Recent reviews by Redactedjay

This is a recommendation but also a wait to see how Early Access changes the game.

Positives:
-art style/sound design and charm from the first game return
-easy to pick up and play
-animal companions
-simplified shield mechanics from first game make it a more strategic play
-cards allow for more synergy and strategy
-having items descriptions readily available at all times is huge for accessibility

Negatives:
-grindy and/or stingy on currency to purchase anything
-upgrade system should not be forced/upgrades are sidegrades at best for most cards
-convoluted countdown timer mechanic needs work; RNG determines how much can be affected

If the feedback provided here and in other reviews is noted, this could be a fantastic sequel.

Read the full review with screenshots at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/pirate-outlaws-2-heritage-early-access-impressions

The Goonies is one of those movies that, if it were on WPIX on Saturday morning while channel surfing (please, please do not make me explain that), would remain on until the end.

If you are wondering if there are Goonies video games, there are several in fact!. Konami released The Goonies I and II for the Famicom, with the sequel also available on the NES. Even the Commodore 64 had a Goonies game. If you are old enough to remember these, you know they were action-adventure/metroidvania-style games that were pretty difficult. Add in the fact that Google did not exist in 1986, so it's unlikely you'll find hints or solutions. I bet you could call the Nintendo Power hotline. Oh, the good old days (sorry, not sorry).

Developed by Gravity Co., LTD, The Good Old Days is “A nostalgic metroidvania from the good old days back in 19XX.” In a direct homage to the Goonies film, you play as Sean, a member of the Noogies, who must find his friends and pay back a loan shark who has come to collect on Sean’s missing father’s debt. Set in Arostia (sounds like Astoria…), Sean must find enough money before the day ends and before Ma, Biff, Chuck, and Frank (otherwise known as Mama, Jake, Francis, and Sloth) find the treasure themselves. Paying back the debt is only the beginning.

Players begin the game as Sean. The loan shark has a heart after all and gifts Sean an unlimited supply of bombs. These can be used to defeat enemies, but are mainly used to open up doors containing keys and loot. Combat is not really the focus here, which is evident in how the bombs are used. Once dropped, Sean has a brief window where he can push it forward or just run away before the bomb explodes, damaging anything in its small area of effect. This includes enemies who all have set patrol patterns. If a bomb blocks an enemy's path, they will just turn around. Standard enemies will die in one hit, but are sometimes not worth the effort, as there are usually paths around them. On the other hand, the bombs are unlimited, so once you feel comfortable with the way they operate, kill everything. Bombs are not just for the seen, though, as you will discover walls that can be busted open. I also discovered that bombs can be used to gain a little extra height on jumps, that is, if you are quick enough to jump before the explosion. By my third run, I figured out how to do a bomb jump, which is not explicitly explained but works in a pinch until you gain the ability to jump higher. If Sean gets lost and there appears to be no way forward, chances are you were not looking hard enough.

Sean is not alone in his adventures, though. That snake of a loan shark kidnapped them as an incentive to force you to pay back the debt (look, it was the 1980s - tasking a child with paying back 30k is the plot of most movies). Finding them is the Metroidvania equivalent of locating new abilities. Instead of powering up some suit, each member of the Noogies can be swapped in and out for their unique ability. The location of the friends is marked on the map, but until you find the actual map of the area, they are just marked on a blank section. Foodie was the first friend I encountered in my playthrough. If Sean is the game counterpart of Mikey from The Goonies, Foodie is definitely Chunk. Foodies’ special ability is moving large crates, and their attack is a headbutt. Sean can only damage enemies with the bombs, so Foodie adds a normalized melee attack to the arsenal. Before finding Foodie, Sean had encountered a number of those large crates, forcing him to find other routes. With Foodie, backtracking becomes significantly easier. If you have been following along up to now, Sean’s other friends are indeed the counterparts to Data and Mouth. Each comes with a unique traversal ability and attack.

Despite appearing central to the plot, Sean does not need to locate his friends to repay the debt. There is even an achievement to do so, although I did not reach that point in my playthrough. Outside of his friends, Sean can find additional upgrades to aid in his exploration. As you explore Arostia, your path will be blocked by freezing water, sections on fire, electrified floors, and underwater tunnels. Luckily, there are items allowing for safe passage. These items are also permanent upgrades and persist into future playthroughs.

The Good Old Days takes approximately 3-4 hours to complete the first time. The genius of the game is that you will want to play it again. There are 8 endings in total, which puts a completionist playthrough in the 20-hour range. Why can’t you do all this in your first playthrough? Well, when the loan shark said you had until the end of the day to pay back the debt, he actually meant it. Sean has 14 real-time hours to return with the 30k. 14 hours is a significant amount of time, so you are not really racing the clock. Dying does take a few seconds off the clock, but nothing insurmountable. For research purposes, I let time expire and it actually took some effort to do.

Anyway, subsequent runs of the game become both shorter and longer. Huh? Let me explain. The first permanent upgrade I found was the raincoat. This allows Sean to walk through water, including that falling from above or traverse small water-filled gaps (swimming beneath the surface is its own upgrade). To find said raincoat, I had to navigate an entire section before backtracking through the previously inaccessible areas. By having the raincoat from the beginning, I could start my new game and head to previously blocked areas. The permanent upgrades allow you to skip some of the earlier exploration to discover newer areas sooner.

New games all begin the same, with Sean being told there is a debt to pay and that his friends have been kidnapped to incentivize him to get moving. All permanent upgrades remain, and all items in your inventory remain, including keys found. I did notice that, across playthroughs, your friends’ location is randomized. The exact spot you found them previously remains the same, but the friend in said spot is different. Foodie was first for me but by my fourth playthrough, he was in a brand new location that I had yet to even explore. As I said previously, the abilities provided by the friends can aid in your exploration, but there is always another way. There are also time-specific events that can be found in your new playthrough, requiring you to be in certain locations at a set time. This can dictate actions early on if you think it is worth doing. I have seen 4 of the 8 possible endings so far, but I have a plan for my next run already set in motion (in my head, of course).

The Good Old Days is an exploration-based Metroidvania that seeps nostalgia from its pores. Fans of The Goonies and fans of NES-styled games are in for a real treat here. As combat is not at the forefront, this is as close to a cozy game endorsement you will be getting from me. It was fun to explore everything without fear of dealing with obnoxious combat-related deaths. I admit, I was concerned when I rolled credits the first time, but after starting up a new run, I was super excited to proceed with my eventual third, fourth, and fifth runs. If you can help Sean pay back the 30k and call it quits, more power to you. Seeing the memories screen on the main menu with lots of ??? was more than intrigue to get me interested in jumping right back in. The Good Old Days is available now on PC and consoles.

