[h1]If I Could Give A "Neutral" Rating, I Would.[/h1]
In case you don't want to read any further, here's a summary of my thoughts: The game is fine. It's cheap, it can give a good amount of playtime (especially for the price), and it isn't [i]not[/i] fun. However, I don't think it's terribly well made past the art direction. It's certainly not bad, but I don't know if I would call it good.
[h3]My Main Issues[/h3]
Getting right into it, the biggest issue for me is the gameplay. The enemies are crafted well, the weapons are all different, and the bosses are unique and interesting. However, that's kind of it for the good things. There are not many enemies or bosses, the weapons aren't necessarily very fun to use and vary WILDLY in balance, and in total there were no moments where I felt really excited or engaged.
Because you control your character with the mouse cursor, you can go as fast or as slow as you want, which is actually really good. It means you have very fine control over your hitbox, allowing the game to through lots of enemies of varying speeds at you without making the game impossible. However, this is never really taken advantage of (except with the fishing pole) and leads to 90% of the gameplay being "make circles with your mouse to dodge enemies and kite them into the center." There is little to no strategy and once you get situated the game very quickly becomes completely brainless.
I think that this brainless gameplay could be fun if the weapons were interesting or satisfying to use, but unfortunately they aren't. Whenever I play a Vampire Survivor-like, I always compare it to the game that inspired the genre: Magic Survival. If you want to see how to do weapons right, I would absolutely recommend getting that game. There are a grand total of 2 enemies in Magic Survival: Enemies that move towards you slow, and enemies that move fast. That is it. Even with the most basic enemies possible, it's still super satisfying to kill them since they have relatively little health at first and so your attacks absolutely cleave through the infinitely growing hoards in various ways. Your weapons feel impactful and are extremely unique, and can be mixed to synergize with one another in really fun ways. Now compare that to Windows Survivors: Enemies are finite in number and are immediately replaced once killed. Enemies always have enough health to survive one or two hits from your weapons, meaning you never get to feel like you're crushing them. Weapons are all unique, but none of them are terribly interesting (except a couple exceptions). Each weapon gets a "Corruption" a la Vampire Survivors' "Evolution" but all the Corruptions do is make the weapon a bit stronger. None of this is conducive to satisfying gameplay or interesting mechanics.
[h3]Putting the "Lite" in "Roguelite"[/h3]
I am putting this in its own section because I don't believe it's inherently bad. I'm sure that a lot of people enjoy the meta-progression of roguelites. Personally, I am fine with it to an extent. In Windows Survivors, the meta-progression is nearly mandatory for later stages, and ranges from minor QoL to [b]Massive Power Spikes[/b]. You are able to increase all of your stats by anywhere from 25-100%, as well as get bonuses like an extra life, extra projectiles, and infinitely respawning shields. Some of the strongest purchases are the cheapest, too. An extra revive is $2100, while the 3rd level of +10% XP is upwards of $7k.
To add to all of this, you can enable hugely powerful buffs for each run that doesn't impact your score or ability to earn achievements at all, and there is a minigame that [i]indefinitely gives buffs to your stats, slowly drip-feeding upgrades until you have an infinite increase in every stat[/i].
The one roguelite mechanic that I think is super interesting and well balanced is the plant store, where you can increase the maximum level of weapons and upgrades. This is done in a pretty good way and is something I have not seen before. I also like the gambling, even if I always lose.
[h3]The Positives[/h3]
I feel a little bad putting the positives at the bottom, but honestly they're kinda not the focus, and I'm just going to be putting them in bullet points.
[list]
[*]Unlockables: There are plenty of goals to reach and things to unlock for that sweet sweet dopamine hit
[*]Art Style: The art style is really well done. They fit the vibe perfectly and did a good job with the graphics and sound design. You can even buy remixes of each theme to listen to while you play!
[*]The Price: For just $5, this game is FAR from a ripoff. I like to compare games to movies when thinking about the price. $25 at the theaters will give me a couple hours of entertainment, and at just a fifth of the price I definitely think I got my money's worth with this game, even if I found it pretty underwhelming.
[*]UI Design: Sort of an overlooked aspect in a lot of games, but the UI in this game is actually really nice. You can pause the game at any time to pull up most of the other features, allowing you to look through guides for Corruptions, what you need to do to finish different goals and achievements, and check the map. The health and XP bars take center stage as well, which is something that is really nice.
[/list]
