Warning: If you're into addictive ARPGs, this game might hook you. :)
This game takes certain mechanics from Diablo 3 and Path of Exile and melds them together in a challenging ARPG where you can obtain endless power. The gameplay loop is fairly simple: you enter a map similar to how Path of Exile's map system works, kill and loot the enemies, do various events that spawn on the map, and then fight the map's end boss(es). When you succeed, you play another map. The catch is that the maps start to get harder. It's not like Diablo 3 where you can play on Torment XVI, and then go play on Torment I next game... once you run out of lower tier maps, that's it, you have to play a higher one. Eventually, you'll either die to a hard fight you can't get past, or you'll amass enough power to survive the endgame. You'll also be able to alter the maps in various ways, such as adding or rerolling map modifiers.
The core mechanic to gaining power isn't finding loot. Although you'll want to get a couple of strong weapons (you don't need the absolutely perfect weapon) and find some trinkets, you're mostly interested in gaining character levels, and with each level you can spend a point in a roguelike skill tree that is different every game and grows with each point spent. So if you want to add a projectile but it's 3 nodes away, you have to spend points on those 3 nodes to get to it. The game does let you modify the skill tree by rerolling nodes (or the whole tree), creating new connections, and adding skill nodes that you collect throughout the game. It's overwhelming at first, but as you play and start to learn how builds and resources work, you'll get the hang of it quickly.
Builds types you'll find are melee, ranged, companion, and condition (poison, fire, bleeding) builds. And, because leveling never stops, you can also try out a hybrid approach... and if you don't like it, just use your resources to refund the points and try something else! There are 8 characters with different strengths and core skills (you get to choose one at levels 10, 30, and 60) that really bring some depth to the builds.
There is also an "Unstable Rift" - think Diablo 3's greater rifts - that allows you to attempt to "ascend" your weapons, which gives it greater power and two skills, some of which are unique to being in weapons. The crafting system allows you to reroll the weapon's damage, stat attributes, and weapon skills, and you can also upgrade them to legendary or ascended.
For me, the best thing about this game is the fact that the developer is HIGHLY interactive with the community, and listens to feedback. I don't know how many various bugs I've reported, from poor performance to an enemy not firing at the player to achievements not being awarded... the developer has fixed most of them, and has implemented some suggestions to boot. For a two person team (one artist, one developer), having them be so involved is not only refreshing, but rather astonishing that they're able to continue work on season 2 and fix bugs for the current game at the same time. Big shoutouts to the team for generally being awesome. :)
And speaking of performance, if you played before 1.0.4 and didn't like how slow the game got in late game or in Descent Defense, give it another try. It's so much better than it was a month or two ago!
I feel like this game has a ton of potential in the map system. Right now, you can't do much with it, but some ideas:
- Story mode nodes that are "required" to unlock higher tiers. These maps would have a goal other than "kill everything", and could really help flesh out the lore of the game world.
- Implement rare currencies for maps that do things like target specific map mods, add a specific type of map mod, or guarantee a specific event appears on the map.
- Add map nodes that are rare! You could have a more difficult map with better rewards, or have fun maps kind of like Diablo 3's treasure realm or cow level.
All in all, this game comes highly recommended if you have an ARPG itch you need to scratch, and you want something a little more casual and less loot focused than Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. Give it a try!
