Here's one of those long winded story reviews. If it's tl;dr, just get the game. It's amazing. Otherwise, here's my take:
Reviewer's context: I'm not a fan of rougelites. I've played a couple, like Risk of Rain, and they just can't keep my attention. So imagine that one day I'm compelled to scroll-down the store page (rarely do) and see a seemingly generic "bargain" roguelike, and before passing bias judgement, it catches my eye. I'm hardly a "weeb" (do they still call em that?) but somehow these tropey "waifus" stood out. Some of em even look like some characters I've made in HeroForge (Pirate, gunslinger, and samurai girl... OK, fine, I have a little weeb in me.) So they kinda struck a soft-spot. "Ok, let's check out the trailer..."
It was captivating. Awesome music, cool attacks, but... yeah, still a rougey. Well... ok, the demo, I'll just give it a shot since I like the presentation. That's when things changed. Things start out as expected, and here come's the combat. Quickly I realize that this one is different. Way different. The music is right up my alley. Sets the perfect tone to go hack away at some enemies. Onward!
With a brief premise, this dime-a-dozen cryptic AI throws you into the game, quickly and smoothly presenting you with a unique feature; the ability to stop time. While this feels gimmicky at first, you soon realize that it's much more than that. Not only can you stop time, but you have, in heavy quotations "30 seconds to complete the stage."
The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Fighting enemies gives you more time, taking damages reduces it. Now the game's true potential comes into play. Not only a roguelite, but also sort of a strategy game. This is where my opinion of things got flipped. Frantic as this this roguelite is, the ability to just stop time/battle gives you a huge breather. You can take a deep breath, asses the battle, etc. When combat resumes, you may now have a certain advantage; a clearer understanding of your enemy, collect currency and exp from fallen enemies, and perhaps even some temporary augments. What makes this really unique to me though, is that if things are looking dire, you can just stop time and flee. This boss/sub-boss giving you too much trouble? Go find a pack of more suitable enemies in previous areas, unload on them, then get some more augments and some time back. Freeze time once again, and head back over to the jackass that almost had your number, more strapped than ever. THIS function isn't only cool, it's how you get things done. Now Im thinking "wow, this is pretty neat. It gives me breathing room!"
Eventually things play out as a roguelite should. You make it as far as you can, you die, you get sent back. Ya'll know how it goes from there. Buy weapons/armor, upgrade stats, etc. But then you come across a certain room in the game's hub, and lo and behold, it's the waifus! Now you can unlock them, use their dedicated currency to level them up, then take em for a joy ride. Let's rock!
Fast forward about an hour, take on some bosses, then at some certain point a message pops up, something like "Thank you for playing the demo, click to buy now." But it isn't over! You can still enjoy the gameplay loop, albeit stuck on the first stage and not being able to upgrade much. "Alright, that was fun, time to get-on with life."
Still... the game was on my mind the rest of the day. "That roguelite with the waifus... It's only 10 bucks (launch price) I can shell-out and support some pretty talented devs." Got it, demo progression carried over, I was good to go. Three-ish hours later... I'm playing a roguelite... and I'm LOVING IT. So much so, that I had to pitch-in a review. Me? enjoying a roguelite?? This is bonkers, I gotta go spread the word!"
So yeah, in conclusion, this is not only a unique RL that I'm sure will tickle the fancy of traditional enthusiasts, it's an awesome videogame over all. I was bummed that it doesn't have a console port, because I would've gotten it on Switch 2. My PC is AAA-oriented, so it's rare that I play indies stuff on it. But this is a worthy exception. If it does get a port, I'm there day-one.
Grab it, and enjoy saving the world in 30 seconds! ::wink::
