Dawn of Defiance

About

"Dawn of Defiance" is a survival action-adventure game set in a mythical world, where you must explore ruins, endure natural challenges, and defeat corrupted heroes to prove your worth and uncover an elusive plot against the Gods. Gather resources, craft items, arm yourself, and level up to survive and unlock the greater trials that lie ahead. The game features heightened movement abilities and impressive graphics to enhance your gameplay experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,888 reviews

story72 positive mentions

grinding94 negative mentions

Beautiful graphics and immersive environment
Engaging building and crafting mechanics
Fun combat system with unique abilities

World feels empty with limited enemy variety
Quests can be tedious and repetitive
Lack of character customization and progression depth

story
418 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
78%
5%
The game's story is currently perceived as underdeveloped and lacking depth, with many players describing it as a basic progression line rather than a compelling narrative. While there are quests that provide some direction, they often feel like tedious fetch tasks with minimal rewards, leading to a sense of emptiness in the overall experience. Players express hope for future updates to enhance the storytelling and quest design, particularly drawing on the rich potential of Greek mythology.
- “I appreciate the developers' ambition to weave a compelling mythic plot into the game; a survival-craft game was a surprise!”
- “The story and quest elements were compelling, and it felt satisfying working as a team to take down foes.”
- “I'm excited to keep exploring, building, and discovering the story.”
- “The story is not very fleshed out and you don't really know what you are doing there or why; you get objectives but no real 'drive' to get them done, as the story is not clear.”
- “Story: pretty much non-existent in its current stage; every time you load your game, the one NPC you purchase and sell things to repeats his lines about just arriving on the main isle.”
- “There is little to no story, or at least not one that leaves an impact.”
gameplay
260 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
54%
7%
The gameplay of the game has been described as having solid building and crafting mechanics, with a smooth control system and enjoyable combat elements. However, many players feel that the overall experience is marred by a lack of content, repetitive environments, and shallow survival mechanics, leading to a gameplay loop that can feel tedious and uninspired. While there is potential for growth and improvement, particularly in quest design and enemy variety, the game currently lacks the depth and engagement needed to stand out in the survival genre.
- “The level of detail allows for incredible architectural creativity, which adds depth to the gameplay experience.”
- “The building mechanics are awesome, in terms of placement freedom, variety etc. they have hit the right spot with that one.”
- “I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dawn of Defiance [dod] so far, especially its survival-craft mechanics, which offer a solid foundation for a unique gaming experience.”
- “This makes most of the gameplay loop consist of walking around with little content, and pretty much no variety: all places kind of look the same and have the same stuff, for the most part.”
- “Moreover, the variety of enemies is very poor, combat is clunky, game mechanics are questionable to say the least... for example, to open new recipes you need to open some chests but the game does not even give you a hint where those chests are.”
- “That all is not necessarily the problem, but the gameplay loop itself is very boring, repetitive, and feels very much like a walking simulator.”
graphics
254 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
35%
2%
The graphics of the game have received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many players praising the stunning visuals, beautiful environments, and attention to detail, particularly in the ancient Greek aesthetic. While some users noted performance issues and occasional blurriness, the overall consensus highlights the game's impressive graphical fidelity and smooth performance on capable hardware. Many reviews emphasize that the graphics significantly enhance the gameplay experience, making it visually captivating despite some optimization concerns.
- “Firstly, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the visuals are breathtaking.”
- “The graphics are outstanding: this is a high-resolution Valheim, with Greek flavor, vegetation is lush, enemies look great, environments look lovely, the skybox is amazing, especially when the sun sets and you see the stars appearing.”
- “The world graphics are just astoundingly beautiful, and the sunrise and sunset is just jaw-droppingly awesome.”
- “Graphics are meh, blurry object edges even with graphics on ultra.”
- “It's felt like a 640x480 picture got upscaled but still extremely blurry even on ultra setting and I have a XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card, so it shouldn't be an issue.”
- “The graphics are quite a bit prettier, but this is actually a downside quite often as the game is not yet well-optimized and occasional jankiness and frame-rate issues are very common.”
grinding
98 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
96%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience. While some appreciate the resource gathering and crafting mechanics, many criticize the tediousness of tasks, slow travel, and repetitive farming, which can detract from enjoyment. The game has potential, but improvements are needed to reduce the grind and enhance overall gameplay.
- “The mechanics are fun and it's not too grindy.”
- “It's not too tedious.”
- “The resources are extremely tedious to gather to the point you need to build 1 main base and 4 small bases to store and gather, because like in ores, despite not needing much materials since they only really go in gear, there isn't much of said material and it's extremely spread out.”
- “There is the foundation of a good game here, but right now, it's just resource grinding and fetch quests in a mostly barren map.”
- “I do not recommend this game in its current state because you get around 15 to 20 hours of exploring and finding things for the fetch quests and buying of recipes, but the only reason it takes that much time is because quests are tedious, time-consuming, and not very impactful or fulfilling.”
optimization
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
48%
12%
Overall, optimization for the game is mixed, with some players experiencing smooth performance and good graphics, while others report significant frame rate drops and lag, particularly on lower-end systems. Many appreciate the variety of graphics options available to tailor performance to their hardware, but there are frequent mentions of stuttering and occasional performance issues that detract from the experience. As the game is in early access, there is hope for improvements, but current optimization levels vary widely among players.
