Recent reviews by Axariel

I think that this is a very high quality game when you take into account that it is coming from an indie dev team. I feel like folks who are coming to this title from other bigger budget titles might be setting their standards and expectations a bit high, and it is fine if they want to do that. From my perspective, I think it is important to acknowledge that Jyamma has not made a game of this scale before (seriously look up some of the other games that they have made), they are not From or NCsoft, and arguably different standards should be applied when evaluating games from this developer. Why? Well, if they have potential and a supportive fan base, maybe they will make bigger and better things in the future.

Why am I recommending this game? Well, first and foremost, I think that they have done a great job with world building, and I find the game's art style to be rather unique and impressive. I also think that the scope of the world from a purely visual perspective is pretty amazing (even if in actuality the game is not necessarily massive in scale). I think that this also makes exploration more engaging. The combat in this game is also significantly better than what you could find in many, if not most, first attempts at making a soulslike game. However, I will acknowledge that the complexity of the animations and some aspects of the parry system are not on par with what you can find in AAA+ titles. I also think the mask system, elemental damage types, and skill loadout systems are relatively unique even if they are not fully breaking the genre's mold.

As far as critiques go, I can understand why people do not appreciate the limited move sets (each weapon of a particular type is basically the same with very few exceptions), enemy hit tracking, enemies commonly holding off their attacks, and the amount of bosses that are simply knights. These are all things that happen to be in the game, and it is up to you to determine whether or not you can live with them.

**Edit: I will add that there is pretty much no animation canceling, e.g. you cannot attempt a full combo and cancel out of the third hit to parry. This is likely why many folks feel that slower weapons are not viable and part of why folks feel that the combat is clunky. I will agree that this is somewhat irksome because it detracts from the fluidity of the combat and makes it more difficult to focus solely on offense, but it does not ruin the game for me.**

There are also a number of critiques that are simply inaccurate. Maybe there are points in the game that feel like a "parry simulator," but I feel like saying that this is all the game is after the second area is an exaggeration. Even if it was true, I can think of at least two games that have been well-received that lean more heavily on the parry mechanic. I also think that heavy weapons are viable, but you might have to be familiar with attack frames and spacing or be good at parrying and/or dodging to use them; it is definitely not the case that long sword is the only viable weapon type. Lastly, performance is great on my PC, and I have worse specs than most of the people complaining about it (who have i9s and RTX 40XX GPUs).

Lastly, I will just point that it is incredibly easy to respec your stats and invest in passives that do not relate to your current build, many of the hardest enemies seem like they are optional and/or are meant to be fought after exploring other areas, and a key remapping feature is on the way.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. Hope you enjoy the game. If you don't refund it.

If edging was a game

More like Banger Lord

This games takes some of the best aspects of autobattlers, deckbuilders, and MOBAs and puts them together in a single-player package. There are other games like it, but I always felt like it was somewhat difficult to understand how the mechanics influenced the way that matches play out. Although there is a bit of a learning curve, I feel like this game fixes that. I generally know what the AI is doing to counter me, how I messed up a play (if I did), and what I need to at least try to do in order to win. This is hands down the best game I have played in a while.

That all being said, I think that there are some things that the dev can do to improve upon the game. Some of those things relate to the translation from Chinese, minor bugs, and some things that folks feel are unbalancing the game. But I think this is an amazing product as-is, and it will likely only get better because they dev seems pretty responsive.

Even though this game has 1,000+ reviews and a very positive rating (ATM), it is ridiculously underrated. I can only imagine that this is due to the fact that not all autobattler and deckbuilder enthusiasts play MOBAs, but I would encourage players of those former genres to give it a shot.

For now, I am giving this a tentative positive review. No, it isn't Starcrawlers (and I would love to see a true sequel to that game), but Starcrawlers is probably the best first-person dungeon crawler that has been released in the past several years. This game is a single-character, first-person roguelike in the Starcrawlers universe. I find it engaging because it shares some mechanics with dungeon crawlers, provides a good sense of progression and build diversity, and it has a solid loot system.

If my opinion changes as time goes on, I will give this review an update, but I am really liking what I am seeing with the full release.

In just over two hours of play time, you will find out that this game offers just over two hours of play time.

Also, it's a scam.

I have been looking for a game that has the same vibe as Super Auto Pets (SAP) for a while, and I thought that maybe this game could be the one. Sadly, the game needs a considerable amount of work before it could possibly be on par with SAP. I have come to this conclusion for two reasons. First, game-breaking bugs are far too common; in less than two hours I have had the game become non-responsive three times (usually when accessing the shop). On my last run, the game was struggling with the amount of post-fight triggers that I had on my team; many of them were not fully triggering until I went on to the next screen, and the icons representing the buffs that I was triggering remained on the screen and prevented me from interacting with what was behind them. Second, this game is incredibly easy so long as you can properly evaluate creature abilities even though there are a number of seemingly useless, low-synergy creatures.

Not liking this game is a skill issue.

I would recommend this game for an early access title. I feel like it replicates the mechanics of other autobattlers in a fairly competent way. That being said, I also feel like the current amount of content (summons and traits) is a bit lacking, which translates into a lack of build diversity. Like others have said or implied, there is also a lack of balance where certain traits lack impact and others pretty much win the game for you.

Hopefully, by the end of EA, the gameplay will feel tighter and your decisions will feel weightier. Some rather simple ideas could help the game get there, but their inclusion would require breaking away from the source material. Games like TFT are engaging because you play with other people and there is an evolving meta. I feel like there has to be a bit more depth and complexity in a single player title for it to be playable for hours on end.

Still, I will likely get my moneys worth out of T&T even if substantial changes are not made during EA, and it certainly provides a close approximation to a single player TFT, which I suppose is what I was looking for.

UPDATE 8/25/22: FOV slider has been implemented and it makes the game substantially more enjoyable. I have, however, encountered disappearing blood trails and kills both before and after today's patch. That being said I have 63 successful hunts in just over 20 hours, so it has not ruined the game for me.

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I think I can fully understand the criticisms of others. On a personal level the FOV issue is not entirely acceptable, but it is something I can tolerate knowing that it will be fixed. There also some minor issues regarding performance that do not particularly bother me. Further, some features from other games that I felt were relatively inconsequential have been left out of this title, which more or less just makes this game feel like more of a simulator than, for example, COTW (which did not always feel overly arcadey to me). That being said, the gameplay feels tight and satisfying, which is what matters at the end of the day. On top of that, I really appreciate the more interesting mechanics this game brings, e.g. aging, genetic fitness, more realistic movement, etc.

If the devs do not follow through on their commitments to address the issues that others have pointed out, I could see myself changing this review. I would probably do the same if I encountered any bug that broke the game or my sense of immersion.