After playing for a bit more time, and being able to explore it a bit further, i can say this : This game is on the right tracks. It's honestly fun to play it in solo, so i am sure it will be a blast, to try it with friends! though, just like every game, there are things to change. i'll try to resume them with the negative points first, and the positivity! let's go with the negative traits of the game :
-Character animations : I'm dissapointed to see that the characters have not much animating... don't get me wrong, they don't T-pose while you play or anything like that, they even have death animations! But... no blinking animations at all, no idle pose animation (From what i saw), no emotes either? that's a bit sad. A cat has MANY ways to express themselves, either with paws, claws, licks, meows, and let's not talk about their "zoomies"... it would be a blast to see more of all that! i encourage working a lot on animations.
-Difficulty balancing : The game is either super hard, or super easy, depending on what you will be choosing as traits, and what you will obtain (it's a roguelike, that's common sense.) but the second zone ennemies are clearly less of a menace than the first zone of the game. They are much slower, much less reactive, and as long as you keep your distance and make sure that you hit from afar, they can't do anything to you. Especially the mortar frogs (or however they are called.) they are too slow. i suggest reworking on the second zone to make it more challenging.
-"What's the game about, again?" : I would suggest adding more cat features. It's a game about cats, and yet i never hear a meow in it! no purring either? don't be afraid to make a feline carnage! cats are messy, they knock down stuff, they are small tornados running around! make us feel like cats, don't be afraid to make Kagero walk on some walls or even run on them for some seconds! she is a cat AND a ninja! it fits the character perfectly. maybe just adding a silly button to "Meow" would be great! just one button that would make the character meow or purr. Deeper meows for clint, tinier ones for BB kat.
-Some abilities have to be reworked : Mostly, i'm thinking about the ultimates : they don't have much advantages except for Kagero that can be very useful if you try to avoid ennemies and if you want to do more damage. But BB Kat's ultimate is useless on ennemies that will drop dangerous liquids on the ground (Mostly the hamsters) because they will damage you no matter what. Also Clint's ultimate, which consists in lowering your speed to make a barrage of bullets all around you. problem is : you are extremely slow (Even with the upgrade in the shop), AND you still can be damaged by bullets and sniper units. A rework has to be done with these two, because it doesn't make me want to use their ultimate abilities.
-Shop prices are unbalanced : a big rework has to be done about the shop prices. sometimes, it feels like they are completely random, except for the nexus tokens that are fixed at the same price every round. I suppose they rise progressively as you get through the levels, but in zone 2, i had a trinket that costed more than 10 000 coins... that's unrealistic.
-Some upgrades are useless : Characters gets upgraded with some nexus tokens for a much more efficient gameplay. But i clearly don't understand some of them. Clint has an upgrade for the duration of his smoke bomb. It can be upgraded by 1% that way. i do not know if it's a problem with the french translation of the game, but this is absolutely useless. It's the same with much other upgrades. they need to be worked on, quite carefully. having much upgrades to select is awesome, but if some of them are completely useless, i'd rather not see them.
Alright, so far, that's the negative points i noticed. Now, for the pawsitivity! (haha, funny jokes :>)
-Musics : Not gonna lie, it was already nice at the beginning of the game. Catchy, groovy, stylish... when i re-played the game, i was surprised to see that they made even better soundtracks! quite repetitive, yes, but honestly, they are awesome! i wouldn't mind listening to them on the side, during other tasks. Perhaps adding a little juke-box in the lobby to listen to the musics of the game while you do your upgrades would be great!
-Graphics : They are cool. i don't have the best screen resolution, but the game looks purrfect! From little details on some bottles on the ground, to some decorations or trinkets here and there in some maps, aswell as lots of other designs for ennemies or for the characters, that looks great. And the game also runs smoothly! not a single stutter, no low-rate for the frames... optimized wonderfully, and that's a superb thing! well done!
-Voice acting : as a person who wishes to do some voice acting, i can tell that they are doing a wonderful job. but come on now, when i hear clint, i get some chills remembering about a certain cowboy i swear i've heard before... But seriously, i love the voices! I'd love to hear more of them! either when you buy an item, or use a capacity, you can tell that this is top quality! My total respect for that voice acting, it is outstanding!
-Translations (French translations exactly) : Not everything is perfect, and not everything is translated, but in all honesty, it is not bad at all! i know some other studios with much more people working in it that uses google translate for their translations. but when i play that game, i can tell that it is fairly translated! they even added little puns or french sayings and sentences used in everyday's life, some puns about rats and cats, and lots of other little jokes.
-Gameplay : Let's be honest. This is addictive. Sometimes, i'm frustrated by the stuff i get along the run, and see that i have no luck at all... Sometimes, i get cornered by ennemies and easily fall, and sometimes, it's just a sniper shooting from afar that defeats me. But i cannot think otherwise than "Dang it... okay, another round!". Playing solo for 5 hours was awesome, fun, and i wanna go back to it already! but playing it with friends (if they get the game) is going to be Purretty amazing!
My thoughts :
This game has a great potential. I'd love to see more of it! i'd love to play more of it too... i'll keep an eye on the game, because honestly, it's a blast. It needs to be updated, yes, it needs improvements... but every great game started with some flaws here and there.
Sharpen those claws, purr like an engine, drink that free-lactose milk, and let the zoomies begin!
