izigame.me

I have played many Rogue-likes and Rogue-Lites. The thrill of an unrelenting horde of enemies focused on turning you into a paste is unlike most feelings. This game is a prime example of how 3D can do such a visual onslaught of chaos.

TL;DR
Music slaps like Mike Tyson, Visuals are stellar, some small design choices make a huge positive difference, Devs are good peoples.
Effects, hit detection, and boss mechanics issues. Small quibbles.
Get the game!

THE GOOD
First off, the music in this game slaps more than a product tester at a prosthetic butt factory. It feels like it took heavy inspiration from Diddy Kong Racing, which is one of the best OSTs of all time, so it's an excellent choice if that's the case. It's punchy; the shifts to when the Lords rise are terrific. My favorite is the Scorching Desert music. Pure chef kiss.

The visual design is fantastic. It's simple yet elaborate in the right ways. As someone who has studied design for over 15 years, I truly think they knocked it out of the park. I love that the faces are shadows with glowy eyes. The ultimate skins that I've gotten so far are remarkable. The Death Knight is so damn cool it makes me want to play him more. The enemies stand out from each other, until they are just a mass of hatred, enough that you can know what you must do to deal with them at just a glance. Until you get to the point where all you do is run around, and everything around explodes.

The fact that enemies have to actually hit you to do damage instead of just wearing neuro-toxin aftershave is a simple but fantastic decision. Instead of constantly running from a horde crying, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" you can dash through them, makes me feel like I have WAY more control of the action.

This developer's love for the community is a breath of fresh air. When the update with the Wukong character dropped. A big chunk of the community was more than a little perturbed by it, and they actually retracted the update, worked on it some more with feedback, and re-released it. Personally, I liked the update, but the rework was such an improvement that I'm glad they did that. I've never seen that before and have so much respect for the Devs for that. They are people who want to make the best game they can for the people. It's such a rare sight, even for indie/AA devs.

THE BAD
Having to play this game with the effects opacity on low so I can see a damn thing is borderline infuriating. Many of the visual effects are very well done and look so cool, but some are so over the top that you can't see the enemies. The main issue with this is less about the enemies and more about where they attack. There are some characters and/or weapons I don't like playing because they cover the screen in colors to where you can't see if you're going to run into a pillar's attack, a doom comet landing, or a boss's backhand slap. This becomes most infuriating when trying to do the endless Boss-focused runs. I love that they have the Opacity slider in the options, but I also like to see where I'm hitting. Knowing where my swings will land helps me determine where to move if I want to hit a boss safely. Having some indicators similar to how the enemy might be good in a way where the lower the effect opacity is, the higher the opacity of the indicator becomes. Moreover, having the indicator of the large AOE attacks from enemies also appearing on top of anyone within instead of just on the ground would be a great addition. Have a slider for that as well.

Hit detection can be spotty, even during the beginning of a run/map. There have been so many times when I would get hit with an AOE, but I was clearly several feet away from it. I don't know of any suggestions for that, but it happens enough that it needs to be mentioned.

The Lords mechanics feel too samey at times. They are all Damage bosses. Four of them have similar attacks. Alexi, Colummeth, and Keythaiz leave damaging areas that last a while. Tiaggor and Gammuth have beam attacks that follow you. Personally, I think each Lord should have a role. Alexi is DOT damage, Colummeth and Gammuth are Debuffs. Colum slows your movement and attack, Gam lowers your defense (melting your armor). Tiag is a crowd-control with more AOE. Aelf is a tank/bruiser. Keythaiz is a support. Allaxiz is an asshole that is constantly forcing you to change tactics by chasing you personally or throwing stuff at you. (like his wave of spikes or random explosions) Right now, they all feel like Nukes but with slightly different attacks. Allax, Key, and Aelf are the most unique in how they attack, but that's it.

Small quibble. There is a Rune (Perk) that is entirely useless. You get a % increase in damage if you sit still for at least 3 sec, but it goes away once you move. This is only useful in very early game for summon builds, and you don't get it that early. Once you start throwing on Curses (Challenges or Skulls ala Halo), you can't use it. One of the first Curses is killing enemies has a % chance of dropping a Doom Comet at a random location around you or on you. Either make this a 1-second stand still with a 3 - 5-second effect after moving or get rid of it. And the All or Nothing Rune (Increase stats but HP is 1) needs to be buffed because 25% boost is not worth death by sneeze from across the map. All the other runes, I can see a use for.


This game is so much fun, and I enjoy playing it even more than Vampire Survivors. I'm so excited to see what they do next; each update has been incredible. I know it looks like there's more bad I have, but they are really just specific things that don't ruin the game for me in any way—just weak links that I know could be better.

Get this game if you like Rogue-Lites. It's absolutely worth it.