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.
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- The ship building mechanics are enjoyable and allow for creative customization.
- The game offers a variety of game modes and a solid meta progression system.
- For its low price, the game provides a fun and engaging experience, especially for fans of the genre.
- The AI targeting system is poor, often prioritizing asteroids over enemies, leading to frustrating gameplay.
- The game suffers from a grindy progression system, making it difficult to unlock upgrades and new content at a reasonable pace.
- There are significant balance issues, particularly with enemy difficulty and weapon effectiveness, which can lead to an unbalanced experience.
- gameplay48 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of fun mechanics and significant design flaws. While building your ship and the minute-to-minute action can be enjoyable, many players criticize the repetitive nature of combat, lack of meaningful choices, and poor balance among weapons. Additionally, the absence of essential gameplay elements and a convoluted interface detracts from the overall experience, leading to a sense of incompleteness and a desire for more content.
“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.”
- story46 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 87 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around players entering an arena to complete various mission types, primarily focused on survival and defeating bosses while gathering resources and upgrades. While the missions are engaging and offer meaningful choices, players feel the need for more variety in mission types, bosses, and map designs to enhance the overall experience. Additionally, the progression system could benefit from a reduction in grind and improved accessibility between tech screens.
“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.”
“The missions are short enough (15-30 minutes depending on mode and how well you do) that it is a good game to play as a little break.”
“It just needs that extra sauce of more boss types, more missions, special areas, map variety, different starting loadouts, etc. that would really give it some extra life.”
“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.”
- grinding22 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a notably grindy progression system, particularly in the early stages, where players may find themselves struggling to unlock new tech and upgrades due to slow rewards. While some players appreciate the casual, repetitive nature of grinding, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, making the tech tree feel underwhelming and lacking in incentive. Overall, the grind may deter those who prefer a more streamlined gameplay experience, but it can still be enjoyable for players willing to invest the time.
“The tech tree ends up being a little grindy and underwhelming, and there isn't much incentive/need to build anything other than a big blob.”
“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.”
- music12 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it decent and enjoyable, while others feel it quickly becomes repetitive and annoying. Many users suggest that the soundtrack lacks variety and would benefit from additional tracks and better spacing. Overall, the sound effects are generally viewed more positively, but the music fails to leave a lasting impression for most players.
“The music is pretty good, as well as the sound effects.”
“Decent soundtrack”
“The music is pretty good, as well as the sound effects.”
“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.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The graphics have received mixed reviews, with many users calling for a complete overhaul of the current simplistic, flash-like visuals, suggesting that even pixel art would be an improvement. While some find the aesthetics pleasing and the visuals decent, they note that the interface can become cluttered, particularly when adding new elements to ships. Overall, there is a consensus that the graphics need significant enhancement for a potential sequel.
“Aesthetically pleasing.”
“Visuals are also pretty decent (however easily gets 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 way more graphic 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.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game has limited replayability, as it lacks the core elements typical of roguelikes. However, recent updates have introduced new game modes and improved meta progression, which enhance replay value to some extent. Players suggest that adding a difficulty slider could further increase replayability.
“Good meta progression, and the new types of game modes add a lot of replayability.”
“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.”
“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.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game is considered a good value at $3, but it suffers from significant optimization issues, including frequent framerate drops and unresponsive controls that can lead to frustration. While players enjoy experimenting with different loadouts, the technical shortcomings detract from the overall experience.
“Worth the $3, but it needs to be optimized.”
“It gets frustrating at times, but overall it's really great trying out different loadouts to maximize performance for different missions.”
“[*] Performance: framerate drops quickly.”
“Also from a technical standpoint -- the controls are unresponsive, unoptimized, and sticky -- like press E to do blah -- okay, how many times do I have to press it?”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, with players finding it genuinely funny and enjoyable. However, some critique the reliance on cannons and shields, which can make gameplay feel overly simplistic and limit the challenge in survival mode. Overall, it is recommended for its comedic elements despite some gameplay concerns.
“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.”
“It's a super funny game; I like it!”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users have reported significant stability issues, particularly with buggy buttons in the lab and erratic behavior of salvage drones, which often compete for the same salvage despite insufficient staffing. These glitches detract from the overall gameplay experience.
“Some buttons in the lab are buggy.”
“I noticed recently that the salvage drones are extremely buggy in their behavior. I often see up to 3 drones go for the same piece of salvage, even when I'm understaffed with salvage collection.”
“The salvage drones exhibit very erratic behavior, often competing for the same salvage item despite my limited resources.”
