I enjoy playing this game, and although I do recommend it, I also think you have to approach it with an open mind to best enjoy it.
The game uses an old-school ASWD movement system rather than the point-n-click that many people are used to. There are benefits and drawbacks to this system, but I think some people in their reviews don't quite see the benefit and pan the game accordingly. Personally, I favor what they did; you use your movement keys to position yourself away from where a mob's attack is telegraphed, and use your mouse to position where you wish to attack (with a click or a press of a skill key). It can feel very intuitive, this approach.
There is, however, something... off... that I think folks feel but fail to express very well. I can't quite put my finger on it, either. People use the term 'janky', but that does a poor job of describing, specifically, the issue. Neither combat nor movement is janky; you issue the command, and the command goes off. The characters do what you tell them to do, and the timing is predictable. But... there is something peculiar about the timing, despite its predictability. It's like there's something off with the animation resolution (time between key frames in an animation) that feels strange. But even that doesn't quite feel like the right way to express it. Or maybe it's a bit odd to figure out where your mouse is pointing when you click to attack? Maybe I can figure it out and express it better later.
I think the graphics are good, although not amazing. They use effects well for its style, but character customization does feel a trifle limiting. You get the sense that the developers focused more on game play than ornamentation. I haven't seen any obvious glitches... certainly nothing as terrible as what you'd see playing any of the various games people created in Gary's Mod.
I've seen reviews complaining about not being able to see items in the map; the developers added a way to highlight interactable items on the map by holding down the ALT key, so I don't think that's as much of an issue anymore.
The developers added a way to play the game offline in single-person mode, although you cannot use the same characters in that mode as your online-mode... perhaps to prevent someone cheating from making online players miserable. I can see where this might annoy some players; your internet connection dies, and you want to play offline, but you're forced to play with some other character than the one you'd been working on. On the other hand, as currently designed, you aren't playing with random players; you know if you're playing with a cheater. So, if that's the reason behind this choice, I am not sure I understand it.
As best as I can tell, if one wants to play cooperatively online, one must have friends who themselves own the game. There isn't a sort of matchmaking find-someone-like-yourself sort of option available, nor a way to indicate 'yeah, start the game, and let randos around my level find me'. But neither are you forced to endure random players jumping in... you know who you're playing with.
This game has a crafting system that looks like it can get pretty involved, but maybe not in an overly distracting way. I haven't gotten deeply into into things to get a good feel for where the crafting will go, but the game is designed in a way where you must craft what you will use. I have not experienced a mob dropping a +100 Hammer Of Amazing, or a Propeller Cap of Insomnia, that your character can use; instead, they may drop components that you may then use to craft something... or you might have to skin the opponent after killing them to get a component to use in crafting. You also find components within the map, harvesting them as needed using any of the tools you can craft for that purpose.
There's a sort of skill tree, but it unlocks what you may craft. The items you craft unlock the skills you may use. There's something else, but I haven't made it far enough into the game to really get it yet... some sort of additional kind of skill (maybe passive?) that you can also unlock, but I am not yet sure how.
To me, the combat is satisfying. To wisely fight creatures, you often need to move around the playfield. This is not the sort of game where you sit in one place and spam skill keys, if you want to play it most effectively. Movement helps prevent you from taking as much damage, while using your mouse to aim at the mobs before you strike with the skill you want to use provides a sense of strategy to the overall combat. Mobs telegraph where they plan to strike, and you move away to avoid being hit. Sometimes, you have enough time to move out of the way... sometimes you don't. Or, you might use a skill that moves you out of the way more quickly if it isn't on cooldown. You may need to learn the mob's attack patterns to most effectively use your skills.
So, yeah, the game play is a bit unique, and you may need to approach this with an open mind. The developers seem to be listening, even if they aren't such a large studio that they can move at the drop of a dime. Is it fun? For me, yes. Perhaps for you, too, but you might not know until you give it a shot, given some of the more unique approaches this game takes. I like what they've done, and it feels clear to me that they put quite a bit more into this than some of these reviews would have you believe.
