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marurun
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by marurun Tue May 17, 2022 10:11 am

  1. Final Fantasy IX (Nintendo Switch)
  2. Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers (Nintendo 3DS)

Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers (Nintendo 3DS)

Known in Japan as Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, SH was originally a Saturn title released in Japan in 1997. 2 years later it was ported to PS1. And then 13 years later it turned up in remastered form on the 3DS! SH is definitely an Atlus MegaTen-adjacent game (even if it isn't technically a MegaTen title, except in the US). Your friend is possessed by a demon and you quickly come into a COMP (GUMP in Japan) which is a portable computing device which allows you to summon demons. From here you rapidly end up embroiled in the chaos of a tech company attempting to make an ideal connected city, except that demons are turning up everywhere. What's going on?

SH is a first-person dungeon crawler and features a number of traditional dungeon crawler mechanics: a row system for who can attack where, complex maps with occasional teleporters and holes to drop you down floors, damage-dealing trap tiles, and the ability to recruit party members. Only the party members you recruit are demons. And you only reliably control yourself and your possessed friend. Demons, unless you max out their loyalty, will act according to their own whims. Making them effective while trying to build their loyalty is part of the challenge. Your possessed friend can cast spells, as can demons. And demons also have access to skills which burn HP instead of MP. You and your friend can wield melee weapons and also guns. Melee weapons get stronger with your strength but guns don't increase damage from any stats, only from weapon damage rating. Guns are more effective at hitting the back row of enemies and hitting from the back row in your party. Guns also consume ammunition. And with the exception of ammunition, all items only stack to 10, so no stashing 99 potions like in Final Fantasy. Only 10 potions for you!

A fusion system allows for you to fuse demons and inherit certain skills. There's room for "accidents" in fusion and other tricks which can give you access to higher level demons. A currency called MAG is "consumed" by demons as they are active in your party. See, your COMP has only so many slots to store demons, and only up to 4 can be active in your party (to round you out to 6 active party members). It costs MAG to summon demons from the COMP and demons have a MAG consumption rate which is how much MAG they burn every step on the map. Once you've recruited a demon it gets added to a demon compendium and after a certain point in the game you can pay MAG to retrieve a demon from the compendium and add it to your COMP. There's also money which is used to buy items. You can convert between the two currencies at a particular store in the game at a variable exchange rate.

This game is Wizardry meets Pokemon set in the modern day era. But there's more to the 3DS experience than was in the original. Atlus localized the title themselves, and the localization is fantastic. There's a ton of voicework for characters. There are a couple minor encounters not voiced, and none of the standard demons you battle are voiced, but otherwise the game is loaded with voiced character interaction. There's lots of character beats which are well-written and Atlus did a great job conveying character personalities. This are some hammy accents in with the otherwise great voice work, however, and this game is replete with some harmful stereotypes which Japan was likely less sensitive to in 1997, but Atlus's localization team in 2012 should have noticed and done more. Fortunately, there are also some convenient accessibility accommodations built in, like the ability to adjust difficulty and turn on auto-mapping without an in-game item on-the-fly.

I suspect Soul hackers was a pretty great game when it was originally released. I mean, it did get a PS1 port 2 years after it's Saturn debut. And this 3DS re-release makes it even better, adding some great voicework, a fantastic localization, and modern accessibility options. This is absolutely the way to play the game, and I had a blast doing so. It's shorter than some other modern monolithic RPGs, but that's a good thing. With the exception of one stupid-long dungeon the game just feels a lot tighter. And just because it's shorter doesn't mean it's a short game. It still racks up some play time, and there's lots of post-game content, too, for folks who really want to get into the weeds with more dungeon crawling and higher level demons.


