Recent reviews by *Junon

Recommending this as an impressive game from a small dev that punches above its weight and hits its marks for the most part. I'm looking forward to a more fleshed-out experience in the follow up.

The visuals are fantastic, both the graphics on display and overall visual design. The cyberpunk influences are obvious but it has its own distinct twists on the formula. There were quite a few spots I stopped to just rotate the camera and take in the scene, and a couple of eye-popping set pieces in the end. The music was a bit offbeat, as was the English voice acting. The performers were fine (and pro actors) but the directing was maybe a little quirky - if anything it added to the overall charm. Combat is fun but takes some getting used to compared to other hack-and-slash games, to me it feels a lot like Shinobi and Kunoichi on PS2 without the aerial moves (for the most part). Fights can play out pretty differently depending on the powers you have equipped, especially the larger hordes and bosses in the last act. There were a couple of glitches that forced me to reload but the game saves so often they weren't much of a bother.

I don't really factor price vs playtime in my purchases but knowing it's a big deal to some, I'll say the game IS pretty short - I saw credits in less than 5 hours and I wasn't exactly rushing. With the power-ups you acquire, initially it seems like a metroidvania but you only use them a few times at most. On the other hand, a time attack mode did unlock after I rolled credits, and there are a few achievements left to hunt.

Simple fun. I get the same vibes as running rifts in Diablo 3. The power levels and enemy counts ramp up pretty quickly, and I'm still getting drip fed unlocks at the hub after 7 hours so I think the end game might be even wilder.

I got this in a Fanatical bundle, but it's worth the asking price ($5 as of this review) - I've already made up the difference with a couple of skins, which I just think of as supporter DLC.

manic breakcore to depersonalize to

Stumbled across this via a random Youtube video and was impressed with what I saw. Actually playing it I'm even more impressed! Gameplay feels spot on and graphics and performance are pretty great. For a title in early access with a long roadmap ahead, the foundation is very solid.

At the time of this writing I've only put in just over half an hour but I've seen enough to want to try and expose it to anyone that might be interested.

NEOVERSE caught my eye in the May 2020 Humble Monthly bundle, and wow am I glad I checked it out! This is a deckbuilding roguelike very much in the vein of Slay the Spire with a sci-fantasy aesthetic from a South Korean indie studio.

This game is very much a StS-clone (I say this as a compliment) but does add some changes to the formula, a couple of examples being a persistent item/card shop that you can use even in the middle of a battle, or skillpoints you can use to build your character a specific way during a run (as opposed to the random relics you get in StS).

My very first run took about 2.5 hours (idle and AFK time included) and ended in a clear, so it did seem a little bit easy at first, but if anything, I'm even more eager to dive back into the harder difficulties that are now available.

Give this one a shot!

Any fan of the top-down/twinstick shooter and roguelite genres should check SYNTHETIK out.

The gameplay is on the tough-as-nails side, reminiscent of Hotline Miami or Nuclear Throne. Four unique character classes and a few different permanent progression systems reminded further me of Neon Chrome and Leap of Fate. There's also a difficulty modifier system like the one in Bastion (and other games I can't quite recall).

It is a little rough around the edges but is actively under support and further development. This is the product of a two-person studio, truly an indie garage game. And what a gem it is!

Fun dungeon crawler in that familiar roguelite vein. The devs mention being inspired by Falcom games, and it shows not only in the gameplay but the excellent music! Just watch the trailers!

Easy mode was deceptively easy; I haven't yet cleared normal and there are a few difficulty levels after that. Having an appropriate spread of weapons at all times is important- I usually mess up by relying too much on melee and running into a tough AoE opponent (that damn harpy)! Thankfully, some of the rogue-lite elements include a persistent skill tree and a random item/boost vendor between runs so if anything, boosting up is a matter of a little grinding. One rogue-like element I'd love to see the addition of is something like colored potions/pills from Binding of Isaac - items whose effects are randomized each run.

On the subject of rough patches, the floor generation and actual rooms leave a bit to be desired. Hidden rooms would definitely spice things up a bit! More furnishings and props would be nice. Heck, more everything. A lot of the altars and such look very similar. More mobs and not just palette/elemental swaps. Unique sprites for the vendors (they look like adventurers now). And more of that fantastic music!

On a separate note about the current state of the English translation - it is a little rough but nothing one can't work through with a little intuition and usage of context clues. There are a few issues here and there with the UI scale and some broken HTML elements but certainly nothing show stopping.

As of this review, the game is only at version 0.6.0.0. Core features are still being added, and I'm eager to see where it goes. Right now it's a rough gem that will really shine with a bit of faceting and polish. Highly recommended for hack-and-slash and rogue-lite fans, even in EA

Fantastic twitch roguelite. 10tons blessed us with Crimsonland, so of course they know how to handle topdown shooter gameplay, and everything surrounding it is just gravy. The soundtrack is a particular highlight, especially for fans of synthwave. Some of the guns are a real hoot!

Highly recommended.

Roller coaster ride. I have spent orders of magnitude more time thinking about this game than playing it.

I don't really play PVP shooters anymore, but due to the GitS license I had to check this game out. They really do nail the setting, but beyond all of that the game is simply fun. The kill times are a bit more forgiving than other popular PVP shooters. The classes are diverse enough that you'll wish you had one of everyone on all of your teams. I'm really fond of the Terminal Assault game mode, and there's also CS-style Demolition for fans of that.

The one real negative I have about the game right now is the lack of maps and game modes, which is understandable for a game in development. We'll see how it goes with F2P... the pack I bought for Early Access boosted my gold for an hour and allowed me to unlock on extra character. Normally you have 3 classes by level 5. Also a couple of login bonuses gave me bonus XP for an hour. I tricked out one gun with standard items from the shop (not real money) but this seemed more like a shortcut than a cheat. By all means it seems like a fair game this early on.

Surprised how good this young game already is! Looking forward to more!