GwenBlade
- February 6, 2022
- ArcWillow
Get on SteamJump into a mind full of devastating emotions and fight them with the power of music! You either fight reflecting yourself in a roguelike-style Emotional abyss or move on to new episodes of Jane's story.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features fluid movement mechanics like wall running and grappling, making for an engaging gameplay experience.
- Combat is dynamic and flashy, with a good variety of weapons and abilities that enhance the overall enjoyment.
- The visuals and art direction are fantastic, contributing to a unique and immersive atmosphere.
- The game suffers from balance issues, with many encounters feeling too easy and lacking challenge.
- There are significant technical problems, including camera issues, glitches, and inconsistent level design that hinder the overall experience.
- The game feels cluttered and chaotic at times, making it difficult to follow the action and navigate effectively.
- story18 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 22 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The game's story is praised for its intriguing concept, particularly the protagonist's exploration of individuals with mental health issues, which some liken to the film "The Cell." While the narrative is engaging and dynamic, some players noted issues with incomplete text and a softlock that hindered their experience. Overall, the story mode is considered enjoyable and unique, contributing to the game's fun atmosphere despite its brevity.
“Game is very fun with some nice music and excellent story.”
“I enjoyed story mode a lot - combat feels dynamic and impactful, platforming is fine and serviceable and not overused.”
“Story content is intriguing and I have my hand on a pulse for each new piece.”
“Also, the game dodges repetitiveness by the story being short.”
“Story content is intriguing, and I have my hand on a pulse for each new piece.”
- gameplay16 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The gameplay features a variety of mechanics, including wall running and mid-air dashing, which show promise but ultimately feel underutilized due to clunky execution and cluttered visuals. While the rogue-lite elements offer some variety in upgrades and abilities, they lack strategic depth, leading to a power creep that diminishes challenge. Overall, the game struggles to cohesively integrate its mechanics, resulting in an experience that feels incomplete and unsatisfying.
“So for the 'rogue-lite' gameplay, the dev made a decent system where you upgrade the abilities, stats, and change weapons as you progress through the game. It has some variety to it, but the way it ultimately interacts with the overall challenge of the game didn't matter in the end.”
“The game has a lot of good individual mechanics going for it; the problem is that the overall experience didn't feel like it came together. It's a very clunky game, no matter how creative it is.”
“The movement in this game is something that I felt was very promising but also ultimately underutilized. The game features wall running, hook mechanics, mid-air dashing, jump resets, and all kinds of weird platforming vibes.”
“So for the 'rogue-lite' gameplay, the dev made a decent system where you upgrade the abilities, stats, and change weapons as you progress through the game. It has some variety to it, but the way it ultimately interacts with the overall challenge of the game really did not matter in the end. It's so easy to just power creep the enemies if you know what you're doing; all these creative upgrades did not have their niche, just find one good ability and cheese the enemies.”
“I feel like the developer spent most of the time working on these rogue-lite mechanics when they really didn't add that much to the actual strategy other than spamming.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics are praised for their fantastic visuals and art direction, featuring a variety of distinct biomes that are visually appealing while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic.
“I like that the main mode has many different biomes that look so different, yet they still fit the aesthetics.”
“Fantastic visuals and art direction.”
“I appreciate the diverse biomes in the main mode, each with its unique look while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic.”
- music4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for enhancing the overall experience, contributing positively to the mood and complementing the excellent story. Players find it enjoyable and well-suited to the game's atmosphere.
“The game features very nice-feeling music that greatly enhances the mood and overall experience.”
“The music in the game is very enjoyable and contributes significantly to the fun and immersive storytelling.”
“The combination of nice music and an excellent story makes the game a truly enjoyable experience.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is currently lacking, with numerous bugs affecting enemy behavior, camera issues, and random glitches that disrupt gameplay. Players report frustrating experiences due to chaotic level design and occasional soft locks, making the game feel unpolished and challenging in a negative way. Overall, it falls short of being a "serviceable" experience, despite having promising ideas.
“I have been following the game from the first day of early access. It had some really good ideas, but unfortunately, in its current state, the game is below what I would consider a 'serviceable' experience, with many camera issues, random glitches, bad platforming artifacts, occasional soft locks, and just overall chaotic level design with poorly designed sections.”
“There is still a lot to do here; enemies are very buggy, and overall the game is incredibly hard. I feel like I'm hitting a wall even at the first battle.”
