Recent reviews by Eepy Sofi

in the pelled los empire. straight up "zerking it".
and by "it", haha, well. let's justr say. My khazan

Amazing game!

Just make sure you can run it. (There is a free benchmark you can download on Steam.)

I don't really play card games and I love Slay the Spire.

Addicting roguelite that can feel unfair. Sometimes unfair for you, and sometimes unfair for the enemy. 😈

I wish I could give a neutral rating, because it's not bad at all!

I just want to share my experience as a new player who knows nothing about the Path of Exile series.

The game is in development and is already very solid, but there are some things you should know about if you're like me and don't know what you're getting into.

The developer is amazing, the game is beautiful, and I have experienced very few bugs!

The only negative things I have to say are my opinions of the game's design choices, and simply why I can't personally recommend it to everyone.


Complexity
There are a lot of currencies and currency-like items you need to collect.
There are a lot of numbers and math and min-maxing.
You will use the currencies to trade with other players for items that have the right numbers for your build.
If you like that sort of thing, great!


Difficulty
It feels like each class has one meta build that is far more powerful than the rest.
The game's difficulty seems to be balanced around using said build.
This will likely change when the game is finished, but I am just writing it here for anyone contemplating early access.


Cast Delay
Instead of having traditional cool-downs and cool-down reduction stats, the game uses slow cast animations and cast-speed stats.
This means the "wait time" comes before the spell instead of after.
I find that this makes the game feel unresponsive, and this is made worse by the fact that taking damage can stun you, interrupting your cast animation.
I am often mashing a button and wondering why my character is not acting.

Your character also walks very slowly during cast animations, but this is my first time playing a Diablo-style game with WASD controls. It makes sense, I just wasn't expecting it.


Repetitive
When you finish the campaign, the first thing you have to do is play the campaign a second time, on higher difficulty.
Once you finish it twice, you get to play the "end-game".
This might just be a place-holder while they continue to work on new content, but it's worth mentioning.

It also feels repetitive to use the same spell for every single encounter for the entire game.
There is no "loadout" option where you can easily make and switch between other builds.
You need to manually re-apply all of your passive tree skill-points, switch all of your items, and switch all of your ability and support gems.


Other Notes
Steam has the game tagged as Souls-Like, which couldn't be more inaccurate. There is a dodge button, is that really all it takes?

The game isn't bad, but I personally can't recommend it. Some of it it due to preference, but below are some areas I think could have seen improvement.


Map
The environments are visually beautiful, but lacking in clarity. There are invisible walls EVERYWHERE making it very hard to tell where you're allowed to walk or jump. It seems that they tried to hide the linearity of the game, but it results in a frustrating feeling of being constantly blocked by unseen barriers.


Gameplay
The movement is stylish, but extremely imprecise. Your character will auto-jump over things that you're trying to simply walk up to and interact with. You will overshoot doorways because of momentum, and struggle to stop within the pick-up range of crafting materials on the ground.


Gameplay Loop
The game feels like a boss rush. You will fight a dozen or less enemies for a small stretch of map, before encountering another boss. If you enjoy fighting lots of enemies across larger areas with interesting designs, this game may not be what you're expecting.


This is not really a full review, but rather a list of some pain points I think you should be aware of before starting. If I end up playing more of it I will come back to update the review.


Make sure to read some other reviews to learn about the things people love about the game!

Before I go, please note that this is not a "souls-like" game. If that's what you're looking for, you will probably be disappointed.

Fun game but you'll sometimes get put into a lobby of "fake players" which seem to be poor AI.
They have names like normal players, but their profiles are all restricted.

A trick to make you feel awesome occasionally so you'll keep playing?

Main quests are fun. Beautiful set pieces that will inspire you.

It's so good! There is soooo much content and it is beautiful!

Really fun and satisfying, only a few things out of balance which is good for a new release.

Unfortunately it seems like most people want to play the "light" class which doesn't have a strong presence on the objective. If you played Overwatch, it's kind of like Hanzo and Widowmaker players wanting to play their own game instead of moving with the team.

The Game is Fun

You can build or raid; you aren't required to do both.

The game has impressive polish and balance, especially for a new release.

Don't let the negative reviews scare you away from a good time. Some maps require a lot of patience and practice to complete, but you can do it! It doesn't cost anything to keep trying.
(Yes, there are consumables like grenades but they are purely for convenience and are never required.)


Raiding is Fun

You have a grapple and a double jump, it rewards skilled movement and has a very responsive feel.

It is satisfying to break traps and kill guards, you can find the game currency from destroying them.

You can bring a friend with you for 2 player co-op if you enjoy more relaxing gameplay.


Building is Fun

Building is very intuitive and there are many quality-of-life features.

Every time another player tries your map (even if you are offline), it will save a replay so you can see how they played it.

When you go back to your map to edit it, you can pick up currency from the places where players died.



The game feels very unique and I highly recommend it!