Run Build Pew!
- May 31, 2022
- Fadrik Alexander
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Run Build Pew!" is a voxel-based game where you play as a knight battling enemies while building your own fortress. Collect resources, craft items, and strategically place defenses to protect your base in this unique blend of action and strategy gameplay. With procedurally generated levels, the challenge is different every time.
Reviews
- The ship building mechanics are enjoyable and allow for creative customization.
- The game offers a variety of game modes and has a solid meta progression system.
- It's a fun, casual game that provides a quick and engaging experience for its low price.
- The AI targeting is poor, often prioritizing asteroids over enemies, leading to frustrating gameplay.
- The early game is grindy and lacks meaningful progression, making it difficult to enjoy initially.
- There are significant balance issues, with some weapons and upgrades being overpowered or underwhelming.
- gameplay24 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with players enjoying the fun and straightforward mechanics, particularly in ship building and combat reminiscent of "Vampire Survivors." However, many criticize the repetitive nature, lack of meaningful choices, and poor balance in weaponry, which detracts from the overall experience. While some find potential in the game's randomness and simplicity, others feel it lacks depth and essential features, leading to a gameplay loop that can quickly become stale.
“Building your ship is fun, and doesn't have many fiddly mechanics; most of your guns fire automatically within range, so combat is more like Vampire Survivors.”
“The minute-to-minute gameplay is fun, and there are difficulty settings to ramp things up once you start doing better.”
“As for gameplay, it's simple but fun enough for me to 100% it; the dev is active in the forums and seems to be pretty decent, and the game is nice and cheap too.”
“Bad gameplay loop, limited choice options for gameplay, there's no tooltips explaining what you're choosing, there's no way to reroll or banish choices.”
“Run build pew has many good elements that are dramatically overshadowed by terrible game design/balance and bad gameplay loops.”
“A final complaint is that your entire gameplay time outside of a mission is spent flicking between the tech screen and the tech filter screen, however only the filter screen is accessible from the mission page, meaning you have to keep clicking back 2 times and forward 2 times to go between the 2 screens.”
- story23 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around players engaging in various mission types within an arena-like setting, where they gather resources and face bosses to earn upgrades and meta-currency for future enhancements. While the missions are designed to be accessible and enjoyable, players express a desire for more variety in mission types, bosses, and overall gameplay depth to enhance the experience. The progression system, while engaging, is criticized for its grind and the cumbersome navigation between tech screens, which detracts from the overall flow of the game.
“Simple enough so you never get frustrated; complex enough that you are making meaningful choices; and fun enough that you can spend an hour here and there playing through one of the many mission modes, without ever getting bored.”
“Starting off with survival and unlocks for other types of missions, including an endless mode.”
“Some missions are quite doable on easy and normal, even after only a few unlocks.”
“The endless mission seems unpolished as there's a hidden cap, which made the mission boring to play.”
“But this massive grind needs to be reduced and the difficulty curve of some of the mission types needs to be sorted out.”
“A final complaint is that your entire gameplay time outside of a mission is spent flicking between the tech screen and the tech filter screen, however only the filter screen is accessible from the mission page, meaning you have to keep clicking back 2 times and forward 2 times to go between the 2 screens.”
- grinding11 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is frequently criticized, with many players finding the early game and tech tree progression painfully slow and underwhelming. While some enjoy the grind as a casual, repetitive activity, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, especially due to a lack of meaningful rewards and incentives. Overall, the game is seen as fun for short sessions, but the grind may deter those looking for a more dynamic gameplay experience.
“They give you some scrap to buy some initial techs, but if you choose badly, you could be in for a very grindy beginning.”
“Not a bad horde game but the unlock progression is painfully slow and grindy.”
“40 minutes in, each run is worth 5 scrap, 25 scrap for the cheapest weapon upgrade, super grindy.”
- music6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it decent and enjoyable, while others feel it becomes repetitive and annoying after a short period. Many users express a desire for more varied tracks and better spacing to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as average, with potential for improvement.
“The music is pretty good, as well as the sound effects.”
“Decent soundtrack.”
“The music didn't hook me, but it feels average.”
“The soundtrack can get really annoying quickly, and I believe it should have more tracks with spacing.”
“Sounds and music are not good.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics received mixed feedback; while some users found the visuals aesthetically pleasing and decent, others criticized the simplistic, flash-like drawings and suggested a complete overhaul for a potential sequel. Additionally, the interface can become cluttered when adding new elements, detracting from the overall experience.
“Aesthetically pleasing.”
“Visuals are also pretty decent, although they can get cluttered when trying to add new blocks to your ship.”
“I don't have a top-of-the-line PC by any means, but I can run much more graphically intensive games on high quality without issue.”
“The graphics and UI need to be replaced if making a sequel; even pixel art is better than the current simple Flash-like drawings.”
“I don't have a top-of-the-line PC by any means, but I can run way more graphically intensive games on high quality without issue.”
“Visuals are also pretty decent; however, it easily gets cluttered when trying to add new blocks to your ship.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is considered limited, as it lacks the inherent replay value typical of roguelikes. However, recent updates have improved balance and introduced new game modes, which enhance replayability to some extent. Players suggest that adding a difficulty slider could further increase replay value.
“Good meta progression, and the new types of game modes add a lot of replayability.”
“I would suggest to the dev to attempt at giving the game some easy replayability by introducing a simple difficulty slider that increases difficulty exponentially.”
“It shouldn't be classified as a roguelike, because it doesn't have any of the replay value that actual roguelikes share with each other.”
“Edit: ok since my original review the game was worked on a lot and a lot of the balance problems have been evened out, has a few quirks but one I'd recommend now, doesn't have a huge amount of replay value but that's just the type of game this is :)”
“Would suggest to the dev to attempt at giving the game some easy replayability by introducing a simple difficulty slider that increases difficulty exponentially.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, while the game offers enjoyable gameplay and diverse loadout options, users report significant optimization issues, including frequent framerate drops and unresponsive controls, which can lead to frustrating experiences.
“It gets frustrating at times, but overall it's really great trying out different loadouts to maximize performance for different missions.”
“From a technical standpoint, the controls are unresponsive and sticky, which affects the overall optimization.”
“Worth the $3, but it needs to be optimized.”
“Performance: framerate drops quickly.”
“From a technical standpoint, the controls are unresponsive, unoptimized, and sticky. For example, pressing 'E' to perform an action often requires multiple presses.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, with players finding it hilariously entertaining, particularly in its use of cannons and shields that simplify gameplay. While some note that this reliance on specific strategies can detract from the challenge, the overall comedic experience is enjoyable and recommended.
“A good funny game with great potential.”
“Cannons and shields make the game hilariously easy, which is fun until you realize it's the only reliable way to win survival mode.”
“I know that sounds like a critical review, but I recommend the game; it's pretty funny.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users report stability issues, particularly with buggy button functionality in the lab and erratic behavior of salvage drones, which often compete for the same salvage despite insufficient staffing.
“Some buttons in the lab are buggy.”
“I noticed that the salvage drones are extremely buggy in their behavior. I often see up to three drones going for the same piece of salvage, even when I'm understaffed with salvage collection.”