Full review with screenshots can be found at https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/the-good-old-days-review

Will begins the game with his shopkeeper’s broom and his backpack. Andrei the blacksmith can craft one of four weapons to start your journey (there is no “wrong” choice, as all the weapons will become available shortly thereafter). The weapon choices are as follows: Merchant’s Sword, Merchant’s Longsword, Merchant’s Spear, and Merchant’s Gauntlets. Each weapon has its own unique playstyle and special ability. The sword makes quick slashes, and its special attack can hit all enemies with a sweeping motion. The long sword is a bit slower but hits significantly harder. Its special is a weak strike that increases the sharpness of the blade, allowing for regular strikes to do more damage, the higher the sharpness level. The spear has the longest range and can pierce groups of enemies. Each attack spawns spearheads at the point of impact, and triggering the special attack returns all of them to Will, damaging any enemy they pass through. Last but not least are the gauntlets. This weapon puts Will up close and personal. They strike faster than any of the other weapons, and Will can trigger berserk, which increases their speed and impact, BUT you need to have your head on a swivel as you have less time to react to enemy attacks due to your proximity.

Melee weapons are not the only thing in Will’s arsenal. One of the merchants, Babyl, has provided Will with a Blob Gun, which offers a ranged option. It has limited ammo that is refilled as Will attacks with his melee weapon. This provides a nice balance of melee and ranged attacks, depending on whether Will needs to keep his distance to avoid attacks. Recipes can also be found to craft other ranged weapons. You know that big backpack Will carries that holds all the relics he plans to sell? One would imagine it weighs a ton, and Will can now swing it about. Some enemies will enter a Rupture state at 50% health, which briefly stuns them. If Will swings his bag at them, he can send them flying, even ejecting some off of the floating platforms that comprise the levels. On the defensive side of things, Will has an evasive roll that can be used almost endlessly to get out of the way of attacks or avoid AoE damage.

Each level contains combat perks that differ between regions. In the first area, Kalina, Will will come across Ignite and Foam perks. Ignite sets things on fire while Foam causes delayed explosions. Other regions introduce Thunder and Ice. The perks can vary from flat damage increases to changing how weapons behave, such as more damage to targets afflicted by one of the status effects or healing Will when ejecting enemies with the backpack. There is some RNG involved, but you are provided three choices each time, so it is easy to build some pretty lethal combos. Each world also includes hazards that will hurt Will, but can also be used against the enemies.

If you played the first game, you may recall that the dungeons were a series of interconnected rooms. Until you cleared all enemies, the doors would not open. After that, you could choose the direction to move. In Moonlighter 2, each area ends with your reward, and you select the next area via a map, a la Curse of the Dead Gods or Slay the Spire. There are several branching paths as you make your way to the final boss.

Choices here include chests containing relics (sometimes it is a pair of chests), chests guarded by elite enemies, the aforementioned combat perks, the blacksmith (he provides a temporary upgrade to your weapon), or a challenge (there are two types - one provides a loot bonus while the other tasks you with something combat related and if completed, you enjoy a passive buff the rest of your run). The minboss and boss fights are required; the path to them varies from run to run. Both boss fights end with two chests containing relics.

Speaking of relics, they work slightly differently from the first game. Yes, you want the most expensive ones, but it is not just grabbing everything you can fit and getting out (you can exit a run at any time with no penalty by using your amulet). For newcomers, relics you have picked up previously will show the price they were sold for so subsequent runs become quicker because you can quickly sort through more valuable relics. Relics have three properties to look for in Moonlighter 2: rarity (common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary), quality (indicated by stars - a relic will not appear as common and epic; the stars are what determine their value, so do not think you should just toss out all your lesser ones), and active properties. Inventory management is a new feature here. Depending on the zone you are in, relics contain active properties.

Will can access upgrades in town that will upgrade his chances of finding better relics or just having relics spawn as better quality. Note: if you do die during a run, relics are not lost, but they lose half their quality. Be at the ready with your amulet if you think you may not survive. Upgrade materials found by defeating enemies and that are needed for all your upgrades and recipes located are not lost upon defeat.

So, what do you do with these relics? Welcome to Shopkeeper 101. At the bare minimum, you can put up your relics for sale, do a little haggling, and go about your day. There is an entire system of the game dedicated to this so you might as well make full use. Plus, even if the dungeon crawling is your preference, the better your shop does, the more upgrades for dungeon crawling can be afforded. The first sale of each relic is a bit of a guessing game. Relic sales fall into four (4) tiers: cheap, perfect, slightly overpriced, and expensive. Cheap sales can garner extra tips, perfect sales are just right, slightly overpriced will be purchased, but the customer is not thrilled, and expensive is just that and will not sell (there are instances, but it is not common). As a sale occurs, your codex is updated, making repeat sales easier to figure out. It does not end there.

Money earned is money spent. As the town upgrades, the different vendors provide Will with ways to better prepare himself for dungeon crawling. The blacksmith can craft weapons and armor as well as upgrade the existing pieces. You can improve the quality of loot found during a run, purchase passive abilities like health restoration and increased ammo for your gun, or upgrade how you heal during the run. NPCs will also offer quests per zone that result in new recipes being unlocked. In the early goings, it may seem a bit grindy, but each successful run will see more successful sales and increased profit.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Moonlighter was a surprise hit for many, including myself, in 2018. In every way imaginable, the sequel is an improvement by leaps and bounds. I know Early Access can seem like a dirty word, but you are looking at around 15-20 hours to roll “credits.” I hit almost 25 hours, and my game completion was only around 36%. To understand how insane that is, I completed both zones for each of the three areas, found all but 1 recipe, crafted all the weapons, and unlocked all bag slots. The final game is going to have nearly triple that to complete. To say I am excited would be an understatement. Early Access does come with its issues, and the developers have been fully transparent that the game needs some work. Interestingly enough, I ran into several bugs AFTER the “credits” rolled (I say credits because when you advance far enough into the main quest, you reach a “Thank you for playing” screen). If you are a fan of the first game, I would definitely recommend picking this up now and coming along for the ride. If you are new to the series, you have time to experience the first game before grabbing this. Moonlighter still holds up to this day, but Moonlighter 2 may spoil you.

Full review with video and screenshots: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/moonlighter-2-the-endless-vault-early-access-impressions

You begin the game as Falco, lead guitarist. Shortly thereafter, you unlock both Amy, a singer, and Lydia, the bassist. As the run starts, the hordes will swarm. Your weapon is your music, so just aim in the direction of enemies and fire away. Attacking is completely automatic, so you just need to move and aim (there is an option to auto-aim in the menus if you choose to go in that direction). At the 10 and 20 minute marks, a mini-boss will spawn. Three possible mini-bosses can be fought, and it appears randomized which two you will get each run. If you do make it to the 30-minute mark, Death will arrive and is looking for a fight.

