Vortica

I found the game enjoyable, only took a little over 8 hours to clear adventure mode. Also going to play through some of the rogue mode in local co-op next.

I liked it. It has good and bad sides. I think it is enough of a starting point to further expand in a sequel. Not a single issue during my playthrough. Played it shamelessly on easier difficulty because I don't like sweating too much with video games. Enemies were fun to play against. Best map is the first map, which is tragic. Most maps feel pathetically small and uninspired, with extremely minimalistic details, that don't give any tangible identity for the place you are supposed to be in. Weapons have decent variety and are generally fun to use. Overreliance on the turrets as a mob clearer kinda constrains the gameplay but if you like playing the turret guy in games, you will like it. Loadout system also feels a bit constraining but still adds a spice to the gameplay that makes you want to plan properly for the missions. Not having a way to track the collected lore texts in the base is a crime. I have no idea what the lore is because I read about the lore in bases / lobbies :D Some items are invaluable, while some are absolutely useless and I don't even bother trying them, which is a waste of time for the dev. All items that you stumble on must have at least some minimal value for you as a player or it is just a disappointment and demerit for the game. Some items that seem useful are actually useful once or twice in the whole playthrough and you realize too late because it is not properly explained that the game mission screen specifies when they are useful and you don't use them anywhere else, and then you suffer regret for wasting loadout points on them for no reason. The base feels empty and barely utilized. Bosses are weirdly balanced and feel out of order. Last one is hilariously the easiest and the spider one is the most ridiculously brutal for some reason :D Fun but forgettable in its bland absence of eyecandy in simple moments of cool things happening or cool people doing stuff in cool places. Autor should focus on art style and lovability of the characters, diversifying the gameplay styles and adding more linear handcrafted moments in between generic combat rumble, trough better map design and maybe metroidvania progression.