- “Optimization is incredible for early access, lots of toggles to up or lower settings already in.”
- “The combat is also really cool and so far it's very well optimized with a lot of customization to reduce and tweak in case your PC is a bit older.”
- “I haven't encountered a single bug, I haven't had any performance issues at all, and it's clearly well optimized.”
- “In summation: this game isn't even worth $10 right now with how unplayably bad the performance is.”
- “The graphics are quite a bit prettier, but this is actually a downside quite often as the game is not yet well-optimized and occasional jankiness and frame-rate issues are very common.”
- “I understand it's fresh out of the womb, but it's the first game that runs legitimately terrible for me, even on the lowest possible graphics settings with 32 GB of RAM, like single-digit FPS at times when I'd look inland, and I've tried every way of drawing out performance I know of.”
stability
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
5%
63%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing minor glitches and bugs, while others report smooth performance, particularly on the Steam Deck and other devices. Common issues include freezing at the start screen, character movement problems, and combat-related bugs, but many users appreciate the developers' efforts to improve the game. Overall, while some players encounter significant stability issues, others find the game runs well and is enjoyable despite its early access state.
- “I've been on Steam Deck for my entire 20 hours and it runs great.”
- “It looks amazing and runs great, can't wait to play more.”
- “Runs great on terrible connections!”
- “Would love to play it on my PC, but it freezes on the start screen almost every time.”
- “Buggy in some ways: stuck in terrain without stamina (you can only log off and log in to fix it), golem throwing stones in any direction (even behind him), skills (stuck at athletic and can't get more exp), inability to fly (have to die to be able to fly again), unable to use bow (same solution, have to die to be able to use bow again).”
- “I can live with some missing animations, clunky movement and combat, but I feel straight up insulted by this empty, boring, buggy joke of a game.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
63%
10%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that it consists of only a couple of soundtracks, which can be repetitive and uninspiring. While some appreciate the combat music and ambient tracks, there is a strong desire for more diverse and thematic Greek music to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the sound design is considered decent, but the music lacks depth and variety.
- “The scenery is really beautiful, but to get that Greek feel, it needs more Greek music.”
- “Music is chosen well; if you are in combat, there's different music that enhances the experience.”
- “For being a game in early access and not a massive survival game fan, I am very impressed with the character movement, menu system, music, and the Greek mythology theme!”
- “Music is just 2 soundtracks and will lull you to sleep.”
- “Music is essentially non-existent.”
- “There is some ambiance and very light music, but it's almost a non-factor.”
atmosphere
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
22%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its stunning graphics, impressive sound design, and effective use of ray tracing, which enhances the overall visual experience. Players particularly appreciate the immersive Greek and Roman settings, highlighted by awe-inspiring giant statues and a dynamic day/night cycle that adds depth to the environment. While some note minor rough edges, the combination of beautiful visuals and engaging atmosphere contributes significantly to the game's appeal.
- “The graphics are gorgeous and atmospheric, and the sound is top notch.”
- “I love the atmosphere, and the light transition of the night/day cycle is awesome.”
- “The Greek atmosphere is unique, and the giant statues of the gods are awe-inspiring.”
humor
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
88%
13%
The game is noted for its humor, particularly through amusing physics and quirky glitches, such as trees "exploding" during harvesting and comical enemy behaviors. While some animations and combat mechanics are described as stiff and janky, the overall experience is entertaining, making it a worthy buy for those who appreciate a lighthearted approach to gameplay.
- “A bit stiff animation, the combat is janky... and when the trees 'explode' when harvested, it's hilarious.”
- “Let's call it a con that trees do not fall and kill you in this game... because who doesn't think it's funny as hell when that happens in other survival games?”
- “There are some usual funny glitches from enemies (twitches, GTA V bush hiding mechanics, lucky spear throws, and one-shot hits).”
- “We walked through this game so fast it's not funny.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by players feeling a sense of accomplishment and understanding through guidance, as exemplified by the character Dirty, who instills confidence in players. Additionally, the mechanics in Valheim evoke a sense of connection and responsibility, as players experience the tangible consequences of their actions in the game world.
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
Players highlight the game's strong replayability, noting the potential for varied challenges through the introduction of diverse monsters and divine retributions, which enhance the survival experience. Many users emphasize that the game is "infinitely replayable," suggesting a robust and engaging gameplay loop that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “This could also introduce a wider array of challenging monsters or divine retributions, adding even more layers to the survival experience, and can have potential replay value.”
- “🔲 infinitely replayable”
- “This could also introduce a wider array of challenging monsters or divine retributions, adding even more layers to the survival experience, and can have potential replay value.”
- “This could also introduce a wider array of challenging monsters or divine retributions, adding even more layers to the survival experience; and can have potential replay value.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers praise the character development in the game as phenomenal, highlighting its creativity and depth within the game space.
- “Phenomenal game development, character development, and highly creative in game space.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game has been criticized, with users suggesting that the current price is already bordering on a cash grab, indicating a perception of excessive cost for the value offered.
- “If the price tag were any higher, I would call this a cash grab.”