Highly recommended. Probably expensive in physical but available in the eShop, which is where I got it.
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Nemoide
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Nemoide Tue May 17, 2022 1:31 pm

THE LIST:
1. Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
2. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
3. Freedom Planet (Switch)
4. Aleste (PS4)
5. Gunpey DS (DS)
6. GG Aleste (PS4)
7. Dr. Mario (GB)
8. Motor Toon Grand Prix (PS1)
9. PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
10. GG Aleste II (PS4)
11. Power Strike II (PS4)
12. Rusty's Real Deal Baseball (3DS)
13. GG Aleste 3 (PS4)
14. Darius (PS4)
15. Darius: Extra Version (Genesis)
16. Cave Noire (Game Boy)
17. Mary-Kate & Ashley: Get a Clue! (Game Boy Color)
18. Sakura Wars (Saturn)
19. Pretty Girls Panic! (PS4)
20. OutRun (Game Gear)
21. Bust-A-Move (Game Gear)
22. Balan Wonderworld (PS4)
23. Puyo Puyo 2 (Game Gear)


23. Puyo Puyo 2 (Game Gear) - Okay, so I got the worst ending but am still counting this as beating the game. I didn't reach the top of the tower and defeat Satan, instead I got knocked off the tower after beating the level 5 enemies. But I managed to beat Satan in the Saturn version, so I'm being lenient with myself. I'll probably never beat the secret boss, but who knows, maybe it'll happen if I keep working on my puyo skills...
I assume most folks know the original Puyo Puyo was a Japanese puzzle game released in America as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Kirby's Avalanche, but it was much more successful in Japan. The goal is to match four blobby "puyos" in any arrangement where they're touching with big bonuses for getting combos by clearing multiple sets in succession. Puyo Puyo 2 is arguably the best of the series and was a tremendous success in Japan; it's ruleset is still considered the standard among competitive players. Puyo Puyo 2 is the same core game as the original, with the biggest difference being that your combos can cancel out garbage puyos and send them to your opponent. Another change is in the single player game: instead of a linear progression through tougher enemies, you try to progress up a tower by fighting different enemies on each floor and a certain number of points - which becomes extremely challenging because you need to line up sizeable combos before the very fast CPU opponents rain garbage puyos down onto you and ruin your strategy.
The Game Gear port is a bit stripped down, you won't find cutscenes of Arale encountering the different enemies, although the attract mode is surprisingly intact. The game was such a huge hit, the developers probably assumed that you've played another version and just want the GG version to play on the go without any need for a story. And if you're just looking for a portable Puyo Puyo, this port is excellent! The graphical style is true to the look of the arcade game and even has different shapes for the different colored puyos, another enhancement over the original since it makes them easier to recognize quickly. There aren't any difficulty options, which is a bit of a drag, but I do think the difficulty level has a good curve in that it starts fairly easy and becomes extremely hard. It's hard to say for sure but using a continue seemed to make enemies a little easier, but that also could have been me just improving as I played more. Even though this game was only released in Japan, I'd recommend tracking down a copy if you're a Game Gear fan!
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Nemoide
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Nemoide Thu May 19, 2022 11:56 pm

[quote="Nemoide"]THE LIST:
1. Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
2. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
3. Freedom Planet (Switch)
4. Aleste (PS4)
5. Gunpey DS (DS)
6. GG Aleste (PS4)
7. Dr. Mario (GB)
8. Motor Toon Grand Prix (PS1)
9. PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
10. GG Aleste II (PS4)
11. Power Strike II (PS4)
12. Rusty's Real Deal Baseball (3DS)
13. GG Aleste 3 (PS4)
14. Darius (PS4)
15. Darius: Extra Version (Genesis)
16. Cave Noire (Game Boy)
17. Mary-Kate & Ashley: Get a Clue! (Game Boy Color)
18. Sakura Wars (Saturn)
19. Pretty Girls Panic! (PS4)
20. OutRun (Game Gear)
21. Bust-A-Move (Game Gear)
22. Balan Wonderworld (PS4)
23. Puyo Puyo 2 (Game Gear)
24. Puyo Puyo (Game Gear)


