Honestly, I'm not sure what happened to have this game in regards to it and its developers.
I remember seeing this game, having it pop up in my head a couple times, and buying it on a whim after seeing it again, and that's after learning Wolfire sued Valve.
I felt a tad sympathetic for Wolfire, but learning about the game's status genuinely makes me reconsider that stance.
For one, the game is incredibly inefficient in its performance optimization. My rig is somewhat decent and the graphical fidelity is rather typical of an indie game from the 2010s, but I don't like how my PC has to rev up when I set the graphics to LOW. Even loading seemingly simple levels seems to take up to 30 seconds to a minute-plus before the level is ready to be played.
The gameplay is also a sticking point, because - while it is good in terms of combat loop and movement - it remains largely under-developed. There's no variation beyond the 4 categories of weapons, being the knife, single handed sword, double handed sword, and polearm. Why isn't there something for heavy weapons like maces and hammers, or ranged weapons like bows or crossbows? The modding community certainly managed to do a lot of the work that Wolfire has been hesitant to actually implement.
And unfortunately, the game's foundation does not seem to allow for a great amount of transformative work to be made easily, without the game becoming instable and breaking down at its foundations. Although, I can imagine that the game's unique system was considerably difficult to work around, being so potentially complex. But I can also imagine that said code is spaghetti, due to the lack of developer updates and clean-up of said code.
I honestly wouldn't be mad if they used AI, I'd just want to see the game go beyond what it currently is.
I will also mention the aforementioned stories; some are alright, some are absolutely bare-bones with a lack of investment value behind them - I'm not well immersed in the world in spite of how it seems that the game wants to give these little tid-bits of said lore in the loading screens. But the game can't properly communicate its story through incredibly stiff cutscenes with visual novel dialogue and the simple animations that are just emotes. There is nothing unique that is offered to the player that makes said story matter, outside what I can assume is a SINGLE comic on the dev's website.
It's sad to see that the developers have this arrogance to think their game is worth charging nearly €20 for their game, let alone, having charged 30 at some point. It's also arrogant to think the game is worth suing over, as well.
If there is ever a developer that reads this, please know that you have the potential to make this the greatest game it could be. There are plenty of positives that can be pointed out...
Your character designs are great - the necessity behind each race's clothing and their overall designs are thoughtfully constructed for the species they're made for. One can imagine that these may have actual use, should any of these rabbits, cats, dogs, rats wolves or otherwise, exist in the real world. That can go equally so for the weapons they carry being taken from our world's combat philosophies and cultural influences.
The environmental aspects are also appealing to me, being taken from different Asian and European origins but mixing them into their own unique look, avoiding being cliche with that representation.
The gameplay loop, as it stands, is the entire point to the game's appeal. It can offer the player plenty of options to fight off enemies that are equally as deadly as them, so long as the lower difficulty doesn't make said player default to the drop kick.
That brings up what I say the devs should do, as well...
1: Work on optimization and bug fixing for the game. It's in a state that shouldn't be allowed to persist in, I don't know what that would take, but it would help in the long run to make Overgrowth that much better.
2: Work on improving certain systems and design. Subjectively, Overgrowth's gameplay does not feel as if it should be in an arcade style level design for what is a linear story. It would feel better as some kind of open sandbox for the movement system that you already put so much work into.
3: Add content - not just campaigns. I want to see the game get new methods of having the player fight. For example, the player could toss small bombs as a ranged weapon, while also remaining dangerous to themselves at close enough ranges. Or even the aforementioned heavy weapons that could break blocks, cause more damage, but remains ultimately slower or makes the player less agile. An average player would love to see how many ways they can use each of the items they're afforded.
4A: Reduce reliance on the modding community. Modding is always a great thing to have, but letting your own players make the game for you will probably hurt you further down the line when Overgrowth gets its own version of Frackin' Universe to Starbound.
4B: Alternatively, Release the game's source code. If you can't make the game for the players who buy it, let them improve on it in as many ways they see fit. Overgrowth isn't an online multiplayer game, so there's almost no chance of cheating, hacking, etc.
These opinions might as well be ignored, but I at least had my say on the subject.
