I've been playing this game for close to an hour now and I must admit I'm completely hooked. The style is gloriously retro with a great old-school sci-fi vibe to the score, and the concept is wonderfully simple yet provides a deeply immersive and satisfying experience. At its core, Obsidian Crown is a rogue-like shooter but uniquely blends with a karma system- one which punishes the player by lowering their visibility when using conventional (and much more powerful) weaponry and thus lowering their karma level, and allowing for their karma level and visibility to be restored by the use of non-violent, 'blue' weapons or avoiding enemies entirely until the time limit of the level ends and the exit appears. I applaud any game which gives players different and more peaceful pathways to progress through its narrative, and Obsidian Crown very much does this, as well as functioning smoothly and without error whilst doing so. Character sprites are really creative and well crafted in this game, as well as the general art style being gorgeous- evoking memories of playing games on my Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum as a kid. Bosses are extremely fun, but nonetheless very challenging- no pushovers to be had in this game. With the added pressure of trying to peacefully negotiate levels and battles so as not to lose precious visibility or be judged poorly between levels, Obsidian Crown keeps the pace at a very encapsulating, immersive and endlessly replayable level and experience. I'm very excited for Pipkin Studios from playing the game, and can't wait to see what projects they have coming up in future. Great job guys!
