A good one of these!
I'll qualify the above.
Vampire Survivors dropped into a Diablo I/II aesthetic and more focus on picking up gear(of course).
I was initially a bit put off by the need to hold an attack button(why bother?),yet it ultimately doesn't grate for long and I appreciate that some characters attack slowly enough that you need to pick your spots.
Okay, so waves of baddies and elites rush you for half of an hour as you level up and gain access to different characters with varying abilities, move speed, defense, et cetera. Why dance the dance? You gain items and, over time, access to other NPC's that expand your abilities with potions(rerolls on selections)and gear that you send up a well(one glorious bucket at a time)to be purchased with the gold you earn for permanent keeping and equipping.
The gear makes a huge difference and the gold can also be spent on permanent boosts(that you can refund)to increase the survivability of your character. If you clear a stage, then you are rewarded with a shard that can be spent for a small, lasting boost on predetermined selections via the Scriptor. You can also refund these investments to allocate them again or increase the challenge.
You unlock new classes as you complete quests(more on that in a minute), and you are even given retroactive shards equal to all you've earned when a new class becomes available to spend on them! An appreciated thought for instant powering up and equity.
Classes are satisfying in their variety and not terribly hard to unlock(the quest altar tells you what you need to complete all visible quests and what they reward).
The quest system is where they really went all out. Plenty occur normally from just playing over time, and a few you will need to put some work into completing. There are MANY quests to keep you occupied, if you're into clearing them, and some significantly change gameplay based on their rewards(such as new skill selections).
Each character has a sheet displaying current stats for your run and can be reviewed by pausing. Abilities are scroll/book drops that supplement your faster movement, wider attack cone, better base damage etc. modifiers. These usually have one or two additional levels of increased power that you need another scroll/book drop to enact. Want to spew meteors? Have multiple ball and chains swinging around you? These abilities make a huge impact on your capacity to endure waves.
You can find secrets(books on altars give hints)for additional unlocks and quests, and they aren't brutally obtuse, so cheers to that.
The controls feel good, perhaps even somewhat generous(I threaded the needle more often than I felt robbed by hits that seemed bogus)and you can circle strafe and skim around enemies with movement that feels smooth.
That said, once you unlock Agony mode(goes up to five levels, increases challenge along various parameters)and start stacking artifacts on top for more challenge, it can be tough to keep up with everything happening on screen, but that's any late-stage run in one of these games.
This thing is tuned surprisingly well and feels like it hit that sweet spot of challenge, progress, and replayability. I do have one incredibly minor suggestion, which ultimately won't affect gameplay much at all, though it was noticeable after a while: Maybe add some opacity to the current quest progress bar? Multiple times I would have the distance(in meters)to a scroll obscured by the bar. Diminutive quality of life thing.
It's engaging, fun, rewards your time invested, and is priced to move. If the art direction isn't a downer for you, then grab this modern compromise between gameplay and nostalgia.
