The Black Pool

About

The Black Pool is a single player and multiplayer role playing game. It was developed by Smug Marmot Studios and was released on June 19, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

"The Black Pool" is a 3D action roguelike game that can be played solo or co-op with up to 3 players. Your journey home takes you through a series of randomized worlds with diverse elements and abilities to discover. Carefully select and strategically upgrade your abilities to maximize your potential and battle your way out in this skill-based, high-paced game. To provide feedback, ideas, or discuss the game, join the developer's Discord server.

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84%

Audience ScoreBased on 99 reviews

music20 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features fast-paced and skill-based combat with a variety of elemental abilities that encourage unique playstyles and strategies.
Co-op gameplay enhances the experience, allowing players to combine abilities for powerful effects, making it a fun game to play with friends.
The graphics and overall aesthetic are impressive, creating visually striking environments that contribute to an engaging atmosphere.

The game suffers from a lack of polish, with issues such as uninspired enemy design, poor visibility in certain maps, and frustrating enemy spawn mechanics.
Players have reported clunky controls and slow movement, making combat feel less responsive and enjoyable.
The absence of a proper tutorial and unclear ability descriptions can lead to confusion for new players, detracting from the overall experience.

music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
23%
10%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising the phenomenal soundtrack and its ability to enhance the atmosphere and gameplay, while others find it lacking or unremarkable. Many agree that the music effectively sets the mood and complements the stunning visuals, making it a standout feature for those who appreciate it. Overall, the music is described as enjoyable and fitting, though opinions vary on its quality.
- “One standout feature is the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack.”
- “The music really sets the mood.”
- “Beautiful landscapes and exciting music carry you through worlds as you attempt to figure out the best way to combine your powers and dispatch enemies.”
- “The soundtrack is not very good.”
- “Normally I turn the music off for every game I play, not this one.”
- “The music/art direction creates a very eerie vibe.”
gameplay
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
41%
11%
The gameplay is described as fun and addictive, with a smooth experience and engaging co-op mechanics that promote teamwork and communication. However, some players find it frustrating and lacking in cohesion, with certain design choices, like dark levels and unclear mechanics, detracting from the overall experience. While it has potential and evokes nostalgia for similar games, there are concerns about its execution and depth.
- “When you first play, you will get some brief pop-ups with explanations about various mechanics.”
- “You'll find the gameplay loop incredibly addictive.”
- “The combo mechanic in co-op encourages cooperation and communication, making the gameplay even more engaging and fun.”
- “I get it, it's for the aesthetics of new, unexplored worlds and it's quite thrilling, but for gameplay, it's a hindrance.”
- “Certain levels are quite dark but that seems to be by design to give a more haunting feel and mix up the gameplay.”
- “How would I know if I actually want to pick fire if I don't know how it'll change my gameplay?”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
35%
13%
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their impressive aesthetics and cool visual elements, with many users noting the polish despite the small development team. However, some players experience performance issues, particularly with frame rates, even at lower settings, and find the expansive, procedurally generated landscapes can hinder gameplay. Overall, while the graphics are visually appealing, they may not perform optimally on all systems.
- “The graphics are impressive, it runs smooth, and the music is amazing.”
- “Although it is a 2-man dev team, it is really polished and the graphics and music are amazing.”
- “First off, the graphics and music in the game are quite cool.”
- “I can't get a smooth frame-rate when running this game, even when I bring all the graphic settings down to medium/low.”
- “For example, I love the aesthetics of each world; but the landscapes feel like they were procedurally generated; they're too big, too expansive, and too homogenous.”
- “They also added a graphics setting that prioritizes FPS above everything else (draw distance, particles, shadows, etc.); while turned on, it did smooth out the massive FPS dips I was having, but the game looked so terrible I never turned it back on again.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
30%
10%
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability due to its randomized worlds and varying ability combinations, making each playthrough unique and engaging. However, some players found the experience less enjoyable after encountering frustrating gameplay elements, which affected their desire to replay. Despite this, many agree that the game offers significant replay value, making it worth the investment.
- “The game has very high replayability since you play through different random worlds each time.”
- “With changing ability combinations and randomized worlds each playthrough, this game has some serious replayability in store for it.”
- “It is challenging and fun, has perfect progression, and is ultimately replayable.”
- “All in all, I enjoyed my time with the game, but after an hour of getting stuck on rocks in empty maps, I knew that replayability for this game wasn't for me.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The game's story is currently seen as underdeveloped, primarily focusing on a group of kids who fell into a pool, leaving players wanting more depth and narrative content. While some users appreciate the potential for a richer storyline and enjoy the gameplay mechanics that support story progression, there is a consensus that the existing narrative lacks substance and could be significantly improved. Overall, players are eager to see how the story evolves as the game continues to develop.
- “Really enjoyed the ability to balance elements to make a stronger team to help progress further in the story.”
- “More feature complete than many other early access games, can't wait to see the storyline once it's implemented.”
- “Story is a little lacking as the game only tells about these kids that fell into a pool.”
- “I would have liked more of a story here.”
- “Seemed ripe for a decent story to be told.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is consistently described as mysterious and intriguing, enhanced by well-suited music that complements the overall experience.
- “The music is on point for the atmosphere as well.”
- “Mysterious and intriguing atmosphere.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some users reporting severe GPU strain even at locked frame rates and low resolution scaling, indicating a need for better scaling options like DLSS or FSR. While some players find the visuals appealing and the overall optimization decent, others express frustration over the lack of effective performance enhancements.
- “It's also quite good looking and decently optimized.”
- “It almost burned out my GPU in the main menu with the FPS locked at 60 and the resolution scaling at 30%. It needs proper scaling options like DLSS or FSR; your resolution scaling just makes the game look terrible for almost no performance gain.”
- “Though, if you look at my profile, I can throw my rig at an unoptimized game, so... who knows.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been criticized for its significant stability issues, including frequent bugs and poor audio quality. Additionally, players find the permanent progression system and roguelike choices to be unengaging and repetitive.
- “Buggy mess, terrible audio, permanent progression is boring, roguelike choices in run are boring.”
- “Buggy mess, terrible audio, permanent progression is boring, roguelike choices in run are boring.”