En route to the 10/20/30 minute part of the run, you have to deal with the angry hordes bearing down on you. Defeating enemies causes them to drop experience and possibly upgrade items used outside of the run. Collect enough experience and you level up, at which time, one of the Seven Deadly Sins makes an appearance. This part of the game gives off Hades vibes as they are unique takes on known entities, plus they are fully voice-acted. Wrath serves as security, Gluttony is a three-headed dog that is in charge of catering, Lust handles talent acquisition, and Envy is your marketing agent.

Each one presents you with three choices: ability, passive, or weapon. Passives are just selected and you get back to the fight. These can include Pheromones, which leave a trail of pheromones wherever you move that applies vulnerable to enemies, or Keep Your Distance, which will periodically knock back enemies. Abilities and weapons, when selected, are placed on a 4x3 grid. Abilities are presented as patterns that can be placed and affect nearby grid spaces.

Weapons, on the other hand, only take up one space. As you play, you will notice the beat goes through the grid space. Each column is activated every fourth beat. A weapon will trigger every fourth beat, so its placement does not matter unless it is being affected by an ability buff. Essentially, the system is a glorified visual for weapon cooldown. Repeat selection of the same passive, ability, or weapon will improve its quality. Most will start at common or uncommon, but can reach all the way to Demonic. In a perfect scenario, you would be able to select an ability the first time you level up and then place weapons on subsequent level-ups. Due to the nature of the game, RNG is not really on your side. You do have a limited number of re-rolls, but what if the choices are ones you want? Do you risk re-rolling for a particular buff ability and skipping quality choices? Unless you can remember the placement of the ability buffs, you have to hope you do not place a weapon in the wrong spot. Abilities can still be placed where the pattern does not completely fit. It works the same but with less effectiveness. Hell (pun not intended), one ability is actually larger than the grid space, so it would not fit even if it were the first thing you selected. Now, if you could reorganize as you went, it would be a different story. You cannot, so you are stuck with this unique system that seemed great but was not fully thought out. I play enough of this genre to know that RNG is a factor that can make or break a run (which can be very exciting at times), but when you add in elements that actively work against RNG, it makes little sense.

Now, whether you win or lose, you end up back in the club in front of The Devil. The Devil himself will offer you a variety of quests that can be completed in any order you choose. In fact, you can preemptively complete a quest before the parameters are even revealed, and you get credit. Perhaps the Devil is getting soft in his old age. Quests can vary from surviving a certain amount of time, having a set number of kills with a weapon, or leveling up weapons to a certain rank. Rewards for the quests are money or new purchasable unlocks. To spend your money, you need to speak to Poppy, the merchant, and Lars, the broker.

Poppy can upgrade your stats or sell you new passives, abilities, and weapons to appear in future runs, and new environmental items that can be interacted with for temporary buffs during a run. Poppy requires a specific type of material for all of her wares, which can be found during a run or purchased with coins from Lars. Lars will also buy unwanted materials and even sell bulk items for a discounted price. The entire system works perfectly fine, except that it's entirely too easy to become overpowered very early in the game. After my run, post-tutorial, I had completed 11 different quests. This enabled me to reach Rank 2 on almost all the upgrades, as well as purchase several new level-up choices. This continued on the next few runs until I “beat” the game on my 5th try. Anyone who has played Vampire Survivors knows that you really do not become a force to reckon with until you near that 20-minute mark in a run and abilities start to evolve. In Devil Jam, I could fill the entire grid up before the first boss even spawned. Like I said, the upgrade system works fine, but it needs to be toned back to increase the game's longevity and replayability.

ACCESSIBILITY

Settings here are broken up into Gameplay, Controls, Sound, and Graphics categories.

Under Gameplay, there are 14 language options. Players can toggle the following: Damage Numbers, Healing Numbers, Pickup Numbers, HUD Near Players, Mouse Aim Indicator, and Auto-aim. There is also a slider for screen-shake intensity.

Players can completely remap all of the controls, whether you are playing on a controller or with a keyboard and mouse.

Sound options include sliders for Master Volume, Music Volume, Effects Volume, and UI Volume.

Within the Graphics settings, Vsync can be toggled on and off; there are several resolution options depending on your specific system, and Screenmode options. These include Exclusive Fullscreen, Borderless Fullscreen, Windowed Maximized, and Windowed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

On paper (those are dreaded words, aren’t they?), Devil Jam would seem to have all the ingredients for a great survivor-like. It has the Hades-style art with full voice acting, the Vampire Survivors game loop, and a “Deep Inventory Strategy: A unique 12-slot gear system where positioning matters and synergies reign (Steam).” So the Hades comparison does hold up and it is probably the one bright spot. The voice acting is phenomenal and a great touch to the uniqueness of each of the Sins. The basics of a Vampire Survivors-like game is there (30-minute runs plus RNG abilities to choose from) but, one level and 4 bosses? Once you beat the game, the only way to go any further is to increase the difficulty. This seems like a band-aid, though as it becomes available way too easily. Personally, I love end-game modifiers that challenge you on runs after beating the game to add to the replayability, but I also know plenty of people who are much less sadistic and would prefer just to play the game. I even completed difficulty +1 and +2 on the first try. Something seems off here, and it is not me being unbelievably good at these types of games. The most disappointing thing about Devil Jam was the total letdown of the “unique ability system.” The uniqueness stops at its description. It is completely at the mercy of RNG and needs a complete makeover. As with most Faustian deals, only the Devil benefits here. I will not outright say not to buy this game, but I would wait for a decent sale or follow it on Steam and see if updates change anything.

Full review with screenshots can be found at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/devil-jam-review

Developed by Kenny Sun and published by Devolver Digital, Ball X Pit is “a brick-breaking, ball-fusing, base-building survival roguelite.” That is a lot to unpack, isn’t it?

All those systems at work might make this game seem overly complicated, but it functions quite smoothly and is easy to understand. You begin any run by choosing a character. You have to play as The Warrior for your first run until you can unlock some of the other characters. The Warrior’s starting ball is Bleed, which causes damage over time to the enemies it strikes. Other characters start with different balls, like Burn and Freeze, but all balls are available to all characters. Characters are not just defined by their balls. The Warrior is the only character with no special abilities, but the other playable characters all come with a unique attribute. The Cohabitants are a couple that fire in two directions at the same time, but do half damage while The Shade fires balls from the top towards you instead of from the bottom of the screen.

As soon as the run starts, a big difference between Ball X Pit and brick-breaker games is that you do not have to “catch” the ball. You can, and some abilities provide benefits to doing so, but the balls are automatically fired continuously as you play (some do have short cooldowns). In addition to the specific balls, baby balls follow suit which just do normal damage to anything they strike. As enemies are defeated, you collect experience gems and coins. Upon filling the experience bar, you are presented with a choice of upgrades: new balls or passive abilities. This is where the ball-fusing comes into play.

