Monstrum 2 Beta

Monstrum 2 Beta

Asa 24 Jan, 2021 @ 9:07pm
Full thoughts and some needed improvements
I love asymmetrical horror games I think they incredibly fun games if done right, this is a really good beta but there are definately some glaring issues that need to be resolved before a full release.
Monster
1. Tracking: other than some small aura reveals throughout the game, bhagra and Malacosm have no real way of finding prisoners, some small help in starting chases would make the game a lot more fun for monsters. The real fun of this game is the chases and jumpscare potential, prisoners have a large assortment of tools to help them escape the monster, so by making chases hard to start and easy to end you are taking away a large portion of the fun of this game. objectives should be highlighted, as monster I was always wandering around the map just hoping to find survivors if I wasnt playing as the brute.

2. Malacosm: I understand that with Malacosm's insta kill its dangerous to give it too much help and make it unfair for prisoners. Malacosm seems to be designed as a monster that rewards set up and tactical play but compared to monsters like the brute and bhagara who dont need set up of any kind and get a lot more value, theres no reason to pick malacosm over the other 2. Implementing a few changes that make it worth using the early game to set up would make it stand toe to toe with the other monsters.
2a. Clairvoyance: In my opinion currently the worst tracking ability, A good change for Malacosm might be that after using clairvoyance Malacosm could be facing in the direction of the prisoner it was just used on to give the player a general idea of where the prisoner is. Clairvoyance rewards map knowledge from the monster but since this game is new most new players wont get much value from the ability.
2b. Sentinals: The sentinals give very little value since I never feel like I get feedback when it finds a player, maybe some visual feedback like the brutes roar could be added? as long as the survivors are in a certain range of a sentinal it could show malacosm the yellow circle indicator that the brute gets. to make sure its not overpowered, that aspect of the sentinals could be disabled when malacosm gets in that same range.

3.Bhagra: Add impact to hits, hitting something as Bhagra feels clumsy and really lacks the impact to make it satisfying, maybe an added sound and some visual feedback? Brute and Malacosm have an insta kill so I usually get good feedback when trying to grab a prisoner. Bhagra is currently a very fun monster to play, he is easy to pick up but hard to master.
3a. Ceiling Crawler: Very situational, most prisoner objectives happen inside buildings, and prisoners spend very little time on the outside railings where most of the roof panels are, maybe adding some extra speed while using the panels to use it as a mobility ability could make it more viable.
3b. Track: currently the second best tracking ability, its works amazingly well in chases but is almost useless outside of chases. Ending chases quickly as monster is never the issue, finding prisoners is way harder, so creating an ability that helps you in a chase dosent seem as useful as other abilities. Another change I would reccomend is instead of having a different hue of blue when the smoke gets farther, it could go from a bright red to a light blue? most of the time that I was using this ability was when I was blinded by smoke or a flash so regaining my vision and seeing 2 very similar shades of blue didnt help as much as it should have in helping me find out which way the prisoner went.

4.Brute: Honestly a really well designed monster, my only real complaint is that his roar ability does seem a bit too strong at the moment. maybe add a range or add a bit more time to the cooldown? other than that a well designed monster.