Dread Delusion is a game I had on my "can't wait till it hits 1.0 to play it" list, but unfortunately, the final product didn't impress me and failed to hold my interest to return.

In terms of the things I feel they did well --

-The style of the world, the creatures, and everything else is striking. It is very distinctive and a good kind of 'weird'. I give major props to the artists and everyone who did the design of the world, it was what first attracted me to checking out the game.

-World building / lore. I loved when reading the history of the old gods, it really did emphasize the idea of a world where these gods both did provide beneficial aspects to the people, but everything came at a cost, and even the best way to describe that cost was "not pleasant" for the people involved.

Unfortunately the game was bogged down by my issues with the following --

-While I did enjoy reading the dialogue / lore / etc, there were two things that bothered me.
--The font is not great and sometimes it was a bit of a pain to parse at times, especially large entries. I understand with keeping with the style, but readability is important, especially if you want to have a lot to read in your game.
--While the people did feel they fit into the world, the dialogue sometimes had just "haha isn't that funny" jokes about certain things which didn't really feel like it fit with the topic. Was less evident in the more historical tales, but showed up when just making conversation.

-The world is not that engaging to traverse. It just feels so long to get anywhere and sometimes there are just large empty fields with barely anything of note, except for the (later discussed) very easy enemies. You'll eventually run out of stamina and need to sleep since you're having to run everywhere just to feel like you're making progress, but lots of the time, you'll be not seeing much.

-The combat is extremely underwhelming. Just stun lock an enemy or just swing sword -> back up to dodge -> swing sword again and you'll win every time. If you want to include combat, make it something more engaging than whatever this is. If you have the stamina, might as well outrun the enemies instead of fighting.

-I chose a thief background to do more stealthy things, and while there isn't that much in the way of sneaking, there is lock-picking. The game told me my skill was higher, but the lock-picking mechanic is just a dice-roll of "do you open the chest/door or does your lock-pick break?" Just a fun time to just keep smashing the re-roll button to try again, but not really feel any measurable increase in luck if my skill points went up.

-The game feels like it wants to combine old-school sensibilities with new ones, which can make for frustration. For example, I had mostly completed a dungeon and was near the end of it, but had to leave unexpectedly, so I saved and quit. When I reloaded my save, I was back at my last 'hard' save point, way across the map, but with my progress intact. So while I appreciate it saving my progress in terms of items/unlocking doors, I did not really find it great to have to run all the way back to get to the dungeon and traverse it once more. I'd have been less annoyed if I just lost progress and had to re-do the dungeon. At least consider adding some kind of checkpoints or something for some of the larger environments you come across.

I really do want to see more of the world and the weirdness it has to offer, but the game feels like it's actively pushing back and making it harder for me to do that. I wish I had more interest to push forward and play more, but I just ended up not enjoying my time with what it was asking of me.

Dread Delusion is a game I had on my "can't wait till it hits 1.0 to play it" list, but unfortunately, the final product didn't impress me and failed to hold my interest to return. In terms of the things I feel they did well -- -The style of the world, the creatures, and everything else is striking. It is very distinctive and a good kind of 'weird'. I give major props to the artists and everyone who did the design of the world, it was what first attracted me to checking out the game. -World building / lore. I loved when reading the history of the old gods, it really did emphasize the idea of a world where these gods both did provide beneficial aspects to the people, but everything came at a cost, and even the best way to describe that cost was "not pleasant" for the people involved. Unfortunately the game was bogged down by my issues with the following -- -While I did enjoy reading the dialogue / lore / etc, there were two things that bothered me. --The font is not great and sometimes it was a bit of a pain to parse at times, especially large entries. I understand with keeping with the style, but readability is important, especially if you want to have a lot to read in your game. --While the people did feel they fit into the world, the dialogue sometimes had just "haha isn't that funny" jokes about certain things which didn't really feel like it fit with the topic. Was less evident in the more historical tales, but showed up when just making conversation. -The world is not that engaging to traverse. It just feels so long to get anywhere and sometimes there are just large empty fields with barely anything of note, except for the (later discussed) very easy enemies. You'll eventually run out of stamina and need to sleep since you're having to run everywhere just to feel like you're making progress, but lots of the time, you'll be not seeing much. -The combat is extremely underwhelming. Just stun lock an enemy or just swing sword -> back up to dodge -> swing sword again and you'll win every time. If you want to include combat, make it something more engaging than whatever this is. If you have the stamina, might as well outrun the enemies instead of fighting. -I chose a thief background to do more stealthy things, and while there isn't that much in the way of sneaking, there is lock-picking. The game told me my skill was higher, but the lock-picking mechanic is just a dice-roll of "do you open the chest/door or does your lock-pick break?" Just a fun time to just keep smashing the re-roll button to try again, but not really feel any measurable increase in luck if my skill points went up. -The game feels like it wants to combine old-school sensibilities with new ones, which can make for frustration. For example, I had mostly completed a dungeon and was near the end of it, but had to leave unexpectedly, so I saved and quit. When I reloaded my save, I was back at my last 'hard' save point, way across the map, but with my progress intact. So while I appreciate it saving my progress in terms of items/unlocking doors, I did not really find it great to have to run all the way back to get to the dungeon and traverse it once more. I'd have been less annoyed if I just lost progress and had to re-do the dungeon. At least consider adding some kind of checkpoints or something for some of the larger environments you come across. I really do want to see more of the world and the weirdness it has to offer, but the game feels like it's actively pushing back and making it harder for me to do that. I wish I had more interest to push forward and play more, but I just ended up not enjoying my time with what it was asking of me.