Early on, you are limited in your selection of balls. As new characters and levels are unlocked, new balls become available to use (Listen, no matter my age, I still have an immature side and those last 2 sentences were difficult to write/type without laughing. If you laughed, let’s be friends. If you didn’t, I don’t care). Balls can rank up to Level 3, at which point, two Level 3 balls can be fused. This will combine the abilities of both balls (for example, the Bleed ball and the Fire ball will simultaneously cause Bleed and Fire damage), AND it frees up an available slot for another ball. Additionally, once balls are fused, those base balls become available to equip once again. Huh? So say you have Fire, Freeze, Bleed, and Dark. If you fuse Fire & Freeze, and Bleed & Dark, you are left with 2 balls and 2 open slots. Upon earning enough experience, you may see a Fire, Freeze, Bleed, or Dark ball again as a choice. We are not done just yet, though. Some ball combinations do not just fuse, but completely evolve.

When back at your base, you can access the Encyclopedia to see everything you have found. During a run, the game will tell you what balls synergize with other balls when they come up as a selection so need to memorize anything.

A few more evolutions, though, and Nintendo might sue someone…

Similar to the balls, passives are upgradeable during the run, and some pairings can even evolve. Passives include bonus critical damage to different sides of enemies, faster movement speed while aiming, a chance to heal when attacking, or increasing the range you pick up gems and coins.

And now for the base-building…

Here’s the deal: 1) I invest entirely too much time and then don’t play the game (see Fallout 4/76); 2) I see base builds online and get jealous/angry (see Fallout 4/76; or 3) Preston Garvey PTSD. Ok, maybe it’s a Fallout problem. In Ball X Pit, base building is light-years different. You COULD get fancy and spend hours upon hours, but being functional works just as well, and you can see the results immediately. In the beginning, there was just wheat and forests. No, really, you can only build wheat fields and forests for lumber. After placing them in your base, the option to harvest becomes available. Upon harvesting, you launch workers like balls in a brick-breaker game. Harvest has a timer (which can be upgraded), and the workers will bounce around for the duration. Any resource they cross over, they collect. When you construct new buildings, workers will have to bounce off the building X number of times to complete the construction. It was quite enjoyable creating a layout and just watching the workers fly everywhere anytime you were ready for the harvest.

That said, there was some irritation in the later stages of the game as structures had to be moved around so new construction could even be hit by the workers. Granted, I was impatient and needed to complete the construction immediately. You could let it happen naturally, but what fun is that? The game provides quite a large space (after upgrading) to set up your base as you like, without feeling you “have” to create some megalopolis. There are even automated tasks that can help you as you progress towards the end of the game. My only wishlist entry for this portion of the game would be to allow for the launch point of the harvest to span the entirety of the bottom of your base. While workers will eventually reach the outer edges, sometimes you want to target an area and either have to move stuff closer or hope you reach it with enough time on the clock.

ACCESSIBILITY

Ball X Pit has a slew of options players can tinker with, separated into General, Video, and Audio.

Under general, the following are toggleable: screen shake, controller vibration, damage numbers (on screen), and level-up stats screen. You can manually activate the level-up screen - by default, it opens whenever you earn enough experience. There is also an aim sensitivity slider and full control over button mappings.

Video options include your standard choice of resolution and full-screen/vsync toggles. Font can be swapped between Pixel and High-Res.

There are options to reduce flashing colors, disable swirling background, and hide blood on enemies. Lastly, players can set the quality preset from low to high or custom. Custom includes a wide variety of selections: Bloom, SSAO, CRT Effect, Chromatic Aberration, and Vignette Effect.

Audio has the option to disable enemy chanting and sliders for music volume and overall SFX volume. Within SFX, individual SFX can be adjusted to your liking.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ball X Pit is a special game. Fans of brick-breaking games will surely enjoy this fresh take on the genre. I will always hold Alleyway near and dear to my heart but the replayability this game offers is leaps and bounds ahead. Hell, it got me to enjoy base-building, so maybe there is hope for me after all. There is plenty of depth here (get it - pit!), and even for those who just want to play the game, beat the game, and move on, there is a lot to experience on the journey. As many readers of my reviews know, I LOVE roguelites yet I barely mentioned it in this review. The basic blueprint of the roguelite, try, die, and repeat, is here, but the way it presents itself in Ball X Pit makes you almost forget. Plus, the inherent frustration that is so endearing to me with roguelites is gone. Yes, you do want to try again, but there is stuff to do in between, and runs are wildly different, so it’s not all about trying to get a few steps closer, as your next round can be full of balls of different shapes, colors, and sizes (sorry, could not help myself with that one). This is a must-play title for 2025 and on, and it is available on PC and consoles right now.

Full review with screenshots can be found at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/ball-x-pit-review

The game starts you in Storage, the first of three levels. Armed with just a sword, you must guide Alex to the teleporter randomly located in each stage to advance. Any room you enter that contains enemies immediately goes on lockdown. The only way to lift the lockdown is by being the last one standing. In the beginning, Alex can perform light and heavy attacks with his sword. You are ill-equipped early on, but luckily, Alex can dash in all four cardinal directions as well as jump. Dashing, jumping, and the heavy attack all require stamina, which regenerates over time. Healing is done via HP shots, which are filled by picking up health packs that can drop from enemies and breakables throughout the stage. With limited healing, picking your battles is the best way to prolong your life. Fear not, you will soon find two firearms to beef up your arsenal; one using physical ammo, the other using energy ammo.

Each level consists of 3 bosses separated by 4 stages. If you die, you start over. Upon finding the teleporter, you can choose to advance or explore the level. The in-game will show the entirety of the stage and all exits from each section (minus the secret areas). After using the teleporter, you have a choice of where to head next. You can see all of your paths that lead to the next boss fight, allowing you to plan ahead. The choices range from guaranteed spawns like weapons, vendors, and augments, to increased enemy activity for extra rewards. Sometimes, the stars do not align (I swear, that was not a space pun) and you get stuck with a vendor spawn and no credits to spend. Weapons, vendors, and augments can still spawn regularly; these are just guaranteed locations. Weapons always appear behind locked doors requiring keycards that you most likely will not have. What is great about the level design in Moros Protocol is that it is completely open. You can backtrack and return to any room whenever you like. This comes in handy when you find keycards later in the level and want to return. In addition to backtracking to access rooms you missed, you can return for any loot that dropped at any point. Nothing despawns until you leave the level via the teleporter.

Augments serve to enhance Alex and his weapons. They are always found behind doors with a giant A above the frame or at vending machines. The ones behind the door are free, but the vending machines/vendor augments cost credits. Weapon augment can be slotted into weapons provided there are slots available and it fits said weapon (melee, physical, or energy). Some can be straight buffs like increased reload speed or faster fire rate, while others come with fine print, such as increased damage but drastically slower fire rate or increased melee damage when health is low or ammo pools are full.

These augments can be freely swapped as you pick up new ones. If you find new weapons, the game will automatically return the augments to your inventory, and you do not have to worry about losing them with the discarded weapons.