24. Puyo Puyo (Game Gear) - I have to say, playing this right after Puyo Puyo 2 just makes me realize how much of an improvement that one is! This game is largely the same as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on Saturn. One thing I like is playing the Japan-exclusive Puyo Puyo on an American (and probably European) Game Gear results in an otherwise unreleased English version of the game called "Puzzlow Kids". Puzzlow Kids is an awkward title, but it's kind of cute! You still get Arale fighting against the same Puyo-villains but you also have an English ending and a translated Quest Mode where you have to solve challenges that's identical to the version in Dr. Rotbotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I always thought that was a fun mode (that I wasn't great at) and when I was a kid I was surprised that it was a Game Gear exclusive.
It's a fun game, but feels very easy compared to Puyo Puyo 2 with slightly worse mechanics. It's still a classic, I'd recommend it if you happen upon a cheap copy and don't already own Mean Bean Machine but those two versions really seem a bit too similar to justify having both unless you're trying to collect Puyo games.
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Nemoide
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Nemoide Thu May 19, 2022 11:56 pm

THE LIST:
1. Diddy Kong Racing (N64)
2. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
3. Freedom Planet (Switch)
4. Aleste (PS4)
5. Gunpey DS (DS)
6. GG Aleste (PS4)
7. Dr. Mario (GB)
8. Motor Toon Grand Prix (PS1)
9. PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
10. GG Aleste II (PS4)
11. Power Strike II (PS4)
12. Rusty's Real Deal Baseball (3DS)
13. GG Aleste 3 (PS4)
14. Darius (PS4)
15. Darius: Extra Version (Genesis)
16. Cave Noire (Game Boy)
17. Mary-Kate & Ashley: Get a Clue! (Game Boy Color)
18. Sakura Wars (Saturn)
19. Pretty Girls Panic! (PS4)
20. OutRun (Game Gear)
21. Bust-A-Move (Game Gear)
22. Balan Wonderworld (PS4)
23. Puyo Puyo 2 (Game Gear)
24. Puyo Puyo (Game Gear)


24. Puyo Puyo (Game Gear) - I have to say, playing this right after Puyo Puyo 2 just makes me realize how much of an improvement that one is! This game is largely the same as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on Saturn. One thing I like is playing the Japan-exclusive Puyo Puyo on an American (and probably European) Game Gear results in an otherwise unreleased English version of the game called "Puzzlow Kids". Puzzlow Kids is an awkward title, but it's kind of cute! You still get Arale fighting against the same Puyo-villains but you also have an English ending and a translated Quest Mode where you have to solve challenges that's identical to the version in Dr. Rotbotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I always thought that was a fun mode (that I wasn't great at) and when I was a kid I was surprised that it was a Game Gear exclusive.
It's a fun game, but feels very easy compared to Puyo Puyo 2 with slightly worse mechanics. It's still a classic, I'd recommend it if you happen upon a cheap copy and don't already own Mean Bean Machine but those two versions really seem a bit too similar to justify having both unless you're trying to collect Puyo games.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by prfsnl_gmr Sat May 21, 2022 12:55 pm

First 20
1. Space Warrior (Switch)
2. Itta (Switch)
3. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (Switch)
4. Mask of Mists (Switch)
5. Metagal (Switch)
6. Foxyland 2 (Switch)
7. Submerged (Switch)
8. Back to Bed (Switch)
9. Thoth (Switch)
10. 140 (Switch)
11. Infinite: Beyond the Mind (Switch)
12. Ninja Striker (Switch)
13. Kid Tripp (Switch)
14. Miles & Kilo (Switch)
15. Neon Junctions (Switch)
16. Golf Zero (Switch)
17. 198X (Switch)
18. Macbat 64 (Switch)
19. Kiwi 64 (Switch)
20. Toree 3D (Switch)

21. Toree 2 (Switch)
22. #RaceDieRun (Switch)
23. Micetopia (Switch)
24. Tomena Sanner (Wii)
25. Contra ReBirth (Wii)
26. Unstrong Legacy (Switch)
27. Quarantine Circular (Switch)
28. Infernax (Switch)
29. Cosmos Bit (Switch)
30. Ape Out (Switch)
31. Return of the Double Dragon (Super Famicom)
32. Contra (Famicom)
33. Summer Carnival ‘92 RECCA (Famicom)
34. Bionic Commando (Arcade)
35. Shinobi (Arcade)
36. Super Meat Boy (Switch)
37. Chex Quest HD (Switch)


I wrote about these in the Summer Games Challenge thread. It’s really fun this year, and I hope more of you will participate!

