izigame.me

Oh man, this game comes so close. It scrapes the greatness trophy before falling back down to niche but pretty good territory. I initially played the demo and loved it so much that I purchased the game without waiting for a big discount (which, if you know me, almost never happens).
Nightmare Reaper is the second roguelite FPS I have played this year, the first being the much earlier, simpler, but more polished Immortal Redneck. NR is in every aspect a far more complex game than IR, and it is both better and worse for that complexity.
Briefly:
The core gameplay takes place inside the dreams of a woman locked up alone in a haunted, derelict psychiatric hospital. The game has three episodes, each split into several chapters. Each chapter consists of three levels which take place in the same setting (forest, the moon, hell, etc). Each episode introduces a new skill tree, new mechanics, new enemies, weapons, and environmental puzzles. There is a basic story, told entirely through very short journal entries which unlock upon completion of each level.
The roguelike elements:
randomly arranged levels consisting of several pre-designed rooms which are arranged randomly. The same idea as Immortal Redneck, but with a lot more room possibilities.
weapon stats (from base through to four slots for random positive and negative perks, plus a damage multiplier for NG+)
enemy placement, modifiers, and variety
secret and puzzle placement (with a staggering number of easter eggs)
random events (positive or negative; like weapon rerolls, barrel or icicle rain, doppelgänger attack)
randomly placed powerups
Loved:
Variety. The weapons, enemies, level designs, artwork, secrets, powerups, perks, etc are hugely varied. It is hard to get sick of anything for more than a few minutes before you get something entirely different.
The "real world" of the hospital, which is revealed slowly and over time through progression, exploration, and experimentation.
The amount of replayability, as with most roguelites, is wonderful.
The sound design. Screaming in the hospital, whistling cowboys, the wind blowing through a cracked wall. Good stuff.
The slow burn nature of the skill trees, designed to be unlocked over several playthroughs.
Mixed feelings:
All the things which come with RNG: having to stick with the same weapon forever because everything which drops is garbage, soft-locks caused by random placement of objects and tools, levels which are far too simple or far too complex.
The game explains almost nothing. I appreciate this in a game like Spelunky because the game teaches the player organically. Here there is so much complexity built in, but it is not always easy to see or understand how a system works -- especially the skill trees and weapon modifier -- without referring to a guide or the forums. There were several entire features that I only discovered because I looked at a guide.
DPS. It is impossible to reliably determine a weapon's DPS, and due to the nature of the game, I often come upon a weapon after I've killed everything in a level and simply don't know if I should keep it or not.
Secret hunting. Oh man, I like secret hunting, but too much backtracking and tool hunting takes away from the pace of the game.
The difficulty ramping after several playthoughs is not well balanced. Some enemies can kill with one or two hits and a few cannot be dodged reliably. This is fine sometimes, but the more I progress, the more I die to BS.
Hated:
The skill tree mini games, which can be "disabled," are unnecessarily complicated and, especially into NG+, tedious. Disabling the mini game part is great, but why are the maze-like worlds not disabled as well? The topaz tree (which can easily last into NG+5 and beyond) is the worst, as one has to constantly navigate back and forth in order to process gold or jade into topaz, then find the upgrades to unlock. Way too much clicking.
Screen readability is a problem. The pets float at head level and will often momentarily obscure large parts of the screen. Enemies often die but remain frozen in the same position for a few seconds. The same can happen with certain projectiles. When things get chaotic, it can be very hard to do much about it.
The unlockable arenas are fun, however due to some enemy pathfinding and awareness issues, they bog down at the end of rounds when there is one last enemy stuck somewhere.
The melee weapons feel almost entirely useless. This could be me, but I never found a melee weapon which felt workable against tough enemies, no matter the stats or multiplier. The same goes for stuff like the sniper rifle and molotov.
Sprite-based enemies. Specifically when they are close up or in levels with a lot of verticality. It is pretty hard to hit two dimensional enemies when looking down at them from ten meters above. But they sure don't struggle with their aim at all. Not a problem unique to this game, but annoying nonetheless.
Powerup hit boxes. When I'm fighting 50 enemies at once in an arena, it is often near impossible to jump precisely to a powerup which has spawned in the air.
Performance and crashes:
For the most part, the game played reliably and smoothly on my aging system (I5-8500/GTX 1070). I experienced three crashes during the main campaign, but lost no progress. The arenas are a different story. On high levels I experienced frequent instances of single digit framerates and numerous crashes. The dev currently suggests quitting and restarting at ten round intervals (which is when arena progress is saved), but that isn't an acceptable solution long term.
Suggestions for the future:
I think the game needs UI tweaking to expose the underlying systems. Specifically the menus for pills and pet/jade loadout should be selectable within the mini game without the need for a shortcut key. Weapon DPS (or at least viability) needs to be discoverable without an enemy being present. Weapon stats and possible reroll outcomes should be defined and the specific "random projectile" should be named because it isn't random once it has been rolled into the gun. The mini games should have the option to disable them clearly visible, not hidden in settings. Furthermore, when disabled they should be pared down to a simple menu or tree. Other stuff like poor arena performance, rebalancing NG+ ramping, and adjusting the speed at which jade drops is mentioned above, but these are the core issues I have.
As far as additions, I would really appreciate a test room where I can build a weapon and experiment with the stats as I see fit, then choose enemies to attack with it. A freemode, so to speak.
Conclusion:
For the most part I have a lot of fun playing Nightmare Reaper. With a little tweaking, it can be something truly great. I do think that my interest waned significantly once I had completed it once, and I do wish there were more possibilities to unlock in NG+. Play the demo, you'll know if it is for you within a level or two.