Augments for Alex work a little differently. There are two kinds: augments that can be swapped freely, like the weapon ones, and implant,s which are permanent for the duration of the run. There are a variety to pick that cover everything not handled by weapon augments, like increased stamina, boosts to health whenever using a HP shot, free credits when a room is cleared, and filling up an entire HP shot when using keycards. As you progress in the game, you will be able to equip more and more augments and can be less picky.

Stages are procedurally generated. Not only will the path to the boss be different each time so will each stage. Theoretically, you could pick the same type of stages leading to a boss that you did on your previous run, and the layout, loot, and enemies encountered will still be different. Hell, the first room you enter could be the exit to the next stage (I would suggest not advancing unless you really want a challenge). In addition to the enemies you find, there are room hazards that can help you greatly or hurt you badly, depending on how you choose to use them. For example, explosive barrels can take out 3-4 enemies in one fell swoop, but shooting an explosive barrel while standing next to another barrel may not have the desired effect. There are also supply crates littered about that can be used to avoid enemy fire or just broken open for their loot. There is some light platforming in a few sections that leads to extra chests, portals to challenge rooms (platforming puzzles that end in a choice of upgrades), and the occasional secret areas. Secret areas are found by destroying areas covered by Darkphage. During my review period, you had to kick them to break through. This resulted in a loss of some health and, at times, made breaking through less than ideal at times. The game’s latest patch has made it so the explosive barrels can break through.

As I mentioned, when you die, you begin at the beginning of the level. Note: each stage operates independently. Once the first stage is completed and the second stage is unlocked, you can begin runs on the second stage without having to start from the first one. That said, I do wish there was an option to play through all the stages in one go, just to see how powerful a player could make Alex. As standard in the genre, death clears your inventory except for Biomats. This currency is used to level up within the Bioboost.

You also unlock new items when you die that can then be found on subsequent runs. It is unclear exactly what triggers the unlocks, and there is no way to see what has been unlocked or what remains. You will be spending Biomats on the Bioboost after almost every run. The notable upgrades are starting runs with a Tier 1 weapon and a Tier 2 weapon. Besides that, you will just be filling in what you can, when you can. Upgrades like “Increase base Stamina by 1” or “Increase ranged damage by 1%” never really give that feeling of being overpowered. In my experience, I only ever felt truly overpowered if I returned to a stage after unlocking the next one. I can now blitz through the first two stages with ease but the third stage still feels a bit challenging, even though I finished off the final boss. Overall game progression is more about getting lucky with RNG during a run and synergizing the weapons and augments.

I liked Moros Protocol quite a bit until I did not like it. Pixel Reign nailed the look of an old-school boomer shooter with enough modern flair. The minute-to-minute gameplay is an absolute treat to experience with the randomization of weapons and augments you may find on each run. “One more run” slowly turned into “No, I am good for now.” Can gameplay be described as tedious? The difficulty spike between bosses was unlike anything I have ever seen. For example, I killed the first boss on my second or third account. The second boss took at least 10 tries for my first kill and another 2 or 3 kills en route to the final boss (of the first stage), after failing that boss the first time I reached it. After all this time spent in the first level, I assumed that I could breeze through the early parts of the second level with ease, but I was SO WRONG. I managed to max out the Bioboost after the second stage was cleared yet still found myself dying one or two rooms into the first stage of the third level. I am treading lightly here because it may be specific to my experience, but I felt like the game did not respect my time. Upgrades never felt like they gave the extra oomph and playing felt like a chore at times. It felt like I NEEDED certain items for a successful run versus the ability to make anything work. Moros Protocol is a fun game with good bones, but perhaps this roguelite shooter is just not for me

Full review with screenshots can be found at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/moros-protocol-review

Wandering Adventurer's Club

STORY

Quartet is a turn-based RPG that begins with four distinct stories: the soldier, the mage, the cook, and the shop girl that takes care of her sick mother. Seemingly unrelated, these characters unexpectedly join forces and must uncover the mystery of an ancient event that could change the course of history forever.

Players start the game with a choice of stories: Nikolai, Cordelia, Ben, and Alexandra. There is no proper order here, and completing any of the chapters allows you to pick from the remaining ones. Upon starting Chapter 5, the stories begin to merge. At this point, our chapter character along with a supporting character from their world, form the Wandering Adventurer’s Club (well, Quartet only covers four of them, and I think Octo-something or other was used…). Not to be outdone, players get to delve into the stories of the four supporting characters who became main characters in their own right.

Quartet’s story is linear-ish until it is not. Each chapter will dictate what you must do and where you need to go, BUT you are free to explore within the confines of those areas. Confines is a strong word, though, as most areas have several forks in the road, so to speak, that can be explored for secrets and bonus loot. Fear not if you miss anything, though, as all areas can be revisited later in the game. At a certain point, you gain access to an airship (spoiler? I mean, it’s in the promotional material and right on the Steam page). Airships are a must-have for any game in this genre. I mean, a castle that can burrow underground and traverse the map would be cool and all….Anyway, this is the section of the game where you can go anywhere - anyWHERE.

It is also the time that you get to decide as a player if 12-15 hours is enough of a game for you or you want to double down and do a boatload of extra content (literally double; my final play time clocked in just over 28 hours). I do have to recommend going for the extra content, as it contains significant backstory for all 8 characters. I was pretty invested in their stories, so I definitely needed to know more.

GAMEPLAY

Quartet’s combat plays out like most turn-based RPGs do with a unique feature not found in other games. Now standard to most games of the genre, there is an on-screen display showing the order of player and enemy turns. Do you play your turn or plan 3 moves ahead? Sometimes, brute force is not the answer. Enemies have weaknesses, and it is your job to exploit them. Physical attacks come in three flavors: slash, blunt, and pierce. Magic attacks can be of the wind, water, fire, and earth variety. In addition to attacking the enemy, characters can debuff enemies with abilities that lower their defense (magic or physical), delay their turn, or weaken their attacks. Alternatively, characters can protect themselves and the group with a multitude of defensive abilities. When brute force is the answer (and it is more fun in most cases), the cast of characters can synergize their abilities in such a way that you could just nuke the enemy before they even have the opportunity to attack. For an extra advantage, placing characters with the highest SPD stat in front of the party will allow them to act before the enemy.


Speaking of party placement, all 8 characters enter combat together. Only the four characters in the front row will be able to act once combat is initiated, but substitutions or swaps can be done whenever it is your turn. The back four do not take any damage, but they will regain AP, which is used for all abilities. Swapping in also does not burn a turn, so the new character can immediately act. As dead characters cannot take action, swapping should be done sooner rather than later. If the front four die, combat ends. I had my favorites (as I am sure everyone does as you play through the game), but each character has a unique skillset that may serve you better in certain fights. For example, one character could dish out massive Blunt damage, but I was not a fan of the rest of her abilities, so I kept her in the back row. My favorite character, Nikolai, has an ability that can end many fights immediately, provided you have the AP (health and AP do not regenerate outside of combat unless you find restore points). If I forgot to top him off before combat, I would immediately swap him out at the beginning instead of burning a turn using an Ether. Regardless of who is used in combat, all party members gain experience at the end. There is nothing like grinding in an RPG with your party before realizing some of your playable party members are severely underleveled due to non-use.