Chex Quest HD is Metroid Prime 4 in all but name…or it’s a HD remake of a literal Doom clone packaged in cereal boxes in the 1990s to promote Chex mix. The difficulty is very low, but its five levels are surprisingly well-designed. The music and voice acting are also solid. I beat it in a little under an hour, but I only paid $0.09 for it, so…
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Markies Sun May 22, 2022 6:36 pm

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2022!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*

1. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS3)
2. Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne (XBOX)
3. Streets of Rage 4 (NS)
4. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Master Quest (GCN)
5. Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)
6. Darkstalkers (PS1)
7. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)
8. Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Calibur (N64)
9. Draogn Quest VI (SNES)
10. Batman: The Video Game (GEN)
11. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)

12. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)

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I beat Mario Kart: Super Circuit on the GameBoy Advance this afternoon.

One of the most important aspects of beating my Backlog was that I could now add four more consoles to my list. The GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, Wii and WiiU were all systems that I owned, but I did not have games for yet. I could now go out and find all the games that I wanted for each system. Well, it was incredibly hard for me to find a GBA I wanted. The only one I was able to find was Mario Kart: Super Circuit. I absolutely adore the Mario Kart series and it is one of the Nintendo Franchises that I have probably spent the most time playing. The last 'new' Mario Kart game I had played was Double Dash, so I was eager to try something different in the franchise.

It is hard to go back in the Mario Kart franchise and play the preceding games. The franchise evolves so quickly and makes such quality of life improvements that it is hard to go back in time. I play Mario Kart 8 almost every Saturday, so it took me several tracks to get in the old school mindset. I couldn't power slide around every corner and I was actually given good items. Super Mario Kart is probably my least favorite game in the franchise, so I was hesitant when Super Circuit was based so heavily on it. Thankfully, they improved Super Mario Kart in every single way. The game controls much better and it is not as punishingly difficult. It's not a modern Mario Kart, but I would play it over Super Mario Kart any day of the week.

With that being said, I only played on 50cc and I barely had any control over my character. I was still flying all over the course. I can understand that as I didn't know the courses, but I still felt like the controls were a little too loose for my tastes. Also, much like older games, I dealt with the same 3 or 4 people near the top, so there is not a lack of variety in the enemies. Fighting against Bowser again got really old after a while.

Overall, I still enjoyed my time with Mario Kart: Super Circuit. I don't know if it is a game I would go back to like other games in the franchise, but it was great to see this one evolve like it has. It has improved on an older version in every single way and was still completely playable without being cheap or mean. Obviously, I will enjoy the later versions more, but this was a nice trip into the past and I was happy to patch up this hole in my Mario Kart history!
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by prfsnl_gmr Tue May 24, 2022 3:12 pm

First 30
1. Space Warrior (Switch)
2. Itta (Switch)
3. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (Switch)
4. Mask of Mists (Switch)
5. Metagal (Switch)
6. Foxyland 2 (Switch)
7. Submerged (Switch)
8. Back to Bed (Switch)
9. Thoth (Switch)
10. 140 (Switch)
11. Infinite: Beyond the Mind (Switch)
12. Ninja Striker (Switch)
13. Kid Tripp (Switch)
14. Miles & Kilo (Switch)
15. Neon Junctions (Switch)
16. Golf Zero (Switch)
17. 198X (Switch)
18. Macbat 64 (Switch)
19. Kiwi 64 (Switch)
20. Toree 3D (Switch)
21. Toree 2 (Switch)
22. #RaceDieRun (Switch)
23. Micetopia (Switch)
24. Tomena Sanner (Wii)
25. Contra ReBirth (Wii)
26. Unstrong Legacy (Switch)
27. Quarantine Circular (Switch)
28. Infernax (Switch)
29. Cosmos Bit (Switch)
30. Ape Out (Switch)

