Lootbound

10/10

Convenient training, battles with mobs and NPCs, a good project in the roguelike genre, the developers monitor reviews and correct the game, as I noticed

GUD

I like that the gear grid doesn’t feel like a separate mini-game. It directly affects combat, so every rearrangement feels useful rather than purely cosmetic.

Демо было лучше. Лишние механики, затяжная игра - третий акт выглядит лишним. Скудный набор мобов.

Honestly, it’s hard for me to be unbiased when it comes to this game. Why? Because I had the privilege of getting my hands on it quite a while ago. So my impressions of it are kind of blurred together across all the different versions and iterations. Some things I liked. Some I didn’t. But I’ll still give it a shot, my dear readers. All for you. So, Lootbound. What can I say about this game? Pleasant visuals — check. Pleasant music — check. Satisfying sound design — check. Interesting gameplay — check (with an asterisk). I could spend this entire review showering praise on the artists, programmers, game designer, sound designers, and everyone else involved. But I’m not going to do that. Most reviews have already said all of this for me, and I’m not going to repeat everything that’s already been said like a broken record. Instead, I’d like to draw players’ attention to one thing: This game is hard. And I don’t mean “a little challenging” hard. I mean REALLY HARD. The kind of hard where you die without even making it out of the first biome. It pisses you off. It frustrates you. You start questioning every life decision that has led you to this moment. And then, after an absolutely ridiculous number of attempts to take down the very first boss — a boss you have already learned to hate with every fiber of your being — you finally make it out of the first biome. Relief. And then you die again. And it all starts over. Except now it’s on a new level. And again. And again. And again. At first, you’re angry. Then you get desperate. And eventually, you start falling in love with the game. You basically go through all five stages of grief. You desperately search for that damn campfire, clinging to it as your only hope of survival, only to discover that someone is going to get healed. But who? The Paladin in your party, who’s soaking up all the damage? Or the Witch, who’s busy debuffing the mobs? (I was playing Bard.) You play. You lose. You play. You lose. With every attempt, you make it just a little bit further. And then, at some point... There it is. Stockholm syndrome. At some point, you genuinely start having fun. And to everyone complaining that the game is too difficult: First of all, the trailer literally warned you that the game is “unforgiving.” And secondly... git gud. For ten bucks? Yeah. It was worth it.

Although this is a positive review, I believe many things have to change in the game for it to be great. I played during the playtest and bought it on release. It says I have 0.3 hours but I have like 10 on my Steam Deck (playing offline for the moment). What is good: - Art: the game looks beautiful, the style is incredible. Keep it up! - Fluidity: it runs smoothly, the screen transitions are satisfying. - Inventory management: the heart of the game. It really makes you think and choose items wisely, spend lots of time trying to fit everything. What's not so good: - Auto companions: this is just dumb. Their AI is ♥♥♥♥, and the trigger conditions on some of the abilities make no sense. PLEASE PLEASE let us play the turns of the companions too. I believe allowing this could open the game A LOT and devs wouldn't need to nerf monsters as in the first update. I have lost a handful of runs just because my companions do something stupid - Abilities: most of them feel like a spicy auto-attack, and in many battles the player just feels like an auto-attack machine. - RNG rewards: even with the addition of different bonus dies, which certainly are cool, this doesn't add any layer of complexity into the game. It's just a "♥♥♥♥ you" most of the times. An example to fix this could be presenting items with roll ranges, and the die is rolled to determine the stat values within the presented ranges. - Itemization: items are just stat sticks. Auras are cool for synergies, but adding special effects to powerful items could be a game changer and could unlock powerful builds. Minor quirks: - When you boot up the game and have some save slots filled, the game defaults to the first EMPTY slot, requiring you to be careful and select the correct save. - Savescumming is pretty OP. You can use it to check which rolls you're going to get on a reward dice. If you don't get what you want you can always quit and reload cuz dice (and bonus) rolls will be the same. Also, if you savescum and the end of a battle, it seems that your mana is already recharged and you can pick up the rewards. Quit and save, you'll be at the start of the fight with your restored mana and items in inventory, can repeat the battle and get more mana and rewards. I REALLY like this game and want it to be great, but it's a long run until it is in its best state.