*Note that the game has been updated after this review was made, including the change regarding the capture rate for monsters at a higher level than yours.
[b]My Playtime:[/b] 26.2h (100% achievement, finished the game, 2x playthrough)
[b]My First Playthrough:[/b] ~13h
[b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (~1 achievement).
[b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (13 achievements).
[b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No.
[h1]Intro[/h1]
[b]The Vision Of The Ant[/b] is a monster-catching game where you have to level up, capture monsters, and defeat bosses. Despite having a linear progression, you can skip all main quests and beat the final boss at your first encounter if you wish.
[b]Pros:[/b]
- Freedom to explore the area however you want
- A lot of monsters to capture with different skills
- Locations are randomized in each playthrough
[b]Cons:[/b]
- Leveling up existing monsters are discouraged
- Random crashes
- The game can feel repetitive at some point
- Empty overworld and dungeons make exploration to be boring
[b]Specs[/b]
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
[h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1]
[b]No.[/b]
[i]The gameplay forces you to either grind for a long time and finish the game longer or go on a capturing spree and finish the game quickly. Unless you like to do either choice, don't buy this game.[/i]
[hr][/hr]
[h1]In-Depth Review[/h1]
[h3]Visuals[/h3]
While the game has a lot of monsters, some of them are drawn in a different style from each other. It looks off at the beginning, although you'll get used to it. The game itself uses a simple-looking overworld with randomized obstacles and locations, both in the overworld and dungeons. Sometimes, dungeon layouts look weird since big areas are generated close to each other, making dungeons that are supposed to be narrow to be very vast.
[h3]Story[/h3]
There isn't much story in the game. Most dialogues happen at the beginning and the end, with some dialogues that act as a pointer on where to go after you finish each region. The way the ending was told feels as if there are multiple endings, although there don't seem to be any.
[h3]The Game[/h3]
[b]Gameplay[/b]
The first thing that I would like to point out is the lack of instructions for the controls. The game uses a different control scheme to show up the menu, which is the C button. It took me a while to realize that this feature exists since there is an extra menu that is accessible from the Escape button to show the quest log, options, and the feature to exit the game. Most of the in-game features that you need are accessed from the menu from the C button, which would be critical if you want to play the game for a long time, especially since the save button is only available there.
The game can be brutal at the beginning. You are limited to only 5 saves before you can replenish them at an inn, but enemies are very strong - you might even need to save before every encounter since they can wipe your party easily. Although you still can continue the game after a party wipe, your money and EXP will be depleted, which will take a toll if you can't recover from it. However, it can be hard to balance your spending and earnings early game if you also account for resting at an inn, especially if you are still learning the ropes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2959914291
As a monster-catching game, it encourages capturing monsters rather than leveling existing ones. It takes so long just to level up your existing monsters while you can just speed up and capture a higher-leveled monster to instantly get stronger. Moreover, you won't know what skills your existing monster will learn after they level up while you can already know some skills that the monster has if you capture it. This creates a big disparity between both playstyles.
The gameplay is repetitive. You need to explore the pretty much empty overworld and dungeons, which is partly due to the randomized nature of the game. It might be done to promote endless playthroughs, but with the strategy being the same as it is, it doesn't add much value in the end. Dungeons are too abundant in one area and their insides are regenerated after you sleep in an inn. They end up serving as a way to gather materials and level up, which can be easily skipped if you don't need them both. All of these end up becoming fillers that you can skip as you wish, with you having to do the same thing every time you explore a new region.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2959914696
[b]Length and Difficulty[/b]
I'm not sure how long I finished the game, but it was definitely less than 13 hours. I was insisting on leveling up my monster and found that they are not worth the time it invests, especially since the higher-leveled monsters have better skills and will roughly have the same base stat at the same level as my existing monsters.
My second playthrough was listed to be finished at ~2.5 hours, which I thought should be more since I had to redo some actions to make sure I got the speedrun and S+ rank achievement. The game can be short if you don't care much about leveling up and focuses on upgrading your monsters with your newly captured ones. If you are an achievement hunter, there is also a grindy achievement where you need to spend some time leveling up. It took me an additional grind of ~3h, although I already leveled up a lot in my first playthrough.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2959914904
As for the difficulty, as I said before, the game was hard at the beginning. The limited saves make the game unnecessarily harder, especially since you can get in bad luck with the random encounters and get a party wipe. Add this to the game's "feature" that can force you to be in a fight whenever you go to a dungeon and get wiped out since the dungeon is several levels higher than you. Yes, you will only know the level recommendation of the dungeon once you enter it, and most dungeons in the first few areas look the same.
Moreover, the game hits a difficulty curve once you are at level 3. Some level 3 dungeons have enemies that can use a highly damaging skill, making it hard to survive without luck. Sometimes, I had to wander aimlessly since I couldn't find a dungeon that suits my party, and the lower-leveled dungeons' EXP is too low to matter. Again, this can be mitigated if you know how to play, but it can be hard for first-timers that are playing the game blind.
[b]Issues[/b]
I had some issues where monsters don't spawn in some dungeons, monsters stuck on a wall in a dungeon, random crashes, and many other things, but most of them have already been addressed by the developer. The remaining issues are just the intermittent crashes and minor things like the sprint skill not working as it should and others listed [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1854280/discussions/0/3823034248724880125/#c3823034248730235998]here[/url].
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
[b]The Vision Of The Ant[/b] might look like a promising monster-capturing game at the beginning, but it was incredibly stressful and grindy if you don't know what to do. You only have 2 choices: grind and finish the game longer or go on a capturing spree and finish the game quickly. To be honest, I'm not comfortable with either choice; I'd rather go on my pace without worrying about the grind or being forced to upgrade my monsters, especially when they are similar. It would be better if it was like Pokémon that has some areas balanced for your level with minimal grind if you wish to do so. That being said, although the game has potential, I sadly couldn't recommend the game as it doesn't suit me.
[quote]This game was reviewed with a key provided by the developer for free through Curator Connect.[/quote]
[quote]Follow our curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/quote]