31. Return of the Double Dragon (Super Famicom)
32. Contra (Famicom)
33. Summer Carnival ‘92 RECCA (Famicom)
34. Bionic Commando (Arcade)
35. Shinobi (Arcade)
36. Super Meat Boy (Switch)
37. Chex Quest HD (Switch)
38. King’s Field II (PSX)

Pretty awesome first-person ARPG that not for the impatient or the weak-willed. I played it for the Summer Games Challenge and wrote about it in that thread.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by Raging Justice Sun May 29, 2022 9:18 am

Kao the Kangeroo - PS 5

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This game is basically a Playstation 1 era style platformer in the vein of Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Mario 64, etc. Overall, it's decent, but rough around edges.

There's tons of technical issues, bugs, glitches, that I'm sure will be addressed in future patches.

The graphics and music are passable, nothing too out of the ordinary for a game of this type. Very Crash Bandicoot/Jak and Daxter vibes for the most part, like some ex-Naughty Dog people designed it. It looks and sounds fine, but nothing about the art style or music is distinctive. This is one of the problems with the game that also extends to the gameplay. It borrows from great games in the genre, but rarely injects its own personality or any real creativity or imagination. Like so many indie games, it's happy to copy the greats rather than take those formulas and innovate with them or improve upon them in any way.

The gameplay is fairly solid, but amateurish in a lot of ways. Many of the levels are far too long, unlike modern classics New Super Lucky's Tale and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission who know how to keep a level from wearing out it's welcome. I think Crash Bandicoot 4 suffered from this as well.

There are also these obnoxious explosives that randomly show up when you smash crates and things. Any one who is familiar with 3d platformers understands that smashing stuff is one of the joys of the genre. Lego games feature a TON of stuff for you to smash. Penalizing players for one of the most fundamentally fun aspects of the genre is a level of stupid that I can't wrap my head around. I say this a lot, but a lot of modern day developers really are fucking morons. At least in the Crash Bandicoot games you KNEW what things you couldn't smash because they were colored red with the words TNT on them.

Also annoying is the checkpoint system. It doesn't save your progress, which I wouldn't complain about if the levels weren't so obnoxiously long. Also, when you fall into a pit or hazard, instead of just losing some of your health you also get teleported back to your last checkpoint and have to return to the spot where you missed your jump...aggravating.

Kao tries to bring a bit more action to the genre with some beat 'em up style combat, but it all feels so sloppy and poorly executed. Also, because it's 2022 and if anyone releases a game that doesn't have some sort of parry/deflect system in place the gaming gods will apparently rip off your balls and feed them to you, Kao has lots of ranged attackers who throw stuff at you and the game expects you to jump in the air and deflect them with your Jak and Daxter style aerial attack. Like practically EVERY game that has parry/deflect systems in place these days, the timing feels wonky and un-intuitive. Also, sometimes the enemies that throw shit at you do it from off screen, which is just annoying. Trying to deal with range attackers while fighting other enemies or doing some tricky jumps is especially annoying.

The camera can be slightly annoying too when platforming through some sections of the game, you have to manually control it because it doesn't just automatically give you the best viewing angle.

