izigame.me

TLDR:
I leave temp reviews up for around a week or two usually.
I did not like this new update.
I will continue to try this new update.
I want to recommend the game, I do, but it's 2023, almost 2024, and the bare minimum does not suffice.
Another... coop horde mode, again, thankfully the actual game is fun.
No Controller/PC QoL updates apart from some PC Graphical upgrades and some PC Graphical downgrades (which they are looking at).
FYI, Disabled Gamer here.
Brotherhood *Attempts*
Tried the Brotherhood maps.
Only balanced for 3 players.
All 3 mages are homogenized, the fireball spell is given to all 3 mages, ice bow to all 3, lightning gets nothing. All 3 get the shield spell. An active and passive x2 per spell, each class is 100% the same.
No one at their office plays Solo, so if you are a solo player, this isn't for you.
There are 3 levels I am guessing in the new mode, but the third requires beating the first 2, and only 1 works, the second (the Mandrake level) soft locks every time I enter it. How fun.
Temp Review:
As someone who has 100%ed the game and the achievements, and bought a copy for a friend almost a year ago in anticipation of this update, I am truly disappointed.
I want more to do, I want to spend 50 hours in this game, casting magic is fun, using magic is fun, exploring the environments (even if they are all 100% linear halls) IS FUN!
The worst part is, at some levels I can see the graphics issue slipping under the radar. You see,
the new graphics are quite beautiful, but they are also baked in and low res on shadows and textures respectively.
Light appears to still be dynamic, but the performance feels worse overall.
Dust flutters around the environment and sun beams pour in through windows and cracks.
Reflections from water reflect in real time on cave walls, it's beautiful.
The Range of colors feels expanded upon, but it's just from the new beautiful lighting, which also makes the environments feel more contrasted.
The fire in my hands roars and crackles, spreading light outward, but environmental light sources don't even display a fire in any of the braziers or torches (anymore), just glowing embers (bright) with no particle effects at all.
Fire effects on the vines burning still looks nice and feels satisfying.
The wood tables do sadly look less detailed, blurry, with less light bounces, i.e., they aren't full bright, but they aren't dynamically lit either. Which was odd, as everything else on the starting room table looked amazing and had much better detail (which I again think is from the sharper lighting).
Somehow I have issues performing the Ice Bow now, instead it just summons the shield on repeat.
I used the Ice Bow to cheese the game, it's my baby, now I can't summon it efficiently, which means I can't kick them out of these Elven lands with the ease of Gandalf and the grace of Legolas.
Then there was the file size reduction, though maybe this was due to optimization of the assets and stream delivery.
But then there are the 2023/24 QoL improvements I had hoped for, such as new control scheme options.
It's 2023 and soon, 2024, I'd like to move my character with my arms like in Blade and Sorcery.
If I was a developer and saw another developer implement an amazingly well received quality of life feature, I'd jump on normalizing that feature.
Right now, games across the board do snap and continuous turning, head oriented and controller oriented movement, and that's it. Almost none of them (including Saints and Sinners) let you set that turn speed to OFF or DISABLED or 0.
It sucks I have to go in manually and make these mods if I want to do this, for every single game.
Especially when your update broke my custom mods (not against you, this happens on EVERY game, ever), so that's more work if I want to play, and I, frankly do, but not for awhile.
I'd like to be able to disable Snap/Continuous turning all the way to 0%, and not a fake 0% with a 0.1% turn speed.
Snapping turns make me nauseated. I also mod this out, but I'm getting to the point that I am not willing to buy a game to fix it to be playable in a state that doesn't get me feeling sick.
This almost feels like I'm saying as a Disabled person, that there are NO ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS apart from 'snap/continuous/walk speed'. This is as insufficient as having no color blind options on a AAA game.
Luckily, they let you swap your movement hand at the very least, so I can move with my right stick.
Continuous turning feels like being at sea, and I can't stay standing.
I truly want more control options.
I truly want to play less tech demos and more finished products.
VR games feel like console games, with predefined control schemes, no innovation and lack of imagination, and slow to implement QoL features, as if everyone is just using the same UE4/5/Unity store templates for everything.
And don't say it would make the game play worse.
I know I can cast spells while looking and turning my head and body and moving my arms.
I do it in Blade and Sorcery.
Would it make the game easier?
Yes. But the game is already easy or hard depending on your favorite spells and play style, even with 1 hp, except when riding the troll. I.e., it's pure magical mayhem and fun, it's not Dark Souls, and it doesn't need to be.
That troll ride isn't fun at all on Hardcore though, which is a shame as it's amazing on Adventure and New Game+, but balancing on-rails sections in games is very difficult.
All I want, is some QoL to keep me coming back.
What i don't want to do is load into a game and see that the only changes were to graphics and a new horde mode, that, for the love of God, may be fun for a few minutes in any game, but in no game is anyone begging for a horde mode.
What we wanted, what we asked for, was coop, and what we got was the same copy paste mode from every other game, but with rpg-lite mechanics.
I don't care if it's a coop like Halo 1 where there are 2 of us playing and 1 of us in cutscenes, you're a small company, I don't expect the world from you. I expect heart, compassion, and a test of new ideas (on occasion).
But I do expect to enjoy the product I paid for, especially after all the hype and passion you threw at us.
Let alone, I want to play it without getting sick.
Imagine playing this 2 hour campaign with a Speedrun mode, or a Coop Leaderboard with Speed and Damage taken, anything but another horde arena mode. Or a friend, even if we rush through everything, even if 2x the enemies have to spawn, even if lulls are removed and turned into combat arenas, anything more imaginative.
Conclusion:
Apart from the beautiful mix-up with the graphics update, I love this game, I do, when I can play it without feeling sick.
But it's yet another horde mode with RPG-lite mechanics, which does help if you are the minority who enjoys these copy paste horde modes in every VR game.
Too many companies are afraid to put the resources in for better QoL and to bring more consumers in and this sadly means people like me aren't their target consumer base.
Being a Disabled person and having a lack of accessibility options in what is supposed to be a more advanced way to play, is truly disheartening.
And hey Devs, save the time if you want, everything I've mentioned is on the Unreal Store and Unity Store, please, add QoL.
Also, as a colorblind gamer, I wish someone would add that template to the store for developers. Buying from the store saves you time and resources, just do something, anything!
Because I won't be here for your next game.
And as usual for VR games, this is a temp review, and will be removed and updated in the future when things change, because these devs are truly active and do seem to love their game, I'm just not sure if it's a game made for me.