Yark Survivors

Yip

epic review

I can now literally kill with the sound of music while also running away from my problems. 10/10

peak survivors

Not a roguelike. Once again, it's one of these crap idle games where you just walk around a field while 0 IQ monsters spawn around you and then march up to you while your abilities fire off on timers. Whatever this trend of 0 effort trashgame is, it needs to die. And fast.

I really, REALLY wanna like this game, and I can tell the most recent upgrade did indeed improve the gameplay, but I just *can't* recommend this game for those who want another Survivors-like experience. The in-stage currency ALSO being the perma-upgrade currency results in you spending 15-20 minutes on a run, spending your money on upgrades along the way to try and get strong enough to beat it, and then losing. And then when you lose, what's your reward, regardless of however much time you just spent playing? Whatever was in your pockets when you died. So if you spent most of the money you collected while playing on upgrades to get stronger, but died anyway, you're out of luck. The best strategy is basically to just keep restarting the stage over and over again, going as long as possible without ever spending any of your money, so that when you die you still have something to bring back and use on perma-upgrades. *That's not a fun gameplay loop.* A system with seperate EXP and currency (like most other games of this type tend to use) is a system that'd work significantly better for this game. As well, there's no control scheme that doesn't basically require you to take your hand *off* of the movement controls to select which upgrade you want, or which ability you'd like to replace. I really think this game has promise, especially with how charming the presentation is, but the gameplay loop just doesn't work well as-is.

YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP

I thought I'd update this since there's been some big updates since my original review. A short and quick auto attacker with a retro style. As an early access game, it has a few bugs but the dev is actively working to fix them. Yark now has a progression system, and you are unlikely to win a game unless you make at least some progress there. (yes, there is now an objective.) The new classes also add much needed variety to the game. It's not perfect, of course. There's been more than a few times when the emergent gameplay has caused me to go from doing fine to dead in a short space of time. About half of my deaths have been caused by being surrounded by a shield wall of imps. They turn the open exploration into a cage match that's nearly impossible to break out of unless you are already very strong. While I don't think that they should be removed, I feel that they need to be balanced better. Overall, I had a fun time with Yark! Survivors. Also, there is a dedicated 'Yip' button.

Played before steam release, played after steam release Still good.

Yip? Yip.