All characters can equip a weapon, head armor, body armor, and two relics. The armor serves mainly as a stat stick, while the weapon can actually change the type of physical attack the player performs when selecting the fight ability in combat. The relic slots provide a plethora of stat boosts that can be swapped as you see fit. These stat boosts range from increased AP regeneration (all characters automatically regenerate a set amount of AP with every attack made - boosting that number allows for some of the higher costing abilities to be repeatedly cast instead of waiting) or resistance to specific elemental attacks and/or debuffs, to just a flat increase to any number of the character stats. Gear can be purchased at various vendors found in the locations you visit but the best stuff is mainly found in secret areas scattered around the game world.

ACCESSIBILITY

Quartet can be played with either a controller or the keyboard, plus it is verified on Steam Deck. Depending on your preferred input chosen, button prompts will change on-screen to reflect this (i.e., Q & E swapping tabs in the config menu vs. RB & LB). There is also an option to choose what input type you would like to see (Nintendo, Sony, Xbox, or automatic). For example, the game will tell you to press Cross or Square if the Sony option was selected. I thought this was fantastic, as everyone uses different controllers when playing on PC. For all controller players, analog movement can be changed between free, 8-direction, and 16-direction.

For audio options, players can adjust the music and sound effects independently of each other. Video/Display has a bit more choices, though. Vsync can be toggled on and off, and there are 10+ resolutions to choose from (I would imagine this depends on your PC specifications). Fullscreen options include borderless, window, or full screen, and Upscaling options are either Pixel Perfect or Stretched to Fill. On the Steam Deck, options are limited to Vsync, Resolution, and Upscaling.

Regarding gameplay options, message display speed and font type have several options. Currently, there is a casual and normal difficulty that can be swapped whenever you have access to the menu. Patch 1.1 will introduce a hard mode and a turbo mode, which speeds up all in-game actions (some enemy animations can seem to take an eternity). And the award for the most obscure/greatest game setting goes to…

FINAL THOUGHTS

Are you looking for a JRPG that is a real throwback to the golden age (read: SNES) of gaming with a fantastic story, a wonderful cast of characters, brilliant writing (there are some really clever jokes hidden throughout), an amazing soundtrack, and all-around fun gameplay? No? Oh, well, thanks for reading this far, I guess. I hate repeating myself, that this is a cannot miss title of 2025, but it is not my fault, great indie games keep releasing. Support those indies! Buy Quartet! Buy it twice and gift it to a friend. Seriously, though, Quartet is an incredible work of art and deserves all the recognition.

Full review with screenshots can be found at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/quartet-review

Easy to learn, difficult to master. The complete quote is “All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master. They should reward the first quarter and the hundredth.” This quote is attributed to Bushnell’s Law, named after Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari. Bushnell was speaking of game design an emphasis on coin-op (arcade), but it can be applied to modern games. The basic idea is that a game should have an easy entry point and remain enjoyable throughout, while also providing a challenge if one chooses that route.

Developed by Generic Lake Monster, LLC, Quarterstaff is a turn-based action strategy game. “Control the powerful and mysterious wizard Kalresh as you fight to liberate the realm from an ambitious and ruthless tyrant, using a myriad of graceful acrobatics and powerful spells to endure and defeat waves of opponents (Steam)!” Essentially, you are looking at a game of Checkers AND Chess on a massive board. You can choose to play Checkers and just overtake the enemy, or play Chess and utilize everything the game has to offer. By the way, Chess is the perfect analogy for Bushnell’s Law. Once you learn the movesets, you can play forever. Learning the strategy or having the foresight to know what moves are coming moves you towards the mastering aspect.

GAMEPLAY

Each area contains 4 missions to play. Areas can be tackled in any order, but the missions within unlock after each completion. Individual missions take place on large tile-based maps. Kalresh can freely move within a certain range, but attacking is controlled by a separate grid. Melee attacks can only be performed in a one-tile range around Kalresh, while spells have varying ranges. Two unique features that distinguish this game from other tactics-style games are Strategic Foresight and Undo. Strategic Foresight shows all possible outcomes of your next move. You can see what damage you can cause as well as how much damage you will take. Enemy movement is also shown, providing the “foresight” to get into position to attack on your next move. Successfully attacking grants momentum, allowing Kalresh to make multiple moves before the enemy strikes again. Failing to inflict any damage twice in a row during momentum automatically ends momentum. If all else fails, Kalresh can stand still and defend, but his survival depends on both his resilience rating and how many attacks he has to endure. Generally speaking, it is rare for Kalresh to be without a move. If you make a misstep, you can Undo the last move made. Perhaps you did not take into account an archer, or you realize that moving left instead of right allows you to take a strike at four enemies rather than two.

While Kalresh can attack enemies head-on, it eventually becomes ill-advised. For starters, enemies can block and parry. Momentum only occurs when you inflict damage, so non-damaging moves become wasted. In later missions, enemies attack in groups. It is equally easy to finish missions without taking damage as it is to take massive damage and lose in one wrong move. Luckily, Kalresh may be the most acrobatic wizard of all time (I don’t recall Gandalf doing any flips). Not only does flipping over an enemy look cool, but it also disorients them and disrupts their next planned attack. Sometimes, a few non-damaging moves to get in the right position can make or break the whole fight.

Circling back to Bushnell’s Law, Quarterstaff features bonus objectives for every mission. The “easy to learn/first quarter and the hundredth” lies in just defeating every enemy and moving on to the next mission. Those bonus objectives range from high scores to completing the mission in a limited number of moves. In the beginning, high scores will seem nearly impossible (i.e., you need 100,000 but only finish with 7500). Learning to utilize everything in Kalresh’s toolkit will become second nature, and those impossible objectives will complete themselves without you realizing. Missions can be replayed as many times as you like, and you can even watch an instant replay when you are done (see, athletes are not the only ones who study game film).

METAPROGRESSION

In between missions, Kalresh can improve himself in several ways. By completing missions and finishing bonus objectives, you earn mastery. Mastery allows for the purchase and upgrade of various spells that can be used in combat. For each bonus objective completed, you can assign stat points in the following areas: Resilience, Defense, Speed, Finesse, and Pockets. A great feature of this system is that the points are not locked in and can be freely moved around to experiment with different styles. Techniques are passive abilities that Kalresh can assign, and these become unlocked through natural progression in the game (i.e., completing X number of missions or doing Y things).

