Nother: an indie souls-like

Note: Please review the edit below! I really want to like Nother. It's difficult to compare it to other Souls-likes because the similarities are so few and the game seems to willingly omit some of the finer features that were present in the developers previous work, Epoch. For example, one of the defining assets of a "Souls" game is a world that speaks for itself. Lore is present but delivered through subtle exposition, as in item descriptions or the environment, to allow the player to draw their own conclusions. Nother has no exposition, but it seems to have zero lore as well. There's not much of a driving force behind *why* we're waking up in a foggy twilight forest and why everyone & everything seems to be out to kill us. I figured that I'd get some exposition as I progressed but unfortunately, 2 "bosses" in and there seems to be next to zero plot. The game suffers from some technical failures as well. Items can be picked up and thrown but the game won't let you pick anything up if there are more than 1 valid targets nearby. This is a problem, as there are often rocks and traps nearby that you may need to immediately interact with and you'll often find this will get you killed. In particular, there is one enemy who is guaranteed to dodge and riposte melee attacks but he surrounds himself with items you can use to kill him. The problem? They're so close together that you have to fight the boss as well as the game in order to pick the darn things up. Gaining a level requires you to gather 4 shards (or defeat a boss, gaining a level immediately). Once you've acquired these you can level up a stat by pressing the assigned key (?). These are Space, R and F. Interestingly, while in the inventory these keys are still bound to their actual purpose: Space is dodge-roll and F is consume potion. You will level up your Intelligence, which upgrades your potion effectiveness, then promptly chug one. These are not restored until you save or die, so this seems like it was either intentional or otherwise leveling up is such a major portion of the game that I have a hard time seeing how this went unnoticed in play testing. The game touts controller support, but it is abysmal. Rest assured that it is just as bad for keyboard and mouse users - if your cursor is outside of a walkable space and you attempt to attack, it will fail. This is bizarre as your mouse position has no influence on where your attack lands (where you are facing does). This has gotten me killed more times than I care to count. I'm not sure if this is related to the recent patch which added an option for mouse aiming or not. Bumping into an object causes you to snag on it. If a moveable object has a physical space, there's no way for you to "slide" past it - in fact, running near rocks or puzzle pieces is an exercise in frustration as you will bump into them and become physically stuck until you move away. There is an area that requires you to quickly carry an orb while evading enemies. This area is full of these rocks which seem to serve no other purpose than to demonstrate the game's failure in this regard. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is the best description of Nother: It does so few things well, and they're spaced so far apart, that the rest of the game feels like it was set up to demonstrate the game's failures rather than to provide any sort of enjoyment for the player. Edit: Leaving the original review here for posterity's sake, but the developer has been quick to find and resolve issues and the game has improved considerably since launch.

If you enjoy easy to learn but hard to master indy games this might just be the experience for you. Wonderful little community during beta testing. Lead designer is very kind and listens to feedback. He will get back to you quickly if you have any concerns/problems with the game. My only problems were some clipping issues and some attack patterns are hard to decipher, but nothing that took away from the gameplay. Honestly fun and challenging. A little on the short side, but Im also pretty sure this is a one man show. We should always strive to support indy developpers, I just wish I had paid for a copy... If you are interested, I would recommend buying a copy. If its a little too much for your wallet, keep it in your wish list! It goes on sale every so often.

The game looks ok in pitures but playing it is another story. There is no depth perseption with the areas and you get caught on everything. Contoller is almost none existent with very few options to change your key bindings. No video settings to adjust brightness or contrast. Combat is clunky, it's trying to be a 2D Dark Souls but with even less satisfaction.

