Yark Survivors

I would not recommend the game at this time. It tries to reinvent the wheel and fumbles the execution badly, with a system so reliant on RNG and a grind so steep for new characters that it feels like you are being punished for playing. While the mechanic for gaining new abilities and passives is cute at first, the fact it is a physical item you have to pick up, while playing a melee character with low speed, ensures that you can't reliably decipher if you should take that capsule or scrap it to get back some hard earned money. That last bit is important as things ramp up rapidly and you can be stuck with shops that don't have yellow gambling machines to get new ones. This brings up the problem with the shop system itself, it should be just that. A shop. The fact that you still have to gamble in the TIME LIMITED safe zone is absurd. Keep in mind there is no actual way to view what your abilities do unless you stop moving and read the capsule and there are a lot of terrible abilities that are traps. Get a bad one? Welp sucks to be you, this is time limited and you have no idea if you will ever see another yellow gambling machine again. Keep getting bad ones? Well that is just gambling for you... most quit before they win! I just... I don't know why there was a need to try and reinvent the genre staples, but make them all worse? If you want the gambling machines just leave the random ones in the wilderness and actually pause the game when they are used and let people see what the hell they got. Turn the timed safe zones into an actual shop so you can even remotely hope to put together a decent build. Let people read the abilities they have. As a note on playtime... I got so frustrated with this survivor-like that I minimized the game and went to do other things. Jumped into Space Station 13 and forgot the game was even running in the background until much later. That is not a good sign.

I know this game's early access right now, I don't really like reviewing early access games because I'm essentially judging an unfinished product. However, I think it's important to get my criticisms about the game so it can get improved on in the future and I want to see this game do better. If it does improve, I'm willing to change my review. The title of the game might be a typo, since you don't really survive as much as getting killed repeatedly. Your character starts with very weak defense and the enemies are tanks from the get go. The little sword you have forces you to get really up close and even then you're prone to getting hits. Leveling up is difficult, because you have to physically touch orbs the enemies drop, and when the enemies keep coming closer you have to take long paths just to get the orbs because they keep blocking them. The power ups in the game do not feel like power ups at all. I barely see any change from increased speed, using magic, and even health regeneration. The health regeneration goes at an absolute snail's pace and doesn't even activate until you're at low health. Even then, it doesn't even heal you completely. With magic and increased speed, I barely see any difference in damage at any point in the game. The enemies get progressively stronger, while you're barely getting any tools or upgrades to fight back. While I did enjoy the Yark demo I played a while back, this game in particular left me feeling disappointed. I do like the retro aesthetic as well as getting to play as a kobold. As it stands right now, there's room for improvement.

I feel weak from start to finish, the enemies are too tanky and I feel locked into always picking the same abilities or I don't last a couple minutes. Regen is a must, HP up doesn't matter, ect -- It doesn't feel good to play yet.

Good: yips, works well and pretty decent overall for an early alpha game, great art, runs smooth, neat and easy to identify enemies, can yip your way to an early death. bad: some of the % effects feel a bit small per stack, like chance to do 1% burn of enemy max health.

Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip

There's potential, but needs work. Way too easy to die, health regen is low, no minimap - but cute game with kobold that does in fact yip.

Yip.

A simple Kobold Sim Run around. fend off baddies. collect shinies. Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip YipYap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yap Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip Yip Yap Yip Yap Yap Yap Yip Yip Yap Yap Yip Yip ????? Profit Die Repeat.

You can yip. You can swear. You can upgrade. 20/10 best game <3

Though it's still early, the game is definitely improving and gaining polish with every update, especially with the enemy balance. The starting enemy takes 2 sword hits to kill now which helps a lot lol. The map has been polished and looks quite nice now so I'm eager to see the other maps that are planned. For 2 bucks I can recommend this to anyone who has ever appreciated kobolds, Vampire Survivors, and/or games that are challenging but easy to jump into and don't require much thought. Hoping it gets achievements soon :>