[h1] A whole new meaning to "GOOOO SHOOOOOT!!!!".... [/h1]
[h2] For the potential players [/h2]
This first section is mainly for those looking to buy the game and haven't yet. I will have a separate section more aimed at the devs with feedback on what I think can be improved on.
This game is really worth its price. If you grew up on [redacted]blade this game is a wild hit of nostalgia mixed with a strange sense of maturing that you don't expect from spinning tops. This game really gave me nostalgic vibes from the GBA [redacted]blade game.
Oh, and it plays great on the steamdeck.
[h3] Graphics and Artstyle [/h3]
The pixel graphics are really well done, the lighting gives the world quite a lot of depth and the colours are well balanced between visually pleasing without losing the gritty, almost dystopian aesthetics this game is going for. Because its a videogame, the design of the tops gets to be liberal and the devs made some fun wacky designs that I'd love for them to lean harder on if they bring any more content.
[h3] Sound [/h3]
From my experience the sounds fits great with the game, doesn't have any weird mixing that randomly hurts your ears and is overall well balanced. For a game at this price point and file size, it's completely understandable the lack of voice acting. To be honest the story is really not the focus of the game, so much so, that I'm not even dedicating a section to discuss it.
[h3] Gameplay [/h3]
The loop is fun. Slaybattle to get XP and money, spend money in shops to get new parts, new combos create a stronger Slayblade, rinse, repeat. Simple but fun. Majority events progress the time of day which is split into Morning, Day and Night. This is slightly important but I won't spoil exactly why. Just know it's more than just for aesthetics which is a nice touch. Instead of special moves you get power cubes to pick up which activate abilities. Both you and the opponent are fighting to pick it up
I think this is both the strongest and the weakest point of the game. The simple loop is fun but I feel like I would've liked just a bit more variety. Most power moves directly affect some kind of existing stat in a flat way. Either increases spin, decreases opponents spin, controls XP/gold gain, etc. There's a few which go slightly beyond that and give you some more unique interactions like the ghost part that can be passed between players like a game of tag, or the shield that gives you temporary immunity. I'd love to see more of the latter types added to the game.
Also the modifiers. I like quite a few of them but I wish there were more as many of them are just reverse of a previous one (gives more gold/takes gold away).
Before my conclusions I'd also to point out the game's humour. The pop culture and historical references with Slayblade twist were definitely corny, but made me laugh regardless. Think it was good choice to go into that direction in a game with no real story.
[h3] Conclusions [/h3]
Get it. The game is cheap, the game is fun, the developer clearly cared when making it. It feels like a passion project. Sure, it's not perfect, and I'll highlight what I think needs to be changed in the dev section, but the game was clearly cared for when it was being made which resulted in a fun title.
[h2] For the Devs [/h2]
First of all, thank you for making this game. I played it pretty much non-stop in the day that its been out (non-stop meaning whenever life allowed me, hence the measly 11 hours). I have a few suggestions for tweaks and a couple of requests which I admit are more subjective.
1. Certain part descriptions could be a little bit clearer. For example the double negative of "decreases by -20%" is technically inaccurate because it would mean the spin would get increased. Not a massive deal but thought it's worth pointing out.
2. Power cubes should take longer to drop. At the moment its such RNG on who gets them because the time between the shadow/drop outline and their actual spawn is so short, unless you're by them already you don't have time to traverse, or knock your opponent away from them.
3. Please give us a few loudouts that are easy to flick through. The game has parts that benefit from such conditional circumstances like the night time condition, exp bar filled %, etc. But because it's a bit tedious to go a flick through parts just for one battle and change back, i find myself not really using them.
4. Please give us a few more activities that don't advance time. Perhaps another opponent that gives less xp and $$$ but we can face once or twice?
5. Could we have a "no ring-outs" modifier please?
6. Please slightly reduce the sensitivity of the joysticks. It's a bit too easy to ring out yourself on controller
7. After all modifiers are unlocked, you still rank up (which is fine) but it still saying there's unlocks to go. Once you do rank up though I haven't noticed unlocking anything past the modifiers so if there's nothing else to unlock it's worth removing it from the UI.
8. Pls give us more. I'd happily buy a dlc for this or even a spin-off multiplayer pvp, or an rpg.
