So on trackpad, I don't exactly have a middle mouse click, and it's not as easy to do a right click, so I wanted to suggest adding a way to change keybindings or a second option for attacks that require the mouse.
That aside, this game is amazing!! I'm still in the beginning but I'm already in love with the art style and theme!
Hi Lide Master, thanks for the comment! Have you tried the “keyboard only” control scheme? You can access it through the customize controls menu from the title screen > new game/load game > options (or settings, I forget what it’s called exactly), or in game after completing the tutorial. Let me know if that helps!
What a coicidence on the update! i was planning to play it again today, because i might have understrand why i cried in the end, but i needed to confirm it by replaying.
I really love this game, even if some of the plot is lost on me. The gameplay itself is fantastic, I personally love the art style, the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE, and overall it was a very enjoyable experience.
So I decided to pick this up again after over a year and I gotta say, this still holds up super well! I actually managed to kill the harbinger in the tutorial this time, and I feel like something might have changed. Does this have any plot significance?
I'm just now realizing that this game is also sort of a commentary on religion and indoctrination. It really makes me view the game in a whole new light. I can't believe that when I last played this I didn't realize that the second major area is literally a church in which you get baptized against your will by a power tripping priest.
It's awesome, but is there some like idol/god in the lore or something???? I'm christian and I don't vibe with magic/false idols even if in a game so i just wanna be aware, sorry if im coming across negative :)
While the game is semi-based on my own experiences growing up Catholic, the way the game explores concepts of divinity might be uncomfortable to some. I recommend trying it out anyway, but don't feel like you need to continue if it ends up not being a good experience for you!
Your game was beautiful. A ton of fun, an emotional story, and great to look at/listen to. Congratulations on making such a great game, and thank you for the opportunity to get to play it.
I have played most of the list of "souls like" games, and this one is super solid. Love the art style and the flow of combat, and ability options make sense. I'll be purchasing the whole game for sure.
This is a really good game! The combat system is fairly simple, different combat styles (mantras) differ in range, timing, and damage, but it works well and being able to combine a perk of a style with the secondary slot adds a bit of nuance to what you choose. Enemy variety though I think is what makes the game interesting and varied in its whole length, enemies are really well differentiated and they combine to create cool and unique encounters.
The combat mantras before thanatos do kinda feel unviable for the harder parts of the game, in particular the Descent, which actually I'm not sure was intended to be completable in a normal new game? There are a few issues in the game which don't become noticeable until you reach the most difficult encounters.
There's a big issue with visibility because some details can cover enemies, and you can't see their attack cues, and there's no good way to move them away, specially given the tight time constraint of the descent. Even worse is that in crowded situations enemies can obscure each other, which is not something that would crop up often in the normal game, but in the descent happens a few times, and it's all the more frustrating given that there you're pushed to play aggressively. Some combinations that appear, like the harbinger with small enemies, the harbinger can completely block other enemies from view. Also enemies attacking from offscreen is quite annoying, close to unfair given that projectiles are mostly fast, and the thing of moving the screen towards the enemy that shot the projectile that hit you wasn't a good idea, because it obscures the most important threats around you and disorients you.
Also enemies can attack you instantly when they teleport next to you, which can be a bit unfair. They can also attack instantly when you use a rewind, and attacks from before remain after a rewind, so you can get hit instantly upon rewinding, it kinda seems like enemies should wait after teleport or rewind, and previous attacks be wiped off.
Another thing that sticks out mostly in crowded combat is the soft lock on, which I think is the worst issue of the combat in this game, because it takes a lot of control away from you, and is sometimes finicky and targets unintuitive targets. It can cause things like stop you from capitalizing on a break or parry because suddenly the lock on decided to target another enemy, it really feels awful.
Some attacks seem to respond inconsistently to dodging them, you dodge right through the attack, but there's no slight slowdown in response to dodging, or big slowdown if you have the virtue that does that, and if the enemy does two consecutive attacks quickly, it catches you with the followup during your dodge recovery. It feels a bit buggy.
Something that I'm pretty sure is a bug is that the prototype enemy, that red kid that teleports, when you break them, they become completely intangible to your attacks. That same enemy, and the other kid enemy that appears in the descent, kinda seems to attack unreactably fast? I'm pretty sure I'm not just old and slow, because even pressing space anticipating the attack I've gotten hit, maybe something with input lag? I'm playing on speed 1.1 and didn't try slower, not sure it's related to that anyway, but if speeding up the game makes it not work very well maybe the option shouldn't be there?
