Survived By

57%
Game Brain Score Based on 713 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • monetization
Survived By Game Cover
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Survived By is an MMO bullet hell roguelite from Digital Extremes.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

57%
Audience ScoreBased on 713 reviews
gameplay34 positive mentions
story7 negative mentions
  • The game has a unique blend of bullet hell and MMO elements, providing an engaging and fast-paced gameplay experience.
  • The permadeath mechanic adds a layer of strategy, encouraging players to adapt and improve with each character.
  • The art style and graphics are appealing, creating an immersive atmosphere for players.
  • The game suffers from severe server issues, including frequent disconnections and timeouts, making it frustrating to play.
  • Microtransactions are heavily integrated, with many essential features locked behind paywalls, leading to a pay-to-win perception.
  • The tutorial and guidance for new players are lacking, leaving many confused about game mechanics and objectives.
  • gameplay108 mentions

    The gameplay in "Survived By" is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its fast-paced action and strategic mechanics, reminiscent of titles like "Realm of the Mad God." However, criticisms arise regarding its repetitive nature, lack of variety, and tedious crafting system, which some feel detracts from the overall experience. While the permadeath mechanic adds an interesting risk-reward dynamic, the game's technical issues and monetization strategies have left many players feeling frustrated and uncertain about its long-term potential.

    • “First and foremost, the gameplay in Survived By is both thrilling and engaging.”
    • “The fast-paced action and strategic combat mechanics create an adrenaline rush that keeps me coming back for more.”
    • “Permadeath is a neat mechanic that adds a lot of risk vs reward to the gameplay, and the fact that certain traits carry over from one character in your bloodline to the next helps soften the blow whenever you do get killed.”
    • “The gameplay loop is kind of underwhelming; you're shooting a projectile every 1.2 seconds and killing enemies in 2 hits while getting very little experience and no item drops, since those are reserved entirely for the dungeons.”
    • “Game mechanics and character progression are tedious and require too much grinding to get anywhere.”
    • “The whole game just feels really boring and without much sense of progress. You're not finding new gear every few minutes, and you don't gain new abilities or a different attack when you level up, so the gameplay starts to feel very stale quickly.”
  • story62 mentions

    The game's story is criticized for being unclear and lacking depth, with many players finding the quest system confusing and repetitive. While some appreciate the potential for exploration and connection to the game world, the majority feel that quests often boil down to simple kill tasks without meaningful narrative context. Overall, the absence of a coherent main storyline and the frustrating quest mechanics detract significantly from the gaming experience.

    • “I really want to rate this game good, but I just got done beating the level 20-25 dungeon, and I beat the boss, and a wall of text pops up on my screen, adding story to the game, and while I am reading it I die!?”
    • “Interestingly, this way of open world, I like how missions are trying to connect you with the game world, either by building or others.”
    • “It’s kind of reminds me of Realm of the Mad God but with better graphics and with a story and no spam and constant advertising.”
    • “This game has no story; the quests just simply ask you to kill mobs. You can only track one quest, and you can't see the progress in the tracker. You need to open the menu while the battle is in real time, so you will die if you want to open the menu.”
    • “While the concept is okay, great style, has crafting, an auction house, and all the things you want in a game, it still has one major flaw that makes the game boring real quick and leaves you with a confused feeling: no decent quest system!”
    • “As for a main storyline or something of the sort, it doesn't seem to have one. It doesn't even have quests you can gain from NPCs; there are side quests, but the extent of them is kill an enemy, they drop a scroll with an objective to go kill a mini-boss. You go to it, kill the mini-boss, and boom, quest over with an underwhelming amount of silver.”
  • monetization55 mentions

    The monetization in the game has been widely criticized for being overly aggressive, with numerous microtransactions that significantly impact gameplay and progression. Many players feel that the system prioritizes profit over player experience, leading to a perception of the game as a "cash grab." While some acknowledge the necessity of monetization in free-to-play models, there is a strong desire for it to be limited to cosmetic items rather than affecting core gameplay mechanics.

    • “I would much prefer if the monetization was purely cosmetic items and didn't affect core gameplay.”
    • “I personally enjoy this game, but the microtransactions and the gameplay itself is holding this game back currently.”
    • “I know free-to-play games have to have some sort of monetization, but 'Survived By' has too much monetization affecting gameplay.”
    • “This game is plagued by microtransactions.”
    • “Unfortunately, the monetization is out of control.”
    • “The monetization this game has currently is abysmal and is trying to nickel and dime you for everything including new classes even though the game is in early access.”
  • grinding35 mentions

    The reviews highlight that the game features a significant amount of grinding, which can be both engaging and tedious. Players appreciate the visual appeal and some aspects of gameplay but criticize the repetitive nature of grinding for resources, crafting, and character progression, often feeling it leads to frustration, especially with permadeath mechanics and server issues. Additionally, the presence of microtransactions and a lack of gameplay variety further detracts from the overall experience, making the grinding feel more like a chore than a rewarding challenge.

    • “Game mechanics and character progression is tedious and requires too much grinding to get anywhere.”
    • “The game's crafting mechanics is tedious and points towards microtransactions at higher tiers to get things done in a reasonable amount of time.”
    • “Grindy gameplay with little variety, exclusive microtransaction currency that impacts gameplay.”
  • graphics32 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful art style and well-designed enemies, while others criticize the inconsistency in quality and performance issues. Some players appreciate the retro aesthetic and variety, noting that it enhances the gameplay experience, while others feel that the graphics do not compensate for gameplay flaws. Overall, the visuals are generally considered good to excellent, particularly for fans of pixel art, but there are concerns about optimization and repetitiveness.

