I really wanted to give this a positive review. Music slaps, I like the graphics well enough, like the vibe of the upgrades - my little druid guy getting nanites to go along with his Gloves of the ArchNecromancer and buff up my Poison Vine Staff tickled my whimsy. The first run was pretty fun - for like, 5 waves or so.
Then, it was just monotonous. I know in general survivor-likes/bullet heavens tend on the more mindless side, but in my first run that lasted 19 waves and 25~ minutes, after the first 5 waves or so when I picked out my 4 primary weapons, I felt I made absolutely 0 decisions.
The combat felt slow. Damage was too low on both sides, so enemies couldn't really hurt me (I only died when I literally walked away from the computer on wave 19. It took 70 seconds.), but I was very slow to hurt them.
Rerolls are too cheap, and items are both too cheap and not significant enough. I never felt i had to make a choice or sacrifice when buying one - did it fit my build? if so, click buy. if not, click reroll. Repeat. I didn't feel the need to save money and choose if i'd rather get the chip upgrade now or the big one later. In the same vein, none of my purchases, maybe other than my 4 primaries, felt especially significant. It was all chip increases - 10% here, 5 there, and at no point did I get the dopamine rush I'd expect to get every 90 seconds or so off of a game of this genre, of buying one legendary item/ability/upgrade and watching my build settle and the screen light up like the pleasure center of my brain.
The monster variety was actually pretty cool, but for the most part it was just different sprites/numbers. A few ranged attacks or dodgeable aoes showed up here and there, and required me to click the wasd keys, but with how low damage is in general it didn't feel like it really mattered. Worse, there were no minibosses. I know there's a boss at the end of the run, from the achievements, but at least up to wave 19 there are no mini bosses that might end my run, no elites I could decide if i'd rather kill for a reward or try and run the timer on, no hordes rushing me at random intervals I could try to farm experience off of. just the same enemies as the last 3 levels, on repeat, until the timer runs out.
There are no random prizes - no chests that would give me an unexpected powerup, no sudden evolution when I maxed out my abilities far enough or surprise choices during a levelup. The game felt predictable to the point of boredom. Survive until timer, pick the level up from the list of chip increases, all the same rarity and value so just pick whichever you've picked before and fits your build.
There does not seem to be any progression - the game appears as a full roguelike, with no permanent boosts I could earn from my runs that would carry me through a successful but boring one. all wizards, all weapons, are unlocked at the start. This was not helped by the game crashing at the end of my run, losing what progress I could have felt i made after 25 minutes of gameplay.
In total, I think this game has really good bones, but it's lacking the finish it needs to stick the landing and escape feeling sloggy. I'll keep an eye on it - as new as it is, the devs already showed themselves reactive to feedback, so I'll keep high hopes it gets the finishing touches it deserves.
Thank you!