Those fast attacks wouldn't be a problem, they just make you play conservatively, but that's not something you can do in the descent, and coupled with the ocasional visibility problem, makes fighting fast unreliable, so overall the descent on new game, specially the later parts with lots of fast kid enemies and lots of bosses, feel like gambling, sometimes you get lucky and break them enough to kill fast, but you don't have means to kill really fast and reliably in new game. Maybe the tools you get on ng+ make it doable, I'll try that now, but it really doesn't seem made for normal new game.
After I completed I had seen that challenge difficulty should be unlocked, but it didn't appear for me, not sure if it appears later or it was an error.
Anyway, the descent frustrated me a bit because it exacerbated those issues, but the entire rest of the game is really good, when you get used to it the combat can get really fast, and challenges are varied and interesting. It was a really interesting game to play!
Thank you for your very in-depth and insightful comments! I always appreciate when someone takes the time to share their experience and thoughts on the game.
While I don’t want to say too much (because I don’t want to dilute your thoughts!), I’ll just clarify Challenge mode unlocks when you complete new game +, not new game. I hope you get a chance to experience all of new game +!
I’m very impressed you attempted the descent on new game, it’s definitely designed to be attempted after the player finishes the new game + story, though we decided to let new game players attempt it as well because we knew not everyone had completed new game + by the time we released the expansion. In hindsight maybe I would have locked it away until then, but either way I hope you ultimately enjoy your experience.
I completed ng+ and the descent now, and I really enjoyed it! sorry if I seemed overly negative, I probably wouldn't have written so much on the negative points if I had completed ng+ first, the range and power that aether gives you let you fight much more safely and makes the descent extremely doable, and the ascended virtue probably makes it doable with some of the other mantras.
Making ng+ and the descent put more pressure with corruption and tying its progress to how well you completed fights was a really cool idea, a great way to incentivize exploring combat more and playing quickly, like a speedrun mode but that gives more direct feedback to how well you're doing and a short term goal of lowering corruption.
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So on trackpad, I don't exactly have a middle mouse click, and it's not as easy to do a right click, so I wanted to suggest adding a way to change keybindings or a second option for attacks that require the mouse.
That aside, this game is amazing!! I'm still in the beginning but I'm already in love with the art style and theme!
Hi Lide Master, thanks for the comment! Have you tried the “keyboard only” control scheme? You can access it through the customize controls menu from the title screen > new game/load game > options (or settings, I forget what it’s called exactly), or in game after completing the tutorial. Let me know if that helps!
I got it, these keys work way better now, tysm! This game is amazing!!
What a coicidence on the update! i was planning to play it again today, because i might have understrand why i cried in the end, but i needed to confirm it by replaying.
I really love this game, even if some of the plot is lost on me. The gameplay itself is fantastic, I personally love the art style, the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE, and overall it was a very enjoyable experience.
So I decided to pick this up again after over a year and I gotta say, this still holds up super well! I actually managed to kill the harbinger in the tutorial this time, and I feel like something might have changed. Does this have any plot significance?
I'm just now realizing that this game is also sort of a commentary on religion and indoctrination. It really makes me view the game in a whole new light. I can't believe that when I last played this I didn't realize that the second major area is literally a church in which you get baptized against your will by a power tripping priest.
It's awesome, but is there some like idol/god in the lore or something???? I'm christian and I don't vibe with magic/false idols even if in a game so i just wanna be aware, sorry if im coming across negative :)
Hi tempori,
While the game is semi-based on my own experiences growing up Catholic, the way the game explores concepts of divinity might be uncomfortable to some. I recommend trying it out anyway, but don't feel like you need to continue if it ends up not being a good experience for you!
alright, thanks for responding and being transparent about it! :>
Your game was beautiful. A ton of fun, an emotional story, and great to look at/listen to. Congratulations on making such a great game, and thank you for the opportunity to get to play it.
Is there any way to delete saves?
Hi Arquebus,
if you reach the 3 save file max and select New Game, the game will prompt you to pick an old save to overwrite.
Hope that helps!
Thank you! Love this game to death, and got my first bad end a year ago on Steam. Can't wait to pick it apart and feel things some more!
I have played most of the list of "souls like" games, and this one is super solid. Love the art style and the flow of combat, and ability options make sense. I'll be purchasing the whole game for sure.