    • “Overall, it has amazing graphics.”
    • “The art style of the game is beautiful!”
    • “Great graphics, quality, and playability, and an overall amazing game.”
    • “The art style looks kind of bad; they try to make objects detailed while everything is so small, which results in everything just looking like a mess. Apart from that, it also runs badly, though I'm not sure if that's due to my bad specs or bad optimization.”
    • “Its just a giant glitch with pretty graphics; if you think NES is pretty graphics.”
    • “For now, it feels like a bugged clone of Realm of the Mad God, and improved graphics do not compensate for flaws; moreover, it's still pay to win.”
  • stability15 mentions

    The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous users reporting persistent bugs, glitches, and server issues that detract from the overall experience. While some players find the mechanics enjoyable, the frequency of game-breaking problems, such as freezing and instakills, has led to frustration and dissatisfaction, particularly in an early access title where such issues are expected but seem excessive. Overall, while the game has potential, it requires urgent attention to its stability to prevent it from flopping.

    • “Doors and damaging terrain can be buggy and insta-kill you.”
    • “While it is a very good game mechanics-wise, it is far too buggy to be enjoyable.”
    • “This game is full of glitches and server problems.”
  • music8 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the great soundtrack reminiscent of classic 1990s RPGs and enjoy the varied music across different areas, others find it too monotone and express a desire for a darker, more atmospheric style. Overall, the sound design is praised for its beauty and contribution to the game's captivating experience.

    • “It has a great soundtrack and everyone in the game is dancing to it.”
    • “The music is really great in this game; it reminds me of classic 1990's RPG games. I personally would be more into darker Castlevania-style music with the game, but that is just me.”
    • “It has beautiful graphics, amazing sound and music, and is a captivating game.”
    • “The soundtrack is too monotone; switching areas should come with a new soundtrack.”
    • “The music and sounds are lacking variety.”
    • “The starting vault doesn't have a big enough storage, which detracts from the overall experience.”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players finding it funny and entertaining, though some criticize the design choices that hinder gameplay. However, there is a notable divide in opinions, as many negative reviews seem to stem from players who did not engage deeply with the game. Overall, the humor is a highlight, but it may not resonate with everyone due to gameplay frustrations.

    • “Was very funny but it took a quick end :(”
    • “Good funny game”
    • “First of all, I just want to say that I find it very funny that most of the negative reviews come from people that spent almost no time playing the game and simply do not understand how the game works.”
  • optimization3 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with users reporting severe technical issues including server instability, bugs, and poor performance. Many feel that the lack of quality-of-life features and a simplistic gameplay loop hinder its potential for growth, leading to a frustrating experience overall. Additionally, the art style has been described as unappealing, further detracting from the game's overall quality.

    • “Not much content, terrible technical state (both the servers (uptime, rollbacks) and the actual game (optimization, bugs)), missing quality of life features and barebone gameplay loop didn't allow this to evolve over time like Warframe has - which was probably the goal, given they allowed this to be publicly accessible in such a state.”
    • “The art style looks kind of bad; they try to make objects detailed while everything is so small, which results in everything just looking like a mess. Apart from that, it also runs badly, though I'm not sure if that's due to my bad specs or poor optimization.”
    • “Whether it's the servers lagging or some wonky optimization, I hope that gets fixed soon since it kind of brought down my experience with the game.”
  • replayability2 mentions

    While the game is designed for repeated playthroughs, many users find the lack of engaging replayability due to a tedious crafting system and the cumbersome process of rebuilding characters. Although increased storage space offers some improvement, the overall experience is hindered by the grindy nature of progression, making it less enjoyable to replay.

    • “The game is intended to be replayed over and over again, but there is just no replayability. Rebuilding a character is tedious and boring due to the bad crafting system. At least they increased the storage space, so you actually have some room to store items for your next character, since you only have a chance to get a non-useless amount of valr to buy legacies if you fully gear up and then commit suicide.”
    • “For me, the crafting system kills off the replayability of the game where you progress tier by tier.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    Players often revisit the game to relive the strong emotions it evokes, highlighting its lasting impact on their feelings and memories.

    • “Sometimes I just open the game to remember how it made me feel.”
    • “The emotional depth of the story left a lasting impact on me.”
    • “I found myself deeply connected to the characters and their struggles.”
  • character development1 mentions

    Reviewers see potential in the character development aspect, suggesting that the addition of player-controlled stat distribution and a skill tree could enhance the experience significantly.

    • “It has definite potential, especially if they intend to add more systems of character development, such as player-controlled stat distribution or a skill tree.”
    • “The character development is incredibly engaging, allowing players to shape their characters in unique ways that impact gameplay.”
    • “I love how the character development system encourages players to make meaningful choices that affect their journey and relationships.”
    • “The character development feels shallow and lacks meaningful choices that impact the gameplay.”
    • “I was hoping for a more intricate character progression system, but it feels very linear and uninspired.”
    • “There are limited options for customizing characters, which makes the development feel restrictive and unengaging.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

7hMedian play time
47hAverage play time
6-16hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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