Striving for Light: Survival
- December 2, 2023
- Igniting Spark Games
- 4h median play time
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.
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Linux
Xbox
Reviews
- The game features a unique procedurally generated skill tree that allows for diverse builds and strategies, enhancing replayability.
- Regular updates and seasonal content keep the game fresh and engaging, with a strong community and leaderboard for competition.
- The gameplay is enjoyable and offers a good mix of challenge and fun, making it a solid entry in the bullet hell genre.
- The game suffers from significant visual clutter and chaos, making it difficult to discern enemy attacks and navigate effectively during intense moments.
- There are numerous bugs and performance issues, including frame rate drops and inconsistent mechanics that can disrupt gameplay.
- Some weapons and skills feel underwhelming or unbalanced, leading to repetitive gameplay and a lack of meaningful progression.
- gameplay25 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a blend of roguelike mechanics, including level navigation, enemy dodging, and skill tree customization, which creates a captivating experience for many players. While the smooth movement and engaging build mechanics are praised, some users find the mechanics convoluted and the lack of variety in character builds limiting, leading to a repetitive experience. Overall, the game offers a mix of enjoyable and frustrating elements, with a unique approach to experience management that may not resonate with all players.
“Overall, striving for light's survival presents a captivating roguelike experience with its endless skill tree and engaging gameplay.”
“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*.”
“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.”
- graphics24 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players praising the unique oil-based painting art style as charming and refreshing, while others find it unappealing and poorly executed. Many appreciate the nostalgic feel of the visuals, but there are significant criticisms regarding visual clutter and overall aesthetics, leading to a divide in player opinions. Ultimately, the graphics may appeal to those who enjoy unconventional art styles, but they may not satisfy everyone.
“The oil-based painting art style is done phenomenally well.”
“The 2.5D art style of the characters is just so awesome and refreshing!”
“Graphics: the art is interesting--there is something very nostalgic about it, but I can't quite put my finger on what that is.”
“Graphics are decent but nothing special.”
“Honestly, the graphics are bad.”
“I don't usually care about graphics, but the game is ugly enough to mention.”
- music6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players find it enjoyable and atmospheric, particularly praising the ambient analog synthesizer tracks, others criticize it for being mediocre and repetitive, leading them to turn it off in favor of their own music. Overall, the sound design contributes to a gritty and dark gothic atmosphere, but the looping nature of the tracks detracts from the experience for some players.
“Music was amazing and enjoyable.”
“The game has good graphics, pumping synth music, and a gritty and dark gothic atmosphere.”
“I really like the somewhat gloomy setting and also 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.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
Players highlight the game's strong replayability due to its diverse classes, skills, and weapon choices, which encourage experimentation with different builds. Unlocking new melee skills and content through achievements further enhances the experience, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging. Overall, the game offers hours of replay value, justifying its price.
“Give it a go, the price is right and it is well worth the small investment for hours and hours of replayability.”
“Instead of an evolution system like other survivor style games, the sheer variety of classes and skills in this game makes it a fun and interesting game with tons of replayability.”
“Perhaps there is a build with fewer explosions and projectile multipliers that would make it more playable?”
“It has a lot of replayability since you get so many choices of weapons and characters.”
“Replayability: unlock new melee skills and other content through achievements, ensuring a fresh experience each playthrough.”
- 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 and user experience. While developers are reportedly active in 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, the game's optimization appears to be inconsistent, with some users experiencing performance declines after extended play, despite having hardware that exceeds the recommended specifications. While many report satisfactory performance on mid-tier systems, certain builds, particularly on the Steam Deck, may struggle, indicating potential optimization issues that could vary by setup.
“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 specifications 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 the Steam Deck.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding in the game to be a mixed experience; while it offers new weapons, characters, and skill nodes that enhance playstyle variety, many feel it ultimately leads to repetitive and generic rewards. The grind is perceived as lacking depth, with achievements feeling endless and not providing significant new content between levels. Overall, while some builds can be enjoyable, the grinding aspect may not meet expectations for depth and variety.
“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 it is often overshadowed by overwhelming on-screen chaos that detracts from the comedic effect.
“The humor in this game is brilliantly absurd, making every moment a delightful surprise.”
“I couldn't stop laughing at the witty dialogue and hilarious character interactions.”
“The game's quirky humor adds a unique charm that keeps you engaged and entertained.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by impressive graphics, an engaging synth soundtrack, and a gritty, dark gothic aesthetic that immerses players in its world.
“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 visuals and an eerie soundtrack creates a captivating atmosphere that keeps you on edge.”
