Recent reviews by Contemplative Man

A game that's decently fun and a nice little MMO to get invested in. We all have qualms with the direction the company is taking things, but the core game is not bad. Like many MMOs though, it falls for the classic problem where "the game gets good later on" which makes it *really* hard to recommend to people. It personally gets compelling in arc 2 onward, but idk if the game would've hooked me in arc 1 if I wasn't younger when I first played which is a shame.

Arc 1 (lvl 1-50)
- charming and simple combat
- story is really simple and boring (imo). But keep in mind throughout the entire game there are literary, historical, and pop culture references so it's not entirely a drag.

Arc 2 (lvl 50-100)
- combat quickly gains a lot more complexity and depth; things are strategically engaging
- story is a *little* less cookie-cutter but still simple

Arc 3 (lvl 100-130)
- combat is still just about as good as arc 2, but power creep is starting to come; strategies are formulaic and getting repeatable. New systems are added in arc 3.
- story is pretty interesting and I enjoy the writing enough

Arc 4 (lvl 130-170)
- combat still has those fun systems that started in arc 2 are there, but power creep and balancing are a problem, things are often WAY too easy and battles follow a very simple formula to win. The systems added in arc 3 are interesting, but often aren't meta so don't get used.
- story is *actually* very interesting and I enjoy the writing in this arc more than anything else so far. The story has lots of interesting and compelling developments, it did surprise me the topics they delved into given this is a kids game.


The current paywall is very restrictive and doesn't even make it possible to get hooked on the core gameplay. They should consider pushing it forward a bit (and ideally making arc 1 free) so people can get to the juicy stuff after enjoying the simpler (less interesting) content in arc 1. If most people don't like the game during the trial period, that kills any possibility for gaining a new community. The game struggles because a lot of people play because of nostalgia, if new players aren't coming, it's probably because of this bad payment model. There are several other problems too, but this is the most pressing one the company had yet to address.


But regardless, the core game itself I would say is fun if you either find arc 1 charming enough to be enjoyable or if you can just make it to arc 2.

This game is criminally underrated, more people should know about this game because it's so good and the $/gameplay value ratio is nuts!

It's a rogue-like, Vampire Survivors-like game with more engaging difficulty compared to Vampire Survivors. Plus there is far more replayability value than Vampire Survivors' endgame content imo.

For the price this is definitely a 10/10 game

If you ever wanted a puzzle game that did not baby you, I think this is an excellent game for you. The game is actually difficult compared to most puzzle games I've played. If you want to fully enjoy this game, don't look up the answers to any of the puzzles. I've tried for near hours on one or two puzzles and the satisfaction of finally getting it is great, you will never be able to do that puzzle again unspoiled.

Also, if you like philosophy, this game surprisingly was pretty thought provoking and probably one of the things that jump started my interest in the subject.

My interpretation of the game is that the entire game is a metaphor for the process of learning. From the very start, you are put into the game with no knowledge like a baby. Nothing is ever explained explicitly, you need to figure out what everything means, just like how when going about the world you develop your own understanding of it and the rules of this world. By the end, you become literate in all these symbols and patterns
by purely learning on your own. Also... there's a person playing with all the tiny puzzle symbols at the very end

The game is already one of the highest rated on Steam, and I think for good reason. If you like games similar to Doom then you are almost guaranteed to like this. This game fully embraces the good aspects of Doom into one of the best games I've ever played. If you want a challenge, you can try the hardest difficulty. If you want to be a completionist, try and get a perfect rank on every level, if you just want play the game casually, there is a lower difficulty option available. If you like FPS games, try this one out for sure!

This game has some of the most satisfying gameplay mechanics I have ever seen in a game. There is a huge amount to learn and master, the music is amazing, the devs stopped adding new content but the post-campaign content is genuinely hard to 100% for those who want the challenge.