Recent reviews by Cryptic Bore

i was hoping itd get interesting but nope you just flip a coin. was hoping maybe funny dialogue or somthing not really.
the coin flip starts of at 30% and you can raise it to 60 but its just a button clicker game goal is get 10 heads in a row.

EDIT/UPDATE:.... looks at hours less than a week after writing the reiview, I CANT PUT THIS GAME DOWN ITS THAT GOOD, BUY IT WHEN YOU CAN.

2nd edit thought id read some the negative reviews, most of the complaints are about rng and i feel they just arent justified, yes there is heavy rng but its always a puzzle and winnable, ive ran into an event where nearly all tiles for a floor of battles were on fire, still one, but if you expect one stratergy will always win you a run you are ♥♥♥♥♥♥, this game forces flexibilty. sometimes its as simple as do i need to go fast or do i need to slow down. There was one reveiw where the player thought they had ♥♥♥♥♥♥ their sdave file by failing, not knowing how t hey continue cause they had a big fight coming up they couldnt win cause of past mistakes but they didnt try the fight, it didnt have permenant problems for their house from failing, i tried it.

Its good, is it going to keep me coming back like isaac im not sure yet, cause its turned based and its obviously slower paced i feel the dopamine is slower but still there. I dont feel like i need to say it but any edmund game is going to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and this is no different, its in the name. Parts of it are definitely uncomfy and with any edmund game 9 hours is only scratching the surface, the full campaign to complete is meant to be over a hundred hours i think mayube over 200 hours. theres already talks of dlc being made beofore the games release that will be based of of comunity feedback, they have already mentioned that the next step will be a switchh port not sure about other consoles. i might pick the game again just to have it on my switch,

While the flash asethetic is nostalgic to me both to the og flash isaac and newgrounds in general, i defs feel the muted colours and readibility suffers to stay true to edmunds style. Holdingh control does help make things clearer its still not clear enough imo, i hope they introduce a dyslic friendly font soon,

I havnt had a complete wipe yet but ive been close. The game doesnt feel difficult yet but im sure it will pick up,
The breeding mechanics both seem indepth and semi ignoreable, just get lucky kinda in the early game, dont get attached to your cats just donate them randomise and let the game teach you.

If you like chess and balatro or other roguelikes this is really good.
If youre going for an endless run dont be afraid of the atomic power up to speed things up.
There is a demo if youre not sure.
If you dont mind chess but dont play it regularly i recommend doing the full tutorial as there are chess moves many people dont know about like en passant.
To boot the dev is also hella active on the discord which is linked on the store page. taking sugestions and doing bug fixes.
The game has more features to come.
Dev has mentioned interest in doing a mobile port and then maybe a console release.

Dont support this dev. Thor quadruples down and doesn't properly apologise to the people he's hurt. Look up moist criticals coverage of the most latest drama with stop killing games. Its now a pattern of behaviour. Couldn't care about the roach drama with only fangs but when it comes to harming the initiative that aims to protect art, games and consumers we have to put our foot down. In both dramas though i feel if pirate bravely said i was wrong or in the case of stop killing games instead of pooping on Ross from accursed farms and saying i think this is worded so wrong im going to actively encourage people against said initiative and actively insulted Ross; say a simple please let me help with this. I think if he did that he wouldn't have nearly as much hate. His apology for how he treated Ross, wasn't even to Ross, it was to anyone who thought he was mean.

I like the game and love VLDL and their content. I brought the game purly to support VLDL. but im not recommending the game for a few reasons.

The biggest issue is im playing this on a legion go (above the recommended requirements for the game) and the game still has frame issues (freeze then skip). now this wouldn't be a problem if my inputs also didn't get eaten, the fishing mechanic is a rthym/reaction game. you can choose to just hold block or you can parry by press and hold very particular time. but if a frame skips even if your just holding it wont register your block and you take damage since this is the main mechanic of the game its frustrating. It doesn't happen every fight that'd make it unplayable but it happens enough to be quite irritating. i assume a normal computer wouldn't have this issue

No way to rebind keys like what? thats a standard feature

The only graphic options you get is fast and nice in the options menu which is disappointing.
Id like to see options to tone down or up the affects and adjust damage numbers sizes, icons etc, maybe even some accessibility options like color blind mode and other things that dark cells and dave the diver have. Itd also be cool to have a hard mode where only parry to block.
Speaking of options while in game you can only adjust volume when you hit the escape or start key if you want to see the full options you have to quit your game and access it from the main menu for no particular reason.