ACCESSIBILITY

Quarterstaff can be played completely one-handed. The default control scheme in the game uses the mouse. Left click selects spells and other menus, while right click executes the ability. Clicking and dragging of the mouse will pan around maps, and the scroll wheel can be used to zoom in and out. There are two additional control schemes as well: keyboard and numpad. With the keyboard, WASD and Spacebar did most of the heavy lifting with camera controls bound to (by default) I, K, L, and J for panning around the map and PGUP/PGDN operating the zoom functions. The numpad option saw 2468 as the WASD counterpart, and the camera controls remained the same. My preference was the mouse over the keyboard controls. I used a TKL mechanical keyboard so I was unable to test out the numpad scheme. There is currently no controller support, and, at the time of writing, the game does not work on the Steam Deck in either handheld or docked mode.

Quarterstaff is designed to be played in both short sittings and long game sessions. There is no “pause” per se, but there is also no timer. Enemy attacks are automated, but they only go after Kalresh makes a move. None of the bonus objectives appeared to require time-related feats either. Additionally, the game can be saved mid-mission and returned to that exact point later on.

Display options are a huge part of accessibility, and I am happy to report that Quarterstaff has quite a plethora of choices. There are three selections for font size, as well as a dyslexia-friendly font. Tooltip scaling and UI scaling can also be altered, and all the options operate independently. Not only is everything readable (I know this is subjective, especially considering I had LASIK 20 years ago, so I would not be the best judge), but the text is not just a wall of mumbo-jumbo. For example, hovering over an enemy that you cannot charge will tell you why you cannot charge. While dialogue is not spoken, I do want to note that all in-game text is in English.

Regarding audio, master volume can be adjusted along with sliders for sound and music. Sound does enhance the gameplay but there are no audio cues that I picked up. Players have the option to Enable Gratuitous Flip Sound Effects which, “When checked, Flip maneuvers may become significantly more awesome or irritating.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Quarterstaff is a fun tactics game that can provide a challenge if that is what the player seeks. That said, this is not the game for the impatient. Fans of the genre will appreciate the balance of simple/easy to learn and complex/impossible to master as they play through the campaign.

Full review and developer interview can be found at https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/quarterstaff-impressions

Upon starting up the game, you are given a choice of 3 classes; there are 6 in total right now, and the choice of 3 is random each time you start a game. Unlike Resident Evil, these are not trained law enforcement or individuals with military experience. For example, the firefighter starts the game with the axe (better than the bat that other classes have) but has terrible aim with firearms, while the security guard can handle themselves in a fight, but is much slower, so you had better hope you are not in a chase. Pick a mission and off you go, with or without a team.

All missions have you retrieving a classified item and then escaping the horde of undead before you are caught and killed. Some of these missions include a timer, adding a bit of urgency, but most let you explore as long as you dare. It would not be survival horror if the missions were as simple as going to X room, getting Y item, and getting back to the truck. If you have played any of the Resident Evil games, you know exactly what I am talking about. If a hallway has 4 doors, how many are unlocked? Probably none other than the one you entered. Some doors require bolt cutters, but said bolt cutters are in a room that requires the power to be turned off first. Other doors may require a key that is in a safe locked with a password that is only found on a particular dead body, and that dead body is probably behind the door that requires bolt cutters. If you are playing solo, I highly recommend a notebook (or the Steam notes shortcut) to keep track of codes, cyphers, clues, and anything else that may help you. Sometimes, though, you just need to pick a lock, and Whisper Mountain Outbreak has one of the cooler lockpicking mechanics in games.

Now, in your quest to get the item and leave, you should probably have a way to defend yourself. Scattered throughout the levels are various firearms, melee weapons, and even grenades and Molotov cocktails. Ammo can also be found, but 9 times out of 10 it is not for the weapon you are currently carrying. As far as healing goes, green herbs can be eaten or you can combine up to three green herbs for a bigger heal (wait a minute…). Similar to the Resident Evil games, the inventory is very limited. At the beginning of the game, you have slots for a melee weapon and firearm, plus four additional slots for ammo, other weapons, healing items, and quest items. In a pinch, items can be dropped and picked up at a later point. Not only do items not despawn, but their icon appears on the map, so you could return later and fill up your inventory before leaving. Additionally, items used in the crafting system do not take up inventory space, so make sure to scavenge everything you can.

If you do manage to make it back to the base, there are a few things to check out before departing on your next mission. Successful missions reward skill points, which can be spent in three areas: Military Book (firearms and explosives), Martial Arts Guide (melee), and Fitness and Health Magazine (health and stamina). It will cost you one skill point the first time you choose each area, and then two and three points. Selecting any of them prompts you to pick an upgrade. Upgrades can directly affect the character, like increased melee damage and reduced stamina consumption, or they can provide new options in the crafting menu. If you play in co-op, anything in your inventory can be dropped for others to pick up. You can use this to your advantage and have different players choose different upgrades. Granted, crafting materials are not shared, but it is more beneficial to have someone who can craft gun parts and someone who can craft extra healing items.

Speaking of co-op, up to 4 players can play together at once. The host does have to choose co-op mode from the beginning as solo is offline only and cannot be changed. Bonus: Only one person actually needs to own Whisper Mountain Outbreak. Players can download the friend’s pass, which allows full access to the game, provided they join someone’s lobby. As mentioned before, inventory items can be freely shared, so this helps as not everyone needs to pick up quest items to proceed. The game does include in-game voice chat and having a radio in your inventory affects the distance you can communicate. Alternatively, you can use Discord, freeing up inventory space and removing any restrictions. Co-op also frees up the need for the aforementioned note-taking. For example, you need the number off of a dead hospital worker’s badge ID. In solo mode, you would find the specific badge, write down the number, and open the safe/door/etc. In co-op mode, I had a friend stand by the locked cabinet, I found the body, called out the code, and success! Personally, I like games that require me to break out my notebook, but to each their own.

We have now arrived to the suggestions/things we hope to see implemented in the game to enhance the experience section of the review. For this game, there is one and only one because it is so glaring, it makes or breaks (in this case, breaks) the game. Whisper Mountain Outbreak does not have a save function. You cannot save the game. Yes, that reads, YOU CANNOT SAVE THE GAME. Let me preface this with the fact that I know this is launching into early access. That said, this is not a game that lends itself to no saves. It is not a roguelike. It is a mission-based, approximately 2-3 hour game (in the current build - there is one area consisting of 8 missions that take anywhere from 10ish minutes to 30+ minutes.

We did reach out to the team for clarification and were told, “Unfortunately, we don't have a save feature available at this time. But it is indeed one of the features we would like to apply in the future.” I have been gaming for 30+ years and I will not deny that I have played into the wee hours of the night/morning. There is a clear distinction between I am going to play all night long and I HAVE to set aside this chunk of time to complete the game. The mere fact that you go on missions and return to the base after just lends itself to being able to save so you can have those bite-sized gaming sessions.