This is a really good game! The combat system is fairly simple, different combat styles (mantras) differ in range, timing, and damage, but it works well and being able to combine a perk of a style with the secondary slot adds a bit of nuance to what you choose. Enemy variety though I think is what makes the game interesting and varied in its whole length, enemies are really well differentiated and they combine to create cool and unique encounters.
The combat mantras before thanatos do kinda feel unviable for the harder parts of the game, in particular the Descent, which actually I'm not sure was intended to be completable in a normal new game? There are a few issues in the game which don't become noticeable until you reach the most difficult encounters.
There's a big issue with visibility because some details can cover enemies, and you can't see their attack cues, and there's no good way to move them away, specially given the tight time constraint of the descent. Even worse is that in crowded situations enemies can obscure each other, which is not something that would crop up often in the normal game, but in the descent happens a few times, and it's all the more frustrating given that there you're pushed to play aggressively. Some combinations that appear, like the harbinger with small enemies, the harbinger can completely block other enemies from view. Also enemies attacking from offscreen is quite annoying, close to unfair given that projectiles are mostly fast, and the thing of moving the screen towards the enemy that shot the projectile that hit you wasn't a good idea, because it obscures the most important threats around you and disorients you.
Also enemies can attack you instantly when they teleport next to you, which can be a bit unfair. They can also attack instantly when you use a rewind, and attacks from before remain after a rewind, so you can get hit instantly upon rewinding, it kinda seems like enemies should wait after teleport or rewind, and previous attacks be wiped off.
Another thing that sticks out mostly in crowded combat is the soft lock on, which I think is the worst issue of the combat in this game, because it takes a lot of control away from you, and is sometimes finicky and targets unintuitive targets. It can cause things like stop you from capitalizing on a break or parry because suddenly the lock on decided to target another enemy, it really feels awful.
Some attacks seem to respond inconsistently to dodging them, you dodge right through the attack, but there's no slight slowdown in response to dodging, or big slowdown if you have the virtue that does that, and if the enemy does two consecutive attacks quickly, it catches you with the followup during your dodge recovery. It feels a bit buggy.
Something that I'm pretty sure is a bug is that the prototype enemy, that red kid that teleports, when you break them, they become completely intangible to your attacks. That same enemy, and the other kid enemy that appears in the descent, kinda seems to attack unreactably fast? I'm pretty sure I'm not just old and slow, because even pressing space anticipating the attack I've gotten hit, maybe something with input lag? I'm playing on speed 1.1 and didn't try slower, not sure it's related to that anyway, but if speeding up the game makes it not work very well maybe the option shouldn't be there?
Those fast attacks wouldn't be a problem, they just make you play conservatively, but that's not something you can do in the descent, and coupled with the ocasional visibility problem, makes fighting fast unreliable, so overall the descent on new game, specially the later parts with lots of fast kid enemies and lots of bosses, feel like gambling, sometimes you get lucky and break them enough to kill fast, but you don't have means to kill really fast and reliably in new game. Maybe the tools you get on ng+ make it doable, I'll try that now, but it really doesn't seem made for normal new game.
After I completed I had seen that challenge difficulty should be unlocked, but it didn't appear for me, not sure if it appears later or it was an error.
Anyway, the descent frustrated me a bit because it exacerbated those issues, but the entire rest of the game is really good, when you get used to it the combat can get really fast, and challenges are varied and interesting. It was a really interesting game to play!
Hi Huitzilopochtli!
Thank you for your very in-depth and insightful comments! I always appreciate when someone takes the time to share their experience and thoughts on the game.
While I don’t want to say too much (because I don’t want to dilute your thoughts!), I’ll just clarify Challenge mode unlocks when you complete new game +, not new game. I hope you get a chance to experience all of new game +!
I’m very impressed you attempted the descent on new game, it’s definitely designed to be attempted after the player finishes the new game + story, though we decided to let new game players attempt it as well because we knew not everyone had completed new game + by the time we released the expansion. In hindsight maybe I would have locked it away until then, but either way I hope you ultimately enjoy your experience.
I completed ng+ and the descent now, and I really enjoyed it! sorry if I seemed overly negative, I probably wouldn't have written so much on the negative points if I had completed ng+ first, the range and power that aether gives you let you fight much more safely and makes the descent extremely doable, and the ascended virtue probably makes it doable with some of the other mantras.
Making ng+ and the descent put more pressure with corruption and tying its progress to how well you completed fights was a really cool idea, a great way to incentivize exploring combat more and playing quickly, like a speedrun mode but that gives more direct feedback to how well you're doing and a short term goal of lowering corruption.
thank you for making such an interesting game!