Edit: After a few more hours I have to say this game is really good. I have killed my first boss and I think I am level four now, I have a ton of weapons and armors. I figured out that you can warp around. I figured out you can throw weapons. I am really on a roll. There are a few bugs and I had to quit and reload the game a couple of times. I am getting used to the controls still but as you figure out more and more things you can and more and more weapons and abilities the controls require even more testing and getting used to. I am definitely recommending this game to my friends and if you like Souls and you like retro-style games this game is awesome. Original Review: Just like in Dark Souls you will be saying "I swear I hit the roll button!" Controls are a little Janky but I am getting them. I tried to throw a boulder a giant's head, it seemed like the game wanted me to, but it would't let me... hmm. I have encountered 2 bosses that I can't beat, but I'm getting close. Have my sword upgraded and found some sweet blood armor, but only wearing the helmet ATM cause I need fast roll for this current boss. Game is pretty good so far! I streamed it for about an hour you can probably check out noshots00 on twitch on the recent streams. I'm super tired so I'm going to bed but I'll probably play some more tomorrow morning and edit/revise this review when I do.

Tras el éxito de Dark Souls, muchos juegos de jugabilidad similar o inspirados en el mismo aparecieron. Siendo este mi juego favorito me propuse recorrer estos títulos. Nother es otro de muchos. Ambientación: 6/10 ------------------------ * Historia 5/10 * Calidad Gráfica 6/10 * Música & Sonidos 7/10 * Voces -/10 Jugabilidad: 5.5/10 --------------------- * Diversión: 6/10 * Controles: 4/10 * Fluidez: 6/10 * Rejugabilidad: 6/10 Aspectos Técnicos: 5.25/10 ------------------------ * Claridad: 6/10 * Interfaz: 6/10 * Textos: 5/10 * Idioma: 4/10 NOTA FINAL: 5.6/10 Mecánicas y boses al puro estilo Dark Souls en su versión 2D. Algunos boses son extremandamente sencillos y otros te acabas tirando de los pelos. Lo mismo con algunos enemigos comunes, la mayoría puedes combatirlos con la paciencia de un Soulslike, los del bosque son directamente injustos. Si te gusta Dark Souls y no te importa el estilo es un juego pasable.

Due to the limitations of Steam's review system, namely the character limit, my review can be found at either of the links below: http://imgur.com/a/msIgD http://pastebin.com/0d2UKVcg Aside the dev, I was the most prominent in beta-testing the game and have the most time put into it thus far and have detailed near every aspect of the game I feel is important in my review above. If you're considering buying the game, I would recommend it for sure, but always read up games you want to buy first, of course. Below is a rating of each section specified in the review. [Playthrough Experience] Early Beta: 3.5/5 Late Beta: 4/5 Release: 4.5/5 [Gameplay] 4/5 [Content & Exploration] 5/5 [Enemies & Bosses] Enemies: 4.5/5 Bosses: 5/5 [Graphics & Music] Graphics: 4.5/5 Music: 4/5 [NPC's & Story] 5/5 [Controls] Keyboard: 4.5/5 Controller: ?/5 [Challenge & Replayability] 5/5 [Developer Support] 5/5 [Conclusion] If I had to give the game as a whole a number rating it would be 4.5/5

Like the description states, this has a lot of similarities to the Dark Souls series. The footage can't really show how open this game is from the beginning. You can go anywhere in the game from the start, though some areas must be accessed by performing tasks or killing bosses. Nother's got a few bosses that can be farmed for items, and an array of traditional bosses that are fought once. The keyboard and mouse controls aren't the easiest to use, but it is certainly possible to do well without a controller. Using a controller simplifies a lot of controls and is generally a lot easier to use, and makes combat a bit easier too. The game itself isn't easy. You aren't told what to do, you must figure that out for yourself. You'll probably die a lot, unless you've got the right armor and weapons for each area. There are some bugs but they usually get fixed in the update after they're spotted, but there isn't anything game-breaking. The game plays a lot like the Dark Souls games, but in 2D which is quite a lot of fun. People have said that it takes about 8 or 10 hours to complete and you can always play it again, like in Dark Souls, with different items.

I would love to play the game. The setting is really cool. Sadly the game doesnt work with my steam controller on my system, so i had to refund... on top i had kind of stuttering and the controls are a bit delayed sometimes... If there would be a fix i would buy again!!!!

DARK SOULS IN PIXEL ART? (Nother) - Novità Verrà un giorno che saremo pieni di giochi splendidi ispirati a Dark Souls. Verrà un giorno. Quel giorno non è oggi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7o57KcdGk