Game imo could use better hints from the journal on at least which biome an item you need to find is in.
A Quality of life feature they could add is a button to access the list of fish youve caught and where instead of having to walk to the fish god statue everytime.

The controls feel jank for a fishing game when compared to dave the diver or dredge like getting the lantern and finessing the hook into the right water current for somthing that feels it should be easier. and instead of having a real button like you use on the fish you have to finesse it out the same way if the thing youve fished is an item.
Everything in the game just feels like it takes longer than it should.
I love the jokes and references they make, i genuinely laugh but i am already sick of the hammer quest one like 4 times is funny 6th time is why are you wasting my time, i got the joke and reference had the laugh stop.

I also wish there was just more voice acted lines for the whole game cause i love vldl.

this game came out in 2022 and it still costs a brand new price nope so currently no i dont recomend at this price but I recommend the game if it goes on special for half price. its the first souls like i beat. i have almost every achievement i think except the different endings and pre dlc. i have not played the dlc. i played it on family sharing though so viewing it is hard as i no longer have access to the game. idk if i were to buy if my save is still on steam servers or not. but i want to revisit it and try the dlc.

Dredge is an interesting one. I originally sailed the seven seas quite appropriately to give it a try but my sea legs weren't quite there.
It later was in the humble monthly so i gave it another go and have sunk 11 hours into it in just a few days. I recomend buying it. though in the current sale its cheaper to buy the base game and the twin dlc upgrade pack on the dlc pages than it is on the main page

its fairly relaxing which is weird to say because the night time does have this uneaseness to it and alot of unexplained stuff, youre not even forced to engage with. I wish more things were explained or goals articulated a bit better and this to others not like me i know is selling point. i also wish the notes you find were voiced but its enjoyable for me on the second time trying it regardless. all the dlc consensus which i dont own seem to be that it might be over priced but get it on sale because its still good except for the blackstone key which is more of a microtransaction to get some good gear early game

Liked the game but ive reached max progression of my sharks level before beating the story- the dlc unlocks the max shark level. So im pausing my play through till i buy the dlc.

Recommend buying it on special. lowest its been on steam is 18ish including the dlc. id pay 30 its curently 72aud including dlc

Checked the reviews of the dlc which are all rated mixed and the general consensus its not worth the full price
Checked the price history on is there any deal and it says in the last six months there has been a sale of the dlc has been 5.74 AUD with a few jumps to 8.04 AUD except for 10 days where its full price at 23. So idk what the dev or publisher is doing there but im hoping it drops again so i can fully complete it.

Before i get into the review itself please read up on the controversy and what the devs say about the publisher/studio and buying the game.
I got my copy from a humble monthly not knowing about this fiasco.

Im loving this game so far. Its a great rpg, The best character is yourself imo becuase you interact, talk and fight with with your own psyche. Your definitely not limited on how far left or right you can align yourself, its got a unique thought carrying internalise and equip or let go system which can give you bonuses and negatives. leting a thought go costs a valueable skill point as does buying extra slots for a thought. You wont know what the bonus or negative of a thought is until youve internalised it. unlike other rpgs i played where i always exhuast all dialogue options in this game i wont, there are things youll want to keep secret or maybe youll want to be completely honest always; but i doubt it.


One mistake ive made is spam clicking dialogue options trying to rush back to a skill check dialogue option only to missclick before i got there to funny or horrifying results in the conversation so be carefull with that. most white skill checks (ones you can do every day or upon a skill increase or some other requirement are at the start of any conversation but not all thatd be my first gripe.)
My second gripe is fast travel i dont think was ever explained naw that you need a map or map knowledge or where to find it. After aquiring the map the game doesnt explain to use it you have to be in a particular place. Normally its required to be standing outside & for a weird reason not inside whatever particular land mark you are at thats marked on the map to fast travel to whatever other land mark thats availible on the map

A time sync ripice finding inventory manager & "idle" battler. (the battles are idle but also not long at all esp if you put it on x3 speed.)
At time of writing no placement is permanent whether that's an item or the storage itself which feels unique compared to other inventory management games and i really like it.
Another unique thing is you can even craft more storage
It reminds me of super auto pets with much more control.
This might be a boon or a negative but i dont think there is anything to unlock outside of cosmetics and thats not by winning a certain way but just getting enough wins which keeps p2p fair but i do like my unlocks and id like more unique ways to unlock things even if it is cosmetics.
I always play ranked random. but one negative here is that each character gets their own rank and theres no random rank. i also want more starting characters and starting items for those characters to mix up.
Also i cant help but notice no achievements. i want some like for finding each characters ricipes finding each of goberts maybe no wepon wins.