Recent reviews by RafElite

Let's first address some of the negative that keeps getting overplayed or misrepresented:
This game is entirely free to play. Completely. There is no monthly sub, there are no paid expansions, and there is no PAYWALLED CONTENT outside of some timegated cosmetics (which can still be earned through rng lootboxes if you're lucky). Yes, we get it. Gacha and lootboxes aren't cool, even if it's just cosmetics. But, I also like not spending $15 a month. You can pull for certain "pets" if you will that do impact gameplay... But you still need to gather the materials to build them. And you can also grind for all of them as of now, with a guaranteed weekly pity system on the pulls AND a guaranteed pity system on the grinding. I.E, it's F2P friendly af (as of this review).

Currently there IS timegated content... Because the game just had it's launch. I appreciate not having to compete with unemployed Timmy who has 18 hours a day for MMO's for top ladder spots, and thanks to those timegates I, a casual player, can actually compete and have enough mats to be ready for the next content drop to get some upgrades with that as well. Additionally, if unemployed Timmy finished all the content available in 7 days and then tried to actually keep playing, he'd quickly get bored and uninstall. A timer telling him "go play something else until this drops" or "go socialize for a bit now" is infinitely better and healthier, in my opinion.

Some people complain about the number of currencies present... Please go take a look at Warframe. "But you can't trade with the free earned premium currency!!!" Warframe. A lot of the currencies have dedicated menus AND CAN'T BE EXCHANGED BETWEEN ANOTHER. The exception being Meowlux, which is JUST the cosmetic currency with its own dedicated menu. It is fine.

Valid Criticisms:
UI is pure doodoo. However, that applies only to menuing UI. The actual gameplay UI that shows your HP, resources for combat, party, etc... Is actually quite user friendly. Once you get used to the menuing though, it's... Okay. There's a lot of things that are just submenus and can be a nuisance to navigate.

I'm in U.S.A, in a guild with people in France, Australia, Russia, India, and Latin America. They have server issues all the time. This does not personally affect me at all, but should be addressed by the Devs.

The game dropped an update that added kernel level anti cheat just now. Not cool, but I've never actually cared about having my data harvested. Google already knows everything about me and they already sell it, what's another one?

The story is weak most times. Chosen one, power of friendship, sappy deaths, it has it all. However, it CAN have witty writing and does have some serious themes involving the horrors of war and actually trauma that I feel are portrayed quite well... Only to get dropped off a cliff because being the chosen one is main focus. Also, you have to sit through a bit of the story before getting to the fun parts... Which brings me to my next point:

The good:
The social aspects are great. There are social events every day that repeat throughout the day that give actually important rewards, (mainly currencies) and have actually gotten me to start being social. It's great, it's fun.

Dress up Sim. Fashion Protocol. Whatever you wanna call it, I like pretty characters. Sue me. And yes, you can make your character pretty with only free stuff.

My class is actually fun and engaging. I have to constantly use my resources and monitor them dish out good DPS. I can't just hit all my buttons in a specific order either, I have to make active decisions about which skill to use in order to optimal and get faster clears/more effective tanking. Also, if someone is not doing their job properly, you will notice. Autobattle will not carry you through the dungeon content, unless you're INCREDIBLY overgeared. And I mean, incredibly incredibly overgeared.

Speaking of Autobattle, it's optional. Don't like it? Don't use it. Don't want others to use it? Go in world/guild chat, make some friends, play with them. Want to grind for an hour a specific mob? Turn it on and watch some youtube while alt tabbed. Auto move? Optional AND requires a mount. I.E, it only gets you from quest to quest. Most mmos have this. Don't like it, don't use it.

Combat FEELS good. There is a dodge system that allows for rapid repositioning that makes the red "dodge" zones from bossess and mobs feel more enganging. I don't have to move out of the way, but only if I time my dodge correctly. If I ♥♥♥♥ up, I could also cause a party wipe. However, to actually access this engaging content where there is real risk, you first have to get through the tutorial... Which we established is weak because the story is weak.

Speaking of bosses... Bossess and world bosses also have really interesting ideas that are well executed, like the new dungeon that actually splits the party up and requires me, the tank, to kite the boss, and find the designated safe zone while my DPSes and healer get a DPS check and have to clear some adds in order for the safe zone to be revealed. It requires active communication and attention from all involved, and is fun. If I listed more interesting ones this review would be longer than it already is, so just give the game a try and get to the "hard dungeons" (maybe like 5-10 hours for the first two?). I mention hard dungeons, because normal dungeons are actually just Easy mode, and only hard above introduce difficult mechanics.

So yeah, give it a try, It's free.

I am can only express sadness that there isn't more. I fell in love with the witty dialogue and the lovable, unique characters far faster than I could've ever expected. I loved every bit of game play and story from the tutorial to the threaded maps, to the finale.
I still need to go in and finish getting the last few bits of confidence I skipped, as well as the challenge and dream levels, but wow. I cannot express how much I appreciate this game for existing and being as good as it is. Fully worth the money, would recommend to anyone who has tried and enjoyed Into the breach due to similarity of puzzle like level solving.

As a moba addict (2k hours on league, 1.8k on smite) I have to say this is a breath of FRESH air.

It still needs plenty of work. No progression atm, limited roster, balancing is currently a bit of a mess (though its offset by the learning playerbase not knowing much), UI issues, and a lack of character identity.

However, the Devs listen. They are active on discord and give comments to the community. They hotfixed gamebreaking bugs (none of which I personally encountered) day 2, and added some anti-toxicity features the DAY they were requested. They also plan to bring back every original character from Paragon, which is a plus for me.

I love the slower pace of the game, and I'm very excited to seeing this game grow. I have enough confidence to get the highest package, though the 10$ one is more than plenty to support the devs.

If you want to influence development, buy it, join the discord, and talk the community. If not, throw it on your wishlist for when it comes out f2p, it'd help tremendously!

Its not at a state where I can use it to wean off my league addiction (no lp gain no seratonin D:), but I already enjoy the smooth gameplay of this game far more than its competitors. And it doesnt look graphically terrible. *cough* smite

Gotta say, I don't have too many hours in this game, but it's pretty good from what I've seen. The graphics are a bit janky and optimization is quite bad for those graphics (Plus it's still in Beta so hopefully that will be improved), but otherwise it's really fun. 6 Different roles, fun baddys to either run away from or to kill other people as, randomly generated map so it's not as repetitive, it's multiplayer, and it's free. So why not give it a go.