20 Minutes Till Dawn Review (cloudminnion)
I enjoyed the game enough, but it has a few major flaws which prevent me from recommending it over other Vampire Survivor-like games.
Cons:
- The main game mode is 20 minutes long and surviving to the end doesn't have any sort of "You Won" message, you just get options for "Try Again" and "Exit."
- It feels satisfying to hit a god run and get your full build, but that generally only happens right before the end of the 20 minutes. There should be an option to continue the game in Endless Mode when you win.
- There's no way (that I am aware of) to check your stats. This is a bit annoying when there is a cap for dodge chance, ways to increase your movement speed by X%, and upgrades which are based on your current bullet damage.
- In the 20 minute game mode, you'll always fight three mini-bosses which each drop one of three possible upgrades. Each upgrade only drops once per run, so there's very little variance and its incredibly irritating if they drop in the worst order possible (Halo -> Triple Upgrade -> +40% Exp Boost). There should be at least 5 possible mini-boss drops so every run doesn't feel the same.
- For boss and mini-boss upgrade drops, there's an option to "Leave" the upgrade which provides no benefits. Outside of the rare times that the 3 possible boss upgrades all have serious drawbacks, this is never a good choice. Leaving an upgrade should give some kind of benefit, either in raw stats or just bulk EXP.
- Runes do not feel very rewarding, especially considering how much they cost (it took me about 13 hours to get a fully upgraded loadout). The Sword tree's third and fourth tiers feel especially bad. There are also overall not many Runes available to choose from.
- There's no other uses for currency besides buying the expensive Runes and buying the various playable characters/weapons, so currency becomes worthless well before hitting Darkness 15. There should be a shop for purchasing one-time bonuses that will apply to only the next run (e.g. +1 HP, +10% EXP gain, +25% gun damage, +1 re-roll, etc.) so the currency retains some value for achievement hunters.
- Unpausing the game has no pause delay on enemy movement, making it really easy to get hit before you can react/shoot. There should be either a 1 or 2 second delay between the menu disappearing and the character/monsters moving again.
If most of the above were fixed, I would give this game a thumbs up instead. As is, the game feels like too much of a grind to get to Darkness 15 which most of the achievements are locked behind.