izigame.me

So-- I'm gonna recommend this game with caveats.
The strong points:
-extremely well-polished, everything feels very complete and well thought-out
-compelling atmosphere of adventure
-balanced well, it feels like you're always able to keep your resources managed as long as you think ahead but can be punished for not taking bad luck into account
-nice music collection mechanics, and generally all of the gameplay and mechanics are very well thought out
but, anyone thinking they want this game should know the following:
-there simply isn't much to find. after three completed runs, it felt very much like I'd seen everything the game has to offer.
-the cosmetic customisation options are limited and shallow
-the player character has basically no customisation at all, you get to choose between two very similar portraits (I think opposite genders?) and one of three basic starting traits
-the map is always the same. you start in the west and every ending has a fixed location dotted around the map, with the same biomes and major cities in the same places every time.
-there are very very few skills to unlock. I found a build I liked combining car upgrades with specific skills, and after that the skill points just piled up with nothing useful to spend them on (thirteen unspent after being fully built by the end of my second run). I unlocked (all?) five skill trees in my first run, and never unlocked any more in my subsequent runs.
-when you get to an ending, it just ends. I was expecting to unlock a new map and keep driving but no, it's just one map that you play in over and over. normally in a game like this I'd go after all the endings but it just feels like the same game over and over with a different ten-second cutscene at the end, and cutscene is a generous descriptor.
This is a beautifully made game and a really excellent little project, one that I really did enjoy playing. But without at least a dozen different cars to unlock, character customisation, more cosmetic vehicle customisation, new maps, and just generally more to discover that builds on the excellent foundation of the gameplay, I don't see myself opening it again. I was looking for something that gave me a sense of adventure like Sid Meier's Pirates, but it didn't quite deliver that, because the world doesn't feel alive and full of things to collect and discover. Nor does it have the challenge and deep mechanics of a game like FTL, or the sheer amount of diverse builds to experiment with like other roguelikes/roguelites.
I recommend this game but my heart cries out for a way to make each run feel different, and that's where it fell short for me.