(Я бы и на родном всё рассказал, да лимит в обзорах не позволяет ;c - игра хорошая, амбициозная, но ей требуется время в "печке" :p, так обычно и бывает с Early Access играми)
Having played this game for a bit of time now (19+ hours) and having reached the "third" sector, I feel like I can finally "properly" review the game.
Sheesh, where do I even start? - There's quite a lot to talk about.....Oh!
0) I'll start off with this: This game feels like "Palworld with aesthetics of 1984, the humour of Starship Troopers (The movie, not the books) and Helldivers (1+2), with gameplay feel of Risk of Rain 2 with a bit of Rimworld mixed into it" <-<
Quite the weird combination, isn't it?
0.5) that being said...you can FEEL the fact that this is an "early access" game, unfortunately. (but that's to be expected)
Many gameplay elements feel "clunky" - be it Fighting/exploration, base building/colony simulation, so on and so fourth.
0.75) in fact, a pet peeve of mine is the fact that there isn't....space combat and planet exploration on your main base planet. It's surprising to NOT see them in a game such as this. I already made a MASSIVE list of "what I'd love to see in the game" in surveys, but....I wish to repeat my point in here quickly:
For a game that has a lot - it feels like this game lacks a lot of stuff as well. Space combat is one of those things (a missed opportunity), even if it was a bit basic (you get to build space ships but you DON'T get to use them in ground battles Helldivers-like or in....space? - That's so weird!
It's fine though, space battles aren't "really" needed....but our "BASE" PLANET EXPLORATION? - now THAT - is a massively missed opportunity! It would actually help expand base building/colony sim elements in the game:
Weather effects! (both natural and human-made, be they extreme weathers of all kinds like hurricanes and storms! )
"Raids" from enemies and/or "tribes" that are on the planet that formed as a result of the previous "leader" dying or...something! I don't know, it's such a missed opportunity!)
- Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the "chill" base building, but I feel like you could add base defense as a TOGGLEABLE (important wording here!) challenge for those who seek a bit more stuff to do in the game.
We also have something akin to "trading" (but it's more of a "selling station" where you sell your junk......not actual trading though, which is sad) - you could add a whole economy system to the whole thing! (not just our own "resource"-based one, but....something akin to "space" economy that fluctuates based on what we do...I mean...it just makes sense <-<)
Despite that - everything "does" work together, which is nice! - But you can FEEL the fact that it still needs time to be turned into a very smooth and fluid game
And seeing as I mentioned things from the game already, how about I start talking about them now?
1) Combat and "space" exploration:
Notice how I combined these two, they are intertwined
A decent chunk of your gameplay will be in "expeditions" (that's what the game calls its rogue-like runs).
You'll notice that the game has......a very weird scaling problem. <-<
Sometimes missions feel quite easy, other times they feel INSANELY hard, and I feel like it mainly comes from the fact that:
1.1) - The combat doesn't feel as "smooth/fluid" as it needs to be (but it CAN be):
Aa good example of that would be the fact that your dashes stop you from shooting....... it feels extremely clunky, and that's just a small little thing....... or how about weird Ally soldier/worker mission A.I.? - they get stuck in many places in many maps, which....leads to a rather annoying experience where you have to babysit them (otherwise they just get deleted by enemy spam)
1.2) - I already mentioned enemy scaling (I play on "Punishing" difficulty with iron-mode base building, seeing as it's the hardest that the game gives you from the start. And yes, the diffuculty is VERY CUSTOMIZABLE! Which is very nice! :D)
It's a bit sad that this is one of those games where you get "less health and shield stats" while enemies get progressively more %-based survivability stats.
Like, the difficulty (punishing) I play on gives me "100%" of my stats while enemies have....200% of their stats <-<
And that is NOT factoring in "enemy scaling" in expeditions. Which......it "does" make sense from a ROGUE-LITE perspective...
But there needs to be some sort of "cap" on it, otherwise it just becomes unbearable and stops you from progressing as smoothly as the game expects you to.
There are moments where enemies become SO tanky that many of your weapons, armours and even soldiers become absolutely useless against unbeatable hyper-buffed tanky enemies that can dish out hundreds of one-shotting attacks >:(
1.3) Don't even get me started on some (many) enemies being extremely ANNOYING to deal with:
Sniper-esque enemies are abundant in this game, and some mini-boss-elites have extremely annoying "elite modifiers" that completely ruin your mood (it's more of a "you have to experience it" to know what I am talking about, but...trust me - lots of AOE that is hard to dodge, even with immunity frames on your dashes, it's quite annoying).
1.4) Did I mention that a lot of difficulty comes from your arsenal? Both "Cores" (roguelike upgrades in exploration) and your ACTUAL arsenal (weapons, armour, skills)?
I can see that they devs are trying to get everything at the same time, but it feels VERY clunky.
Some "cores" are simply better than others.....some are a DETRIMENT (like the nebula assault rifle "homing shots"...Holy moly that one is horrible)
Some are stronger, some are weaker....but that's to be expected! - experimenting with stuff is cool.
They are also trying to do the whole "Hades-esque" boon combination bonuses (which I do appreciate, not many games can pull that off) - and when it works - oh ho ho! - IT WORKS, it really does
And it even feels fun! Cores are quite fun, even if some still need a bit of work put into them (or major changes. Why would I say "no" to "phantom mode" cores or a powerful shield bonus core (I feel like this one should be built into our character, that -50% charge speed AND charge cooldown is insanely noticeable and makes the whole experience smooth)
As for arsenal RNG....it's horrible. No other way to say it - it's just bad.
YOU -NEED- better armour and weapons to "survive" in future battles (especially on higher difficulties where you barely have any survivability). But GETTING those items is one heck of a chore >:c
Most of the time you juts go into the next sector with barely "properly" upgraded gear (newly built weapons, you can't actually upgrade your gear, only build "higher rarity + higher sector" ones)
And yes - the higher the sector, the better the gear.....it's not even a "sidegrade" territory talk, no no no - if it's from a stronger place, then it's simply....better........which kind of ruins the whole "experimentation" thing, because....you can get "the same" stuff, but.....better from "higher" sectors, instead of having runs in different ones <-<
1.4.5) - it even affects workers. You get "better" workers from stronger sectors (2 + 3)...there is never a point to go back <-<
It does ruin the replayability of the game quite a lot. What's the point of going into previous sectors if the next one is simply BETTER for you in every way? X-X
It's still very fun, I just wish the RNG was a little better <-<
2) Colony sim/Base building!:
It's fun!....feels a bit clunky, but it's fun! It's got a lot in it already, I just wish it had "a few more" things in it (like raids, or base planet exploration).
Yup, this part is short, because it's actually quite nice, a lot of stuff works wonderfully in it!
I do recommend the game (especially if you wish to support the devs). They've made quite the ambitious game and I'd love to see where it's going!
I do mean that! It's fun! ^-^
-RGG.
