to my twitch highlights for Loopmancer[

Loopmancer is a classically based sidescroller with fighting elements in a contemporary twist. Watch my first gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydZ_Q2UwyXQ Loopmancer can easily be compared to games like Metroid but with slightly less complexity. The battles are mainly fought in close combat, be it with bare fists, your feet or blunt weapons of all kinds, in addition firearms and other attack options such as throwable weapons are used. The range is really good here. Weapons and equipment can also be leveled up. You start a run and will almost certainly die sooner or later. The game is also very challenging, you notice that from a certain point. Oh yeah, and also very important, the controls with a gamepad are as they should be in a game like this, it doesn't feel clumsy or slow. The courses you have to take are also not complete, just from left to right, you will also have to observe often to find the route because regularly you have to climb, descend, go back, turn around again, etc, but in the end this is not that difficult and who knows, you may also find some extra items this way. In terms of sound and graphics I also found it very interesting, the atmospheres that the sounds, music and scenes create fit very well with the cyberpunk environments and backgrounds, whether you like good hack & slash sidescrollers or just the whole cyberpunk style then I can definitely recommend this game. ps: I tried to play the game at an ultrawide resolution but it didn't seemed to support that, it would be great if it would via a future update.

Visually this game is beautiful. The movement is fluid and not terrible combat. However, the voice acting is god awful. Plus the wilhelm scream? in 2022? Each death you start the level over again. Using your points you earn to invest towards getting new weapons and such. Dope. The thing is, the weapons you invest in are random. you could have the option invest your points into unlocking a weapon then never see that weapon again until the next run or two. Also, unless you go through the entire intro again you dont get to pick your weapons when you start the loop from the level you died. Basic rougelikes have that feature. Overall, maybe wait until an update but for now save your money,

Fun fast paced combat, but the massive amount of cringe inducing dialogue is horrid.

While there is some jank here, this game strikes me as a future cult classic. Combat is fluid and well animated, progression feels daunting but possible, and the writing is so bad as to be sort of good again. Pro tip: Turn off the enemy voices in the audio settings, because this is the most obnoxious and egregious part of this game.

I understand why people are thumbing this down, but I'm absolutely loving it. Yes, it's a bit janky and the localization isn't the best, there are a lot of names that sound very similar thrown at you rapid fire and it can be hard to keep track of them. The UI and explanation of the perks and systems leaves a bit to be desired. The voice acting is wildly over the top (in a great, campy, B sci-fi movie way)... BUT, the setting is amazing, and so far the story is engaging. If the Cyberpunk genre is your jam then this game is for you. If you love Neuromancer or Snowcrash this game is for you. There is a ton of lore and world building and I find myself wanting to read every note / diary entry etc... I can. It's a gorgeous game as well. I can't speak to how this game holds up as a roguelike because I'm fairly new to the genre, but I'm enjoying it more than I expected. I'm very happy with the cost to fun ratio! My biggest gameplay issue is that the screen is SUPER busy. There are visual cues that indicate when an enemy will go into an unblockable or special state, but those visual cues get lost in the background scenery and the particle effects. When the whole city is glowing red, and the enemy's visual cue is a quick "flash red" and there are 4 or 5 enemies on screen....well you get the picture. Still, I'm having an absolute blast.

Link to video review: https://youtu.be/Sb18W6LdplU Loopmancer is an oddly harshly criticized roguelike timeloop detective game. It's got a slick and faithful artstyle, keeping its cyberpunk roots close to the chest. It also has flashy combat that's generally quite smooth. This however doesn't mean it's perfect. If you advance too quickly, the game seems to skip a few sets of dialogue with the loops, which can leave you in a position of hearing how you've been in the loop forever, even though it's loop 2. Also the story's nothing to write home about. A mildly intriguing disappearance of a journalist will get dropped for a bigger conspiracy that's just too big for its own good. The biggest issues mentioned in the reviews are either irrelevant after the 2 notable updates or are kinda weird to hear since they criticize issues that stem from the lack of usage of gameplay mechanics. Saying how it's easy to get knocked down is weird when the game's surprisingly generous with the amount of dodging you can do even from the beginning. I don't mean to make it sound like a "Git gud" issue, but I personally just never had those problems and the solution seems clear on surface. Honestly a great time overall, but it's also not perfect by any means. Expect the budget and price to reflect the expected product.

