Recent reviews by derito

I wish there was a neutral/meh rating, because this game does have some really interesting points. Just not enough to overweight the fairly large weak points.

Lets start off with the good points :
- The game looks and sounds good
- For what it's worth, the story is serviceable and the characters are good
- The basic movement and dodging is fairly enjoyable
- The skull system of basically having 2 classes you can switch between at almost any time is, at its core, a really awesome idea. It brings a lot of flavour to runs and upgrading a skull over a run can feel very good.
- The extra difficult game mode seems quite interesting

As for the weak points :
- Late in the run, the screen can become incredibly cluttered which is the sort of difficulty that doesn't feel good. Especially with enemy sprites being displayed behind SFXs. Do explosions look cool ? Yeah. Does it feel good to be hit by stuff that wasn't even visible ? No.
- Loot RNG is poorly handled : This is a roguelite. RNG is not only expected, it's part of what gives such games their flavour. However this game has a 9 items cap, which is not necessarily bad in and off itself, especially considering the clutter issues. The problem is that you very often end up getting a choice of items, none of which are upgrades, which you then have to simply abandon on the wayside. This feels absolutely atrocious and will gimp your runs. You do get a permanent upgrade to get some money when you destroy the trash items. Sadly, it's one of the very last upgrades you can unlock, making the early game more miserable than it has to be.
- Skulls are not created equal. Not by a long shot. Lower rarity skulls may need to be upgraded multiple times over the run to start getting good and/or not boring. They may just be plain bad. Or you may simply not have the RNG to get the good active skill on that skull. And the only way to find out is to go all in, pour resources into something that isn't enjoyable for the time being, but may turn out to be great, or not. Which isn't helped by the fact that runs in this game are fairly long. Add to this that, unlike other roguelites, picking archetypes is an ongoing process throughout the run rather than a choice made at the start (like picking a ship in FTL, a survivor in RoR or a weapon in Hades), and you get into situation where picking something bad doesn't just risk a random run. It risks the run you have already spent over half an hour on and on which you managed to have a good thing going. This is not at all conducive to trying things out, which is really unfortunate. Can you look up things online ? Sure, but trying things and finding what fits you is kind of the point of this sort of system.

So, is this game worth it ?
As things stand I don't think I can recommend it, but I'm sure some people will be able to enjoy the hell out of it.
Honestly, just giving the ability to sell items from the start would make the initial push to get the first clear much more enjoyable. And this would be enough to make it a game you can play for a very enjoyable 15-20h. Considering this game's price, this would be a very good deal.

However, taking this game to the level of truly great roguelites would, I feel, require more profound changes that I don't think would fit in a patch or 2. Still, this game has some really interesting ideas. If progression in a run felt better and gameplay was polished enough to be spot-on, I could see a sequel getting to this sort of level.

I loved the base game. The DLC's beginning was quite interesting and the addition of a new gimmick was nice.
After getting deeper into the game you get faced with a type of gameplay that was barely even scratched in the base game : stealth as in navigate in complete darkness stealth
I get why they would do this as it certainly adds something to the experience.
I found this mechanic annoying in the first game but at least it was really easy and just came down to patience.
HOWEVER it's now a pretty significant part of the game.
Can you cheese it ? Yes. Is it fun to do so ? Not at all, as it covers a decent amount of content and the ways to do that are not only annoying, but also tight.

So, can this DLC be a really nice experience ?
- Absolutely

But will it give YOU a nice experience ?
- It very much depends on how much of a fan you are of this type of mechanic.

My main gripe is that there isn't really any way for you to know of this ahead of time.
Even if you loved the base game.

Short yet excellent text-based adventure with quite a bit of replayability thanks to the various paths you can explore.
Nice characters, references and humour. Well worth the price.
Depending on your preferences, the mobile version may suit your needs better.

Note: this game can mostly be played at your own pace. However, a very specific part will be time limited. I understand and like that choice. But this may not be everyone's case. Just know you can disable it in the options should choose to.

Rendez moi ma vie....