Despite all these issues, the game gives you what you'd expect from a game of this type. You'll do lots of tricky jumping, find hidden secrets, collect lots of stuff, interact with lots of anthropomorphic animals while controlling a generic, mascot character who is nowhere near as cool as Mario, Sonic, Ratchet, or Sly Cooper. It's your standard 3d platformer. If you like those, you'll like this, but there are far better modern examples of the genre that are more deserving of your time like New Super Lucky's Tale and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. I'd probably rate those games 9-10, while Kao is more of a 7 out of 10 game. This is a bargain bin/steam sale type game
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REPO Man
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by REPO Man Sun May 29, 2022 1:40 pm

Have you played the original? I think I played the original once iirc.
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Re: Games Beaten 2022

by MrPopo Sun May 29, 2022 6:06 pm

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

1. Underworld Ascendant - PC
2. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - PS3
3. Ni no Kuni - PS3
4. Operencia: The Stolen Sun - PC
5. RPM Racing - PC
6. Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem - PC
7. Pokemon Legends: Arceus - Switch
8. Ni no Kuni II - PS4
9. Everspace - PC
10. PowerSlave Exhumed - PC
11. Horizon Forbidden West - PS5
12. Elden Ring - PS5
13. Shadow Warrior 3 - PC
14. Ghostrunner: Project_Hel - PC
15. Triangle Strategy - Switch
16. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - PC
17. Nightmare Reaper - PC
18. Kur - PC
19. Gundam Versus - PS4
20. BIOTA - PC
21. Chantelise - PC
22. Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii
23. Forgive Me Father - PC

Forgive Me Father is a Lovecraftian indie boomer shooter that came out a couple months ago out of Early Access and was a demonstration of why you shouldn't hold back part of the game for full release. The final chapter, which was new to the full release, had some major balance issues with everything being a combination of too spongey and too much damage, with some ill-advised platforming. While the platforming remains the devs have managed to adjust things to a proper level.

The game is set in standard Lovecraft company. You are either a priest or a war correspondent who comes to a village for reasons but then discover there are cultists and monsters. And since this is a video game, instead of having your mind break from the horror you decide to go Duke Nukem on the Outer Gods. Cue five chapters of mayhem with a variety of guns as well as some special abilities to help turn the tide. All of this is rendered in some very nice looking comic-book style art, with heavy outlining and your Doom style flat sprites on polygon environments.

The game features a skill system, where killing enemies gives you experience and you can spend it on a variety of buffs. These involve your usual bevy of making your guns and special abilities better, but the game also features exclusive branching on everything. So you can decide to have your pistol be a lower damage but rapid fire upgrade to your revolver, or go dual revolvers, which drops your accuracy. Sometimes you can even get a new weapon, like changing the tommy gun into a continuous laser. Some of the upgrades are also you choosing between two exclusive branches of exclusive branches (e.g. you can upgrade either the third tier of ammo holding OR the third tier of a special ability). Unfortunately, there are a lot of clear winners and losers in the tree, so there isn't as much build variety as you would think.

The two protagonists are differentiated by their special abilities. Each character gets four, which have a certain number of charges and refill as you kill enemies. Killing enemies also increases a madness meter, which slowly turns the world grey but also increases your damage resistance. However, it has a nasty habit of dropping at inopportune moments, as it seems to be you can only have it active for X amount of time at a high level, so in the big combat rooms you suddenly will lose it and take big damage. The intent behind the two protagonists is that one is speedy and in your face and one is more deliberate. However, the devs didn't have the speedy one (the journalist) in the Early Access, so all her skills are effectively "different and worst version of a corresponding priest skill".

The game has good environmental variety, and all the weaponry feels great. It does commit one cardinal sin that I see with inexperienced developers though; it randomizes the firing cone of slow enemy projectiles. As a result, you will end up dodging into a ton of enemy projectiles while doing the usual circle strafe. The proper behavior is you randomize hitscan (because you can't dodge it other than not being in line of sight when they fire) and you have slow projectiles targeted at the player so they can be consistently dodged. You then use groups of enemies at different angles to ensure the player needs to be cognizant of their surroundings to not run into fire. But an enemy you're focusing on with slow projectiles should never hit you.

Overall it is a decent effort, and the recent patches have made the latter stages much more fun. I have a list of FPSs you should get to before this one, but this is still worth a playthrough for fans of the genre.
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