The game has a good premise to it, and all. But there's definitely some coding issues with the game, causing the load times to be far longer than they should be for a 2.5D action platformer - as well as various bugs that would occur as well. In the end, I think this can be a great game down the road. But really need some more polish, at this point and time. So, either wait for a decent discount; or for it to get a few updates before grabbing it.

[h1] Groundhog Day in a Cyberpunk Universe [/h1] I am not a big fan of 2D fighting platformers, nor am I very good at them, but I really enjoyed Loopmancer mostly because it’s also a detective game with interesting twists, several different choices to make and many different endings! You have an option now to keep reading if you prefer written reviews or you can check my video review on Youtube if you prefer watching and listening instead: https://youtu.be/4oKYrwj1ZCs The story in Loopmancer is interesting and exciting. The choices you make are between two levels, because most of the time you don’t have the time to visit both places. Other choices depend on how strong you are so for some of these options you will have to get stronger first. The game has 7 endings in total, but for me personally it was way too many. I already had enough when I had 4/7 endings achieved. The game became easy and repetitive at that point so rather than wasting more hours on something I didn’t enjoy as much anymore, I looked up the last three endings. Why? Why bother? Because I felt like I needed to get the final happy ending and some kind of closure before moving on. Unfortunately “the happy ending” was very disappointing and I got no closure anyway. I recommend you getting a few endings when the game is still fresh and fun for you and then stopping. If you decide to go for all the endings and you need some help, you can check my full playthrough on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5ZLiHR9A1eUSwy_1WNEH9xuw1dyYVNmL or you can send me a message and I will try to guide you. The gameplay in Loopmancer is fast and fun. You have 4 different types of tech - a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, a tactical gear and a skill. There is a huge variety in all categories. Some options are hilarious - for example a pink dildo I really liked to use as a melee weapon. Some options are really powerful - I loved all the melee weapons which give enemies negative status effects like poison, electricity or fire. The level design is a little bit different in every loop, also weapons you can find and purchase in levels are changing. I absolutely like the visual look of the game. The levels are so charming and atmospheric. I wish the game had more levels. For the amount of endings, it would make the game so much better. Loopmancer also has high quality cinematic cutscenes and full voice acting in English. Even your enemies speak, swear and scream ridiculously when you are fighting them. It was all very funny. The biggest issue with the game right now is that it doesn’t save your progress much, so if the game crashes during a level, you will have to play it from the beginning of that level. That was not the worst. Even when you finish the level and beat the boss in the end and your game crashes during the cutscene after, you still have to play the whole level again! At that point I almost felt like uninstalling the game. Luckily it only happened once. Things get a bit messy after a couple of loops. I no longer knew what’s new information when talking to people and what I already heard. Also in the case of cutscenes, I never knew if it’s a new variation of a cutscene or if it’s something I’ve already seen before. I wish there were some kind of indicators for differentiating between old and new. Diaries and notes you pick up could also be easier accessible. At least a few seconds to open them with pressing a button after picking them up. I got absolutely bored going through menus to read each of them and this annoyance made me give up reading them. I loved all the different outfits for the main character but why not let us change them between levels? He can change equipment at work so why not clothes? I wanted to roleplay a bit with him and blend in as a detective by wearing the appropriate clothes to certain environments like a hotel or a muddy village. In Loopmancer you make yourself stronger by permanently upgrading your equipment in levels or at work and by purchasing permanent tenacity skills at home between loops. There are also temporary power ups in levels and they last until you die by the hand of your enemies or environment. If you keep looping without dying, eventually some of your stats will reach maximum and some power ups will then have options like increase of healing sodas from 7 to 7 or melee attack damage from 48% to 48%. At first I thought it was a visual bug so I chose a couple of them without increasing anything at all. I believe that it should be more clear. If there are two options where one is maxed out, you should only have one option showing. If you got it all, remove the power up completely or give us some currency instead. I recommend Loopmancer because it’s really fun, especially the first hours of gameplay when everything is still new and exciting. The developer really did a great job. They got it all right, well almost. All they need to do is to push for perfection and fix the endings. Remove some of the bad ones which feel like very small variations of the same and add some final ending with a closure and explanations. And they should really fix the saves and game crashes, because those are really frustrating!