Striving for Light: Survival
- December 2, 2023
- Igniting Spark Games
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Striving for Light: Survival" is a first-person open-world survival game set in a sprawling, procedurally generated world filled with ancient technology and mysterious creatures. Players must gather resources, craft tools, and build shelters to survive, while also uncovering the secrets of the world and battling its dangerous inhabitants. The game emphasizes exploration, combat, and player choice, making each playthrough a unique experience.
Reviews
- The game features a dynamic skill tree that allows for a lot of customization and variety in builds, making each run feel unique.
- Despite its rough edges, the gameplay is addictive and offers a satisfying challenge, especially for fans of the genre.
- The developers are active in improving the game, addressing bugs, and adding new content, which shows a commitment to enhancing the player experience.
- The game suffers from significant bugs and crashes, particularly during critical gameplay moments, which can ruin the experience.
- Graphics and art style are often criticized as being unappealing and can hinder gameplay due to poor visibility of projectiles and traps.
- The overall pacing and progression feel slow and unbalanced, leading to repetitive gameplay and a lack of meaningful rewards as players unlock content.
- gameplay21 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Gameplay is a mixed bag, with some players praising the satisfying building mechanics and engaging roguelike elements, while others criticize the convoluted experience point system and lack of meaningful build diversity. The short, round-based format is appreciated for its challenge and variety, but many feel that the core mechanics are poorly balanced and can lead to repetitive gameplay. Overall, while there are unique features that set it apart from similar titles, the execution leaves room for improvement.
“Fantastic gameplay, satisfying building, decent roguelike upgrades.”
“The highly stressful periods interspersed between hypnotically relaxing general gameplay, combined with the dopamine factory that is roguelite meta progression is...just...*chef's kiss*.”
“I like the short round-based gameplay (a la Brotato) as opposed to the longer 10/15/20 minute round format.”
“You rarely (never?) get that dopamine hit of seeing a screenful of enemies explode (even though you have the power to do so) and the actual gameplay is just tiresome.”
“Maybe someone out there will say 'oh that's cool, you're investing reward now in exchange for more reward later', but this mechanic of avoiding experience pickups is just not fun to me.”
“This is a convoluted mechanic that it took me a while to fully understand due to the bad user experience, and is universally worse than them just not making experience drops a thing.”
- graphics17 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the unique and charming art style, while others find it lacking polish and overall unattractive. Many note that the character designs are refreshing and nostalgic, but the general aesthetic can feel unappealing or reminiscent of lower-quality art. Overall, the graphics may not meet AAA standards, but they contribute to a distinctive atmosphere that some players enjoy.
“I do like the art style of the characters though.”
“The 2.5D art style of the characters is just so awesome and refreshing!”
“The game has good graphics, pumping synth music, and a gritty and dark gothic atmosphere.”
“Think souls-like and bullet hell horde game with graphics drawn by a high school headbanger.”
“Honestly, the graphics are bad.”
“If you don't care that the graphics look like a failed arts diploma, then yeah, it's pretty good.”
- music5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it mediocre and repetitive, leading them to turn it off in favor of their own background music. However, others appreciate the pumping synth tracks and the atmospheric, ambient analog synthesizer sounds that enhance the game's dark gothic setting. Overall, while the music contributes to the ambiance, its repetitiveness is a noted drawback.
“The game has good graphics, pumping synth music, and a gritty, dark gothic atmosphere.”
“I really like the somewhat gloomy setting and the beautiful, subtle, ambient analog synthesizer music.”
“The music is mediocre, and you can clearly hear it when it loops.”
“I turned it off quite soon and put on background music of my own choice.”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has been widely criticized for its instability, being described as a "buggy mess" with numerous issues affecting quality-of-life features and user experience. While developers are actively addressing these problems, many players feel the game is currently unpolished and unbalanced.
“So far, it is an unstable, buggy mess for a 1.0 release, with poor quality-of-life features and odd UI and UX choices.”
“The developers are pretty active, so I'm hoping these issues get resolved with time, but for now, my impression of this game is that it is very unpolished, unbalanced, and buggy.”
“It is buggy.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, users report mixed experiences with optimization; while some players with mid-tier hardware experience good performance after patches, others note a decline in performance during extended play sessions. There are also specific issues with certain builds on the Steam Deck, suggesting that optimization may vary significantly depending on hardware and playstyle.
“My hardware is well above the recommended for the game, but I do understand that sometimes things just don't work quite right for no apparent reason. While the game may have some optimization issues, it might also just be on my end.”
“Performance is really good for my mid-tier 2013 PC running a 2016 GTX 1050 card.”
“This might be hardware related; however, performance seems to decline when the game has been open for long periods of time.”
“My hardware is well above the recommended for the game, but I understand that sometimes things just don't work quite right for no apparent reason. While the game may have some optimization issues, it might also just be on my end.”
“Some on-hit builds do have poor performance on Steam Deck.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players appreciate that grinding in the game offers new weapons, characters, and skill nodes, enhancing playstyle variety rather than just power upgrades. However, some feel that the grinding can become tedious, with a lack of meaningful content between levels and generic items, leading to a sense of repetitiveness despite occasional fun in skill builds.
“Striving for grinding isn't as great as I thought it would be, honestly.”
“There's the appearance of depth, but really it's just endless grinding for achievements. There's nothing new between the levels, the items are generic, the skills are okay, and the builds can be fun sometimes.”
“Rather than giving you pure power upgrades post-match (like many overly grindy games of the genre do), your rewards in this game are new weapons, characters, or skill nodes to increase playstyle variety and customize your run.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted for its funny concept, but many users feel it is overshadowed by overwhelming on-screen chaos that detracts from the comedic elements.
“The humor in this game is spot on, with clever writing that keeps you laughing throughout.”
“I love the quirky characters and their hilarious interactions; they really bring the game to life.”
“The jokes are well-timed and add a delightful layer of fun to the gameplay experience.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game offers high replayability due to its diverse selection of weapons and character options, allowing players to explore different strategies and playstyles in each playthrough.
“It has a lot of replayability since you have so many choices of weapons and characters.”
“The game offers endless replayability with its diverse story paths and character builds.”
“Each playthrough feels unique due to the variety of choices and strategies available.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features impressive graphics and an engaging synth soundtrack, creating a gritty and dark gothic atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
“The game features stunning graphics, pulsating synth music, and a gritty, dark gothic atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into a world filled with tension and intrigue.”
“The combination of haunting sound design and visually striking environments creates a truly captivating atmosphere.”
