Game is practically complete now, with the full release being only a few weeks away at most and only fixing some bugs and a little bit of extra content but no major changes, so I don't expect any major changes to how the game plays any time soon if ever. So it's a shame I have to give a negative review because the devs seems passionate and are active in the community. I tried really hard to give the game a chance because I want to enjoy it, but I can't. The combat needs a complete overhaul from the ground up. On top of that the isometric view does not suit this style of gameplay at all, at least not how they handled it.

The main problem is the combat is clunky and unfun. The lockon system is garbage and that's the only way you can ever hit anything because you don't attack where your cursor is but where your character is facing. And you are always engaged with multiple enemies at the same time, forced to abuse the dumb AI to try to fight them one at a time by kiting them until you face only a single enemy. This isn't fun. You also take tons of damage in this game unless you constantly get perfect parries or dodge. And some enemies are not obvious when they are about to attack so getting a parry is very difficult. So you will take lots of damage. This can be dealt with if the combat is actually fun, but it isn't.

Then you've got to run to the nearest city to rest and restock your potions, then go out wandering again fighting more roaming enemies. It's very tedious. Also I don't even know where the experience bar is to know my progress in leveling up. Was I even getting experience fighting those roaming enemies? I don't know, the game doesn't tell me.

The menus are also clunky. For some reason when you click an option it highlights it first instead of using the selection, forcing you to click it again to actually use it. It's clearly designed with a controller in mind.

When you do a fighting area (FA) you have no access at all to your inventory, not even to simply view your stats. You get 4 consumable slots and that's it. It feels so restrictive and I don't like it. Why can't I be allowed to equip the new weapons and gear I found? I get not letting us equip more potions as then we could have tons of potions and almost never die, but still.

When you die, and you will die, you don't get the items you already earned from the FA and must try again. Your equipment also loses durability, a mechanic that was never fun in games. Die a few times and you will find your starting equipment broken and unusable. At this point you may just need to restart the whole game. It is advised to instead fight roaming hostile creatures before attempting an FA. But even those are real tough and will wear you down quickly. Combined with fights having ranged enemies peppering you, forcing you to sprint and target them first, hoping you don't get hit in the back.

Deity selections that are still unbalanced despite getting reported on over a year ago (and being extremely obvious to anyone). Like there's a deity that gives you +8% crit chance vs undead at the cost of -100 health. But another deity gives you +8% crit chance vs everything at the cost of -50 focus (stamina). Another deity gives a bunch of resistances and faster talent cooldown with no cost at all. Clearly some of these are far superior than others.

The talents and such you can learn don't really seem all that interesting, but at least there's a great variety for all different kinds of builds. I expect the game to be very repetitive, so the gameplay needs to hold up and be fun, but it isn't.

Quests are extremely simple being either kill this or collect that, with meaningless fluff dialogue. And there's a ton of quests.

There are no graphical options of any kind. None at all, beyond resolution and vsync.

-------------

What they needed to do was have your character attack in the direction of your cursor, which would make you feel like you're actually in control of combat instead of reliant on the clunky lockon system. Or better yet make this a third person game like the Souls games you are clearly taking inspiration from. There's a reason all Souls-likes are third person with a few first person; because it gives much better control and fluidity to combat.

This game had a lot of potential, but it failed at pretty much everything. I can't really say anything meaningfully nice about the game itself. Avoid at any price, unless the idea of an isometric Souls-like with frustrating combat tickles your fancy.

Game is practically complete now, with the full release being only a few weeks away at most and only fixing some bugs and a little bit of extra content but no major changes, so I don't expect any major changes to how the game plays any time soon if ever. So it's a shame I have to give a negative review because the devs seems passionate and are active in the community. I tried really hard to give the game a chance because I want to enjoy it, but I can't. The combat needs a complete overhaul from the ground up. On top of that the isometric view does not suit this style of gameplay at all, at least not how they handled it. The main problem is the combat is clunky and unfun. The lockon system is garbage and that's the only way you can ever hit anything because you don't attack where your cursor is but where your character is facing. And you are always engaged with multiple enemies at the same time, forced to abuse the dumb AI to try to fight them one at a time by kiting them until you face only a single enemy. This isn't fun. You also take tons of damage in this game unless you constantly get perfect parries or dodge. And some enemies are not obvious when they are about to attack so getting a parry is very difficult. So you will take lots of damage. This can be dealt with if the combat is actually fun, but it isn't. Then you've got to run to the nearest city to rest and restock your potions, then go out wandering again fighting more roaming enemies. It's very tedious. Also I don't even know where the experience bar is to know my progress in leveling up. Was I even getting experience fighting those roaming enemies? I don't know, the game doesn't tell me. The menus are also clunky. For some reason when you click an option it highlights it first instead of using the selection, forcing you to click it again to actually use it. It's clearly designed with a controller in mind. When you do a fighting area (FA) you have no access at all to your inventory, not even to simply view your stats. You get 4 consumable slots and that's it. It feels so restrictive and I don't like it. Why can't I be allowed to equip the new weapons and gear I found? I get not letting us equip more potions as then we could have tons of potions and almost never die, but still. When you die, and you will die, you don't get the items you already earned from the FA and must try again. Your equipment also loses durability, a mechanic that was never fun in games. Die a few times and you will find your starting equipment broken and unusable. At this point you may just need to restart the whole game. It is advised to instead fight roaming hostile creatures before attempting an FA. But even those are real tough and will wear you down quickly. Combined with fights having ranged enemies peppering you, forcing you to sprint and target them first, hoping you don't get hit in the back. Deity selections that are still unbalanced despite getting reported on over a year ago (and being extremely obvious to anyone). Like there's a deity that gives you +8% crit chance vs undead at the cost of -100 health. But another deity gives you +8% crit chance vs everything at the cost of -50 focus (stamina). Another deity gives a bunch of resistances and faster talent cooldown with no cost at all. Clearly some of these are far superior than others. The talents and such you can learn don't really seem all that interesting, but at least there's a great variety for all different kinds of builds. I expect the game to be very repetitive, so the gameplay needs to hold up and be fun, but it isn't. Quests are extremely simple being either kill this or collect that, with meaningless fluff dialogue. And there's a ton of quests. There are no graphical options of any kind. None at all, beyond resolution and vsync. ------------- What they needed to do was have your character attack in the direction of your cursor, which would make you feel like you're actually in control of combat instead of reliant on the clunky lockon system. Or better yet make this a third person game like the Souls games you are clearly taking inspiration from. There's a reason all Souls-likes are third person with a few first person; because it gives much better control and fluidity to combat. This game had a lot of potential, but it failed at pretty much everything. I can't really say anything meaningfully nice about the game itself. Avoid at any price, unless the idea of an isometric Souls-like with frustrating combat tickles your fancy.