I did find a temporary workaround, but it still ended in disaster. If you play a solo game on the Steam Deck, you can put the game in rest mode. It does not work in an online game, as it will disconnect the game upon returning. In my last run before this review, I had a solo game running on the deck. In the second-to-last mission, I went to pick up an item, and my game soft reset to the main menu. Crashes happen, especially with early access titles, but in this case, my only option was to start a new run. I am just a gamer that reviews games, and not a developer, but a save function seems like such a basic feature. Have we been taking the ability to save for granted all these years?

The save system has been implemented now which does allow quitting the game after each mission. This bumps the game up to a recommendation (unless you hate Early Access titles). The final mission is an endless horde mode (most likely a placeholder). Looking forward to content updates.

Full review can be found at: https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/whisper-mountain-outbreak-early-access-impressions

Once you take control of Pajeú, the Diablo similarities become quite apparent, but the game shortly carves out its own identity. Health globe on the left, mana globe on the right, and abilities front and center. Your objective is to move room to room, and up and down hallways, killing enemies and breaking crates and barrels until you reach the portal to the next floor. Unlike Diablo, looting is completely automated (as long as you are in range, it will be picked up). That “loot” consists of the following: gold, soul stones, gear, trinkets, and relics. Gold is used during each run to purchase Blessings at the statues found on nearly every floor. The further you progress, the more the Blessings will cost. Gold is also used to reroll said Blessings as well as the Power choices when leveling. Soul Stones can be found off of elite enemies, bosses, and scavengers (think Diablo’s loot goblins) and used exclusively in between runs back in town. Gear can be found throughout the run and will be automatically equipped on Pajeú provided there is not a piece already equipped. If there is a piece, the game will prompt you to replace or discard it. The gear represents itself as various armor (helm, chest, rings, amulets, etc.), but really just serves as stat sticks. Pajeú’s appearance remains the same regardless of what he is wearing. Gear also remains equipped permanently for the entire game. Trinkets, on the other hand, are exclusive to the current run. They boost stats in four categories: Fury (damage), Spirit (defense), Vigor (health, speed, regeneration), and Other (yes, it says other on the Character screen; these can be gold gain, experience gain, relic drop rate, etc.). Three from each category can be equipped, but they are automatically equipped, and a better one will always replace any existing ones. Relics affect the various skills you have, but can only be changed between runs. Like gear, they are permanent until you replace but unlike gear, they can be swapped on and off (you have access to inventory in town).

The game’s story plays out over three (3) acts, with each act being a separate 21-floor dungeon. This is the roguelite segment of our program. Unlike similar games, progression is gated to allow the story to develop. You are forced to stop instead of just trying to brute force your way through all 21 floors on your first try. This may seem awful on paper, but it does help to ease you into the titular clock (more on that in a bit). The basic loop here has you clearing floors and leveling up when you kill enough enemies. Every level up allows you to choose from 3 upgrades to one of the skills you are using. There are no “wrong” choices here, but RNG can provide rare and epic selections that are more powerful. For example, a common upgrade may only grant a 10% boost to an ability’s damage, but the epic upgrade could be 50%. Each equipped skill can receive 10 upgrades, but it is highly unlikely you would do more than one (there is an achievement for one) in a single run. On my best runs, I was in my mid-20s. It’s possible, but the best strategy would be to augment skills somewhat equally to make the best use of them.

Time. Clocks tell time. Hell Clock only counts down time. Assuming (I know, I know) you play as designed, the Hell Clock gives you only 7 minutes to finish the run. Killing bosses and clearing the horde wave floors will add time to your total (they also stopped the clock for these fights) but the clock runs at all other times, including looking at your character screen or when selecting Blessings. Runs end upon death or when the clock hits zero. Of course, there are ways to deal with this. For starters, and I did this myself, you can turn on the ability to pause. Sometimes you need to weigh your options in-game, and sometimes, you just need to take a break. You could also turn on relaxed mode which kills the clock altogether. I know some people (it is the internet after all) will moan and groan about an “easy mode” that is completely optional (don’t select it, idiot), but I can tell you that it does not actually make the game easier. When playing without relaxed mode on, you will reach a point where you just cannot kill enemies fast enough to outrun the clock. With relaxed mode, it turns into a battle of attrition. Eventually, enemies just have too much health, and you will not have enough DPS to deal with everything. For example, in my small sampling of using it, I fought a boss for 11+ minutes. I did defeat it but it was excruciating. When I leveled up a bit, I returned (without relaxed mode) and was able to kill the boss in half the time. Does it get you a little further? Maybe. Does it kill the game experience? Absolutely not. Go whine about something else.

There are other ways to deal with the clock. Post run, you will earn experience, leveling up, and get the opportunity to spend points at the Great Bell. Amongst many upgrades, the first Hell Clock upgrade is increasing the time by 2 whole minutes. That can be increased even further, but you are the judge if you need the additional time. Other upgrades include increasing stats like health, mana, resistance to specific damage types, and how much gold or soul stones will drop, but the biggest upgrades were increases to your relic space and skill levels. Fully maxing out those last two requires you to be in Act 3, but I felt the biggest progression jumps came after putting points in those nodes.

Before going about upgrading skill and relic levels, you probably need to know what skills are what. You begin the game with just 5 abilities, but after your first run or two, you can purchase another 4. Only 5 can be equipped so you have plenty of options. Upon completion of Act I, another 6 abilities can be added to your repertoire, and finishing Act II unlocks the remainder. The game does a fantastic job of not only spelling out what each ability does but also what leveling them up does. For example, Closed Body acts as a shield, but every time you level up (during a run), you also gain .75% Physical Resistance. Shadow Dash could be used as a damaging ability but I used it mostly to get out of harm’s way or to get through the level quicker if time was getting low. Leveling up increased the damage but also reduced the mana cost of all skills. Not only do abilities work well when used in tandem, but some may have a buff that another skill can benefit from, even if the skills do not seem like a good pairing. The amount of build diversity in the game is unreal. You could have a build that focused on two or three skills and then grab two other skills seemingly out of place but they provide great global buffs.

The only other thing I wanted to bring up is that while controllers work fine for the game, there are moments that show the design revolved around keyboard and mouse. The biggest offender was working on the inventory. With a controller, you have to scroll box by box in the relic grid but a mouse can easily go back and forth between inventory and equipped relics. Also, there did not seem to be a way to increase the level of skills (after hitting that node in the Great Bell) using a controller. I played on my PC so the mouse was always within reach, but I am not sure what you would do if playing with the Steam Deck docked, sitting on a couch. Fortunately, the contrast between controller and keyboard/mouse was while Pajeú was in town so there racing against any clock as you fought menus. Despite all these suggestions trending towards a broken game, Hell Clock had a very smooth flight with only slight turbulence and a shaky landing.

Full review can be found at https://www.deargamers.net/reviews/hell-clock-review