Ravenswatch

[list] [h1]The Good[/h1] [*]Diverse, mechanically interesting and complex heroes. [*]The heroes felt good to control and even better to master. [*]Co-op up to 4 players. [*]Doesn't need too much grinding. Finished the game at highest difficulty with 4 friends at 12 hours mark. [*]Plenty of meta progression to unlock. Heroes can unlock alternate traits, more talents, and different ultimate that can change how they play. [*]Lots of items available to you and more to unlock in each run. [*]Custom settings to tweak for the runs. Don't like the time limit? Remove it. [h1]The Bad[/h1] [*]Some of the heroes felt useless if compared to the overpowered ones. [*]Definitely lacking boss variants. Only 3—4 at higher difficulties—of the same bosses each run, not counting mini-bosses, which 2 are a copycat of each other. Need more bosses to make each run more unique and memorable. [*]Time limits by default. [*]No tutorial or onboarding process at all. [*]The maps felt same-y after a short while. [*]Some of the elite mobs have too-difficult-to-read tells and must be memorized beforehand. [*]Anticlimactic ending and final boss. [*]Voices are somewhat too low even after turned to max volume. Banters between characters were barely heard and became only static background noises. [h1]6.9/10[/h1] [*]I had fun. [/list]

awesome, plays flawlessly on Linux

A hidden co-op gem. Solo is fun too and at first seems easier than multiplayer, but the game is so satisfying when your team comes together as more than the sum of its parts and you start crushing enemies together with seemingly broken combos. I started this game well after Nightreign which seems to be very much inspired by Ravenswatch. And as much as I enjoy soulslike combat, this game feels like the better balanced experience in terms of pacing and enjoyability and randomization. The only criticism I can think of so far is the main bosses all have the same vibe, and it's the kind of raw evil chaos miasma cancer type theme that is a little bit played out at this point. But I've only completed the first difficulty so maybe there's more to see there. Either way this game is still very much worth checking out as the gameplay is superb.

Les comtes de fée, avec un assaisonnement roguelike Mucho bueno un peu trop répétitif

отличная игра

Well designed art and music, poorly balanced gameplay roguelite with no form of permanent progression to tackle increasing difficulties other than "unlockables" like Risk of Rain 2. Getting two-shot by enemies in the very first zone because you only had a flimsy dash with no i-frames and a long cool down is not fun. Melee somehow has less damage than ranged characters on average despite being at greater risk of damage. Many abilities tailored for co-op are completely worthless in solo, and sometimes even duo. Enemies feel like damage sponges while killing you swiftly, even when you invest in health and armor or shields/stuns etc. Investments in damage will give you 2-5% increases which matters very little when the 2nd zone has enemies with 25-75% more health. You are also on a time limit. You don't have time to kite around or take your time with enemies while you manage your often-long cooldowns. Cooldowns can be mitigated by getting the right dropped items, but that often doesn't guarantee success. Unlocking items takes forever and multiple playthroughs just to have *options* on a *single* character. Progression is lackluster and does not help you on future runs in a direct way whatsoever (as you aren't even guaranteed to get the new unlocks). Hard to give this a proper rating on a scale when there's a lot to like as well, but so much that is frustrating with the core gameplay. It might be an alright pick if you have several friends to regularly play and fail with until you "figure it out", but I'd recommend against playing this for the average solo or duo gamer(s). It's got a steeper learning curve than soulslikes and roguelikes I've played in general (and I've played quite a few of each). If you play several games or have a life, probably best to give this one a pass, as it's not going to respect your time. If you do give this a go, bosses are not timed like the exploration period before them, so take as long as you need to carefully defeat the chapter bosses.

fun with fren