Second playthrough (thanks again for the extra key) and there's a good deal of improvements. To be honest, I was spurred here to say something positive for once because of the negative review today from Jim Sterling, whom I generally agree with. To think this was done by such a limited team, I thought it was rather clearly a work of love.

He thought this was a rather shoddy tribute and to be honest, after playing a good deal of "Souls-like" games, this really nails everything you could want and...want them to experiment with with a Soulslike. I've gone through the Surge series, Nioh, and Mortal Shell within the past year and while Nioh nails the combat feel and puts more emphasis on the RPG/weapon systems, Hellpoint feels so much more focused on the FEELING that was invoked with the original Dark Souls game on your first playthroughs: Wonderous foreign atmosphere that rewards and asks for exploration, tons of obscure data and a storyline that isn't forced upon you more than can be drawn from data you both seek out and things just shown/experienced by you, and combat incentives that continually grow (even if movesets feel pretty barebones) as your arsenal and stats grow, including a much more limited estus flask system that regains charge by you aggressively going after a foe.

Yes, there's some jank, but I found it all charming and in tribute to the Soulsbourne series. There's nothing revolutionary here, there doesn't need to be but there are enough surprises and secrets to justify multiple playthroughs and I'm happy to be back.

Second playthrough (thanks again for the extra key) and there's a good deal of improvements. To be honest, I was spurred here to say something positive for once because of the negative review today from Jim Sterling, whom I generally agree with. To think this was done by such a limited team, I thought it was rather clearly a work of love. He thought this was a rather shoddy tribute and to be honest, after playing a good deal of "Souls-like" games, this really nails everything you could want and...want them to experiment with with a Soulslike. I've gone through the Surge series, Nioh, and Mortal Shell within the past year and while Nioh nails the combat feel and puts more emphasis on the RPG/weapon systems, Hellpoint feels so much more focused on the FEELING that was invoked with the original Dark Souls game on your first playthroughs: Wonderous foreign atmosphere that rewards and asks for exploration, tons of obscure data and a storyline that isn't forced upon you more than can be drawn from data you both seek out and things just shown/experienced by you, and combat incentives that continually grow (even if movesets feel pretty barebones) as your arsenal and stats grow, including a much more limited estus flask system that regains charge by you aggressively going after a foe. Yes, there's some jank, but I found it all charming and in tribute to the Soulsbourne series. There's nothing revolutionary here, there doesn't need to be but there are enough surprises and secrets to justify multiple playthroughs and I'm happy to be back.