Recent reviews by Haptimastós

What if it was called Freaky company and Dante sucked Outis's toes and ate ass fr.

Has anyone ever actually play this game from beginning to end and thought by the time they hit the credits, "Yukiko is my favorite character."

Fun game, started being a fan of Xrd and heard people saying this is the best one in the franchise. I disagree, in fact I like it less than Strive in that games current state. The input reader on this one is a little finicky. I promise I don't say that often and it's likely because I'm using a Nintendo Switch Pro controller but still, it is something that effected my experience. This game is pretty damn difficult honestly. I like the almost free-style flow of it but I didn't even try ranked since I was able to understand just how out of my depth I was here. The thing I like the most about this game is the depth of singleplayer content. I didn't finish all of it and won't unless I get a new controller or go the extra mile troubleshooting my current one but it was still a lot of fun. The lore in Xrd was cool and I was glad the game didn't take itself too seriously (Like the main ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad guy being revealed to have cat ears, unfortunately got ret-conned but whatever.) but I wanted more gameplay mixed in and that's what I got here. It was a fun time getting more info on older cast members and seeing ones that didn't return in Xrd. I genuinely want Zappa in Strive now lol. Solid game, I still think Xrd improved on what's here in pretty much every way I can think of but I can't say the same for Strive.

It's pretty fun.

Probably the first time I've oped a game and it plays exactly as advertised.

The game is fun. There's a lot of stupid discourse around it but if it looks like something you'd enjoy give it a shot.

The game is pretty bare-bones and lacks the complexity of it's bigger AAA action game brothers like the DMC or Bayonetta series' but it's a solid foundation especially for an indie game. Honestly, it feels a lot more like a Dynesty Warriors experience in its current state which is pretty good for its reasonable price point. Worth it in my eyes but if you're on the edge watch for updates and pick it up during a sale.

If you've played any rouge-likes before the gameplay loop will be pretty familiar. Same bosses at the end of the tunnel but random room structure in between. However, instead of just being thrown from one random place to the next you have a choice between three room structures with different rewards or enemy types in between. Currently, there are 3 characters and it won't take very long at all to unlock them.

Again, I should mention ahead of time that if you're expecting a lot of complexity in it you'll be pretty disappointed. I should also be upfront in saying that I'm not a combo god. Other people can surely elaborate further on this games lacking aspects than me so take this an an average players account. I came in looking for a Devil May Cry type experience but got more of a Dynasty Warriors feel.

On the offence, every character is locked to 3 moves mainly. A launcher, (Which is also your helm-breaker type move in the air) a charging attack, (As in you run forward to close distance) and your standard hits (Usually a 4-6 hit combo). I'll give a brief summary of each character but all of them only have one weapon, only one of them have a gimmick without upgrades, none of them have ranged attacks (Which is really something they should add, would definitely help the game-feel a bit more), and the "devil trigger"-esque (DT going forward) mechanic isn't character specific. (Meaning, while it is useful, all of them are simple enough that they're either kind of boring or don't mesh with some characters as well as others.)

Every character in this game feels like you've just booted up a new savefile in DMC. Outside of being able to toggle sprint, a couple of pause combos, (I mean that, I've only found one or two for each character.) and a helm-breaker-esque combo ender, you have basically nothing and the few unlockable moves you can get aren't actually added to your characters moveset and instead are optional replacements for your launcher or charge moves. The only thing that can spice up this formula are the "artifacts" you can pick up during runs but again these are not character specific. This means they're plagued by the same issues as the games DT mechanic I mentioned earlier with the added downside that they're used constantly in your gameplay so feeling boring or not meshing with each character is far more impactful. Now we'll be moving on to:

Knight : This game has a perfect parry system that seems to be geared towards the knight. I mentioned earlier that only one character has a gimmick and this isn't what I was talking about. There's a souls-style dodge roll and a parry which are introduced in the tutorial, where you're playing as the knight. It's pretty easy to perfect dodge and perfect parry and there's not much of a meaningful difference between the two outside of the flair. There are 4 options of attack out of the perfect parry as the knight and only one for dodging but the damage and stun is about the same. Now the reason I'm not calling this a gimmick is because I can't tell if I'm just bad or it's character-specific. I land parries pretty easy as the knight but I tried it as the other two a couple times and just didn't land it so I just went back to rolling. Outside of that there's not much to say here, his tools aren't much but it's a simple loop that's pretty satisfying. The TTK is fine but it's mainly his defensive aspects that make him fun, not because of the damage but because it just makes you feel pretty cool.

Assassin : Has the most to his combo game compared to the other two. Has a [Just] timing system kind of similar Assault Spy if you've played that game. Long story short, perfectly timing together attacks give a huge power boost and this can be made far better during your run. Definitely the character with the most to him if you're looking for complexity but still feels pretty hollow to me. If you're still really on the fence about getting this game you'll definitely get him within the first 20-ish minutes so honestly just playing it to try him out and just refunding it if you dont like the feel before the 2 hr mark would be my recommendation.

Spear Woman : This is the easiest character in the game and the last one you unlock. You knock people up and can just kind of sit in the air forever. You still have to think fighting bosses since their hitboxes are wide enough you'll just be sent flat on your ass if you mess around. It's entertaining and her unlockable attacks keep her fun to play but probably the one that needs the most work between the three. You can infinitely pretty much infinitely loop the same two attacks to the point where the only thing stopping you from hitting the skybox is your foes HP.


It didn't really need its own category or anything since overall they're pretty serviceable obstacles but here's a brief bit about the-

Enemies : Some of the enemies have kind of wonky animations that make the game feel harder than it really is. I've gotten used to it now but on an initial run it can definitely throw you off. This includes the bosses and mini-bosses. Since it's a rouge-like I'm alright with a little bit of trial and error here.

That about wraps my thoughts, sorry if it's a little unorganized but that about summarizes my view of this game. For a smaller indie project it's a worth the price I guess but it wouldn't hurt to either wait till more nuance is added to the gameplay or a sale if it doesn't sound worth it to you.

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Super fun, I like it more than DMC5 in a couple of ways. I hope that they bring back Lucifer, probably my favorite weapon across the whole series.