It's a let down. It looks good from a distance but doesn't play well or have much content when compared to similar roguelikes. I played long enough to get into the story a bit. It's cliched and doesn't get anywhere for oh, about 10 hours - depending on how long the bugs hold you up/ how much patience you have/ if you want a refund from steam [usually a 2 hour time limit according toIt's a let down. It looks good from a distance but doesn't play well or have much content when compared to similar roguelikes. I played long enough to get into the story a bit. It's cliched and doesn't get anywhere for oh, about 10 hours - depending on how long the bugs hold you up/ how much patience you have/ if you want a refund from steam [usually a 2 hour time limit according to their website]. This is not a comprehensive list of everything wrong with this game. That would take too long. Suffice to say there were some poor design choices and the play testing must have been carried out on guinea pigs or true believers. Or both.
Graphics: The visuals are only good from a distance. In fact they end up taking away from the gameplay. The terrain obscures the map. It's hard to select the right target. You have to cut down swathes of grass and entire forests just to find and then fight the enemies.
Controls: like a bad console port, though the devs have stated that the PC is the main release. Keyboard works, WASD and enter. Mouse is an imprecise, expensive mess. Controller is shoddy. Touchscreen is to be avoided at all costs.
UI: doesn't make sense. Separate menus for inventory, equipment, and pets that could realistically be combined into one. You have to push escape three times to exit back to the game. Crafting is a tedious mess. While possible to discover recipes, when given the number of ingredients with 8 ingredient slots, it quickly becomes obvious that the math is against you. Furthermore you have to "level up" your crafting ability in order to craft items that you must have a certain character level to use. A tedious redundant grind ensues!
Music: works.
Sound: there's a very annoying voice during combat that announces every critical and back-stab. These happen frequently, backstabbing being the only way to succeed in combat. It's like a kid playing with a new voice modulator toy set on Marianas Trench.
Weather: the rain drops land on your camera/screen, which is facing down. How did this get into the game?
The day/night cycle continues while indoors and underground. There is nothing as dark as a night in a coal mine in Dragon Fin Soup.
Content: it compares poorly to most roguelikes out there. There is no way to view the monster's stats. Your skills have descriptions but no numbers attached. Leveling is random and uninteresting. As the areas level with you too, it's actually a little pointless. You can't go back to most places, so you never get to feel any progress. The loot comes out of ubiquitous crates and occasional treasure chests but almost never from monsters, which doesn't feel very satisfying. And there isn't much variation. At a given character level you will find the same three or four weapons and armor that were created for that level. You will sell those same items for thousands of gold while completing the mission will net you only several hundred. You can improve your items with single use gems obtained after missions. Unfortunately one of the bugs is that those improvements disappear when you load the game, though the +1, +2 or +3 name lingers.
Bugs: many. too many to count. They are actively squashing them. But you can easily get stuck with no way out. Your upgraded items will lose their stats. The fish you catch will disappear (apparently fixed). It will crash and you'll lose your progress frequently (not fixed).
All of that said, I had some fun once or twice. It very nearly scratched a certain roguelike/tactical rpg itch. It will be better after the bugs are gone, but the content is still a bit dry. There aren't enough ingredients in this soup for me. There are tastier offerings out there, especially this month.… Expand
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