Recent reviews by ElementCatacle

I've played this game at two different points in it's development cycle, but still feel the same about it as I did at release even after countless updates. I think this game is incredibly buggy and It's combat elements require more depth if it should be looked upon as a roguelike or even roguelite.

On release I thought the game was interesting, but disappointing. The concept of managing the needs of your cult while balancing the time to venture into dungeons to further the story is cool. Though I think both aspects of this balance are flawed because of how the cult managing aspect is incredibly easy and the combat aspect of the dungeons is janky, which makes it difficult. I think the combat in this game is exceptionally frustrating from the fact your moveset on each weapon is very limited and your dodge roll is unreliable. On release your moveset was a single combo, a dodge roll, and a button for using your curse attack. This is very underwhelming and not very fun. The weapons definitely feel different, but not in a meaningful way that makes me invested in the system or have a weapon I prefer. This is paired up with the fact that the range enemies can hurt you at isn't clear and becomes impossible to judge when certain moves come out so quick. Along with that there's a dodge roll that is way too slippery to be very helpful at weaving between enemies or dodging projectiles (which the game makes you do a lot of later). Because of that every bossfight or difficult encounter feels like a frustrating mess because of how unprecise the dodge roll feels and the way some weapons insist on finishing a combo for extra damage that stops you from cancelling it with a roll to avoid getting hit. This is to say the roguelite aspect of the weapons is very limited and I would say the same about the tarot cards in this version. you'll get at least 2 tarot cards every run, but the way they modify the game doesn't change the way you play it at all and so doesn't create the image of this game as an interesting roguelite.

I mention this Roguelite stuff a lot because if you google this game and ask if it's a roguelite most places will come up as yes. As someone who has played a lot of roguelites good and bad, I felt tricked and lured in by the games weak and surface level mechanics that I hope would give the game some depth later. But honestly the city builder aspect feels like the more polished part of this game because the amount of strange glitches and softlocking this game's dungeons have is upsetting. Some of the glitches can just be an enemy not giving a clear visual tell they are doing an attack, but sometimes it can be a strange softlock that prevents you from finishing a dungeon and forces you to start the whole run again. Sometimes if enemies live after the boss died or you get damaged in someway while your in the middle of picking up the boss's item it's over for you. You will now be stuck in a hell of not being able to finish picking up the object and the walls sealing the room up so you can't progress. The only option being to exit out through the menu and start the dungeon again. Of course these are issues I had at release so they can get fixed or improved on in the future ideally, but the reason I'm doing this review is because it hasn't.

After getting Softlocked on one of the big bosses of the game (the third dungeon's Bishop) I took a break from a game. It just felt too unpolished and buggy to enjoy in it's current state so I waited for over a year to come back to the game. Which I will say did thankfully add depth to the combat and roguelite mechanic through giving each weapon a unique button to do a special move with that only consumes a bit of curse meter. Along with that, more fun tarot cards were introduced and they added relics that were bound to a button you could use inside the dungeon that have a variety of effects. This is an upgrade, but all the special moves (including the ones that come out quickly) lock you in place really hard and make you an easy target so you are discouraged from using them. Also it takes a while to unlock all the new tarot cards so most runs have you using the boring ones from release. Still an improvement though despite the amount of bugs that still exist inside the game. It only took me 3 hours of playing this game again to somehow get myself totally softlocked into a boss room again. Being forced to quit out of the menu and restart the dungeon. Because of this I think the combat is too frustrating and or inconsistent thanks to bugs to be fun to play with.

I'm leaving this review not because I hate the game or anything, but because I don't want anyone coming into this game expecting something like an interesting roguelite and getting disappointed by the combat aspect of the game. I still think there's fun to be had in this game if you know what you're actually getting into with it. False advertising on it mainly being a roguelike was the reason I bought this game and so it's what is important to me covering here. It would take a lot to make me try this game again, but I hope my current perspective to those who glance at this game and check the reviews before buying.

Absolutely amazing game if you're a big visual novel fan and want a charming bite-sized experience packed full to the brim with love and care. I think this game is more then worth the price just to get a unique take on what makes a bad ending in a visual novel a bad ending. Not to mention getting the chance to play with a unique gameplay mechanic for a visual novel is always fun.

The music and usage of colors in this game is insanely delightful and all the art is just so fun to look at because all the characters are so expressive. I'm not going to spoil anything because I have friends who I want to play this, but I think this is one of those games that you should absolutely 100%. It's not a very long game so I think it's justifiable to say try and get everything you can out of this game.

Overall an amazing experience!

I can get lost playing slime rancher for hours and the music can easily put you to a calm state. theres a lot to do in slime rancher and I would recommend it to anyone that wants a kind of relaxing and cute experience that can last a long time