izigame.me

I've been following ustwo since their debut, and have been waiting a while to finally get to try this one out.

Pros:
- Ustwo's games are designed to be for casual gamers, but Desta's gameplay still manages to bring a good amount of mechanical depth to the table. Each character has distinct abilities, movement, health, and charms, and the varying arrangement of obstacles on the boards adds a good amount of dynamism to each encounter. Additionally, the game translates quite naturally to mouse and keyboard.
- I've never doubted ustwo in terms of their art direction, and this game is no exception. Each environment pops and feels distinct from the next, while the pastel color scheme thematically contribute to the nostalgic, dreamy tone and content of the game. By the same token, the animations and cutscenes are gorgeous.
- Although the story is presented through text bubbles in between gameplay, Desta is also fully narrated - that is so refreshing. On top of that, the character writing itself is pretty decent.
- Did not experience any bugs.
- Actually boppy soundtrack.
Cons:
- Considering that the game allows you to start from any chapter you like once you've reached it, I begin to wonder whether the roguelike structure really makes sense, as the ability to select any chapter makes that structure somewhat redundant. Compounding that, the game is easy enough that I wasn't really experiencing the roguelike loop anyway - over my entire 4-hour playthrough, I only had a single failure. On the other hand, at least being a roguelike does add replayability to the game.
- In terms of difficulty, Desta is all over the place. The difficulty curve of the game is inconsistent, with a handful of encounters sticking out from all the rest relatively dramatically. At the same time, the jump from the main campaign mode to the nightmare mode or the challenges is staggering. There is no real middleground between easy and challenging, and so it feels as though little room is offered for players to practice or grow in an organic way.
- Another issue that arises during Desta's main campaign is with playstyles. As I mentioned earlier, the game's roguelike nature is somewhat defeated by its low level of difficulty. This is certainly not helped by the fact that many of the best characters and abilities are offered to the player right at the game's outset. As a result, I never felt compelled to experiment much with the several charms, abilities, or characters I was finding along the way because it just seemed like a downgrade. I can absolutely see the merit of these gameplay 'modifiers' in subsequent runs or challenge modes, but they fell somewhat flat during my initial playthrough.
- In a vacuum, Desta's narrative is fine. Nothing special, but also not bad by any means. However, in the context of ustwo, it was quite disappointing. Desta is essentially an exact tonal and thematic retread of Assemble With Care, offering extremely similar character arcs and resolutions. Even the artstyle is heavily reminiscent. Combine that with a cast of characters that I found generally less compelling than those of Assemble With Care, and I found myself wanting a lot more.

Overall, I found Desta to be a mixed bag. I'm still certainly glad I played it, but it sits at the bottom of ustwo's catalog in my personal opinion. While the core of the gameplay loop is solid, Desta falters with conflicting design choices and a lackluster narrative. Nevertheless, I greatly commend ustwo's willingness to experiment, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing more from the team!
6/10