Dreamscaper - ARPG Roguelite
- Thread starter Argarth
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Argarth
On the verandah
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From the Steam page, they planned for up to a year in EA, and it was released in August 2020. I'm tempted to get it now as it looks really polished. Trying to be patient.
Hateyou
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Yeah it’s hard to stay off a highly polished, mostly finished EA game. I’ll wishlist it and pick it up on either a sale or release...or mostly likely if I get bored of my current games I’ll just get it.
Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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I just always worry about these "4 man team" games and what it means for long-term support once they cash in.
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Been playing it on and off today, maybe 2 hours total. Really liking it so far. It doesn't come off as in your face deep and needing to worry about balancing all the different unlocks, weapons, synergies, relationships, etc... But all the systems are in place. A few really good QoL things like teleporting between rooms from the start w/o having to back track, being able to salvage previously equipped items (I think it was Hades or Curse where you couldn't salvage stuff to get resources if it had been equipped already?). So far it is hard w/o being punishing.
Initially it just feels good.
Initially it just feels good.
Hateyou
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Hmm not Hades. It didn’t have salvaging at all or gear drops at all for that matter.
Intrinsic
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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A few days in to this and wanted to follow up with a little more details on impressions.
Combat and general feel of the responsiveness is probably the high point for me. The combat feels nice, dodge cancel, block cancel, parrying. All works almost exactly as you'd expect it to. Parry window and perfect attack windows are forgiving enough that you can execute them without the stat / equipment buffs that extend them. It isn't a Hades where you're somewhat on the razor's edge or you're AoE'ing 12 enemies at once. There's basically 1 - 5 enemies per screen, 2 or more could be stationary projectile enemies. The higher levels it shuffles some things around.
Not a huge variety of mob types but enough for now I'd say. And nothing is so difficult or "cheap" feeling that you can't execute perfectly and do no hit runs. Some annoyances with the traps and ground stuff and some annoying map layouts that seem to stick ranged mobs in the worst spots. It isn't terrible though.
Bosses are middle of the road for me. I've beaten everyone but the last one so far. It isn't bad they just are pretty quick to figure out and by that point you can get to at least the 4th level pretty easily without getting hit by a boss. The last few do feel more difficult.
It has all the regular things you'd expect. Currency to upgrade your base health, lucid (mana), attack window; another to open more shops, bonus rooms, puzzle rooms; one to craft new weapons and abilities; and one to craft gift for companion relationships (sort of like Hades in a way). You can also chose a starting loadout based on what you've sketched (unlocked) to start with a particular weapon (think there's 22 possible), Ranged Weapon (16), Shoes, Shield, and one Spell. And enable one of your companion influences who provide buffs depending on who it is. Each item can be mastered to unlock a passive for that item.
One thing about the combat so far, until you unlock upgrade rooms on each floor, is that I swap weapons in runs constantly to whatever is the highest damage or best synergy. Because until you can unlock an upgrade room there's no way to upgrade your weapons or equipment. Kind of makes you learn more of them. And they're close enough that relearning the weapon timings aren't that bad. Some are better and more unique than others though. And now that I've got a decent amount unlocked (weapons, passives, companions) there's some cool synergies or at least combos. Many of them seem viable but again the game isn't forcing you on the bleeding edge hanging by a thread usually. You can also "lock" weapons from spawning in the world if you want.
Without going too long about all that crap I'll just say that not a lot of people will probably like the story. The real world stuff of walking about and growing relationships with the friends is somewhat bland. The art style is cool, really dig it. The game comes off as a "Life is Strange" or "Gone Home" meets Roguelite. And the dialog supports that. It almost seems like it was written by non-native English and they're translating meaningful ideas and conversations as if a high school student was writing it. Which sounds harsh and isn't meant to be. But it is very angsty and overly trying hard to be deep. I've been following it just because, and it is whatever. You can skip all of it and focus on the combat which is 90% of it anyways.
I'm happy with the purchase for sure. And plan to spend more time going through it and completing the last boss. $20 and EA may be too much and wouldn't blame anyone. $15 and it'd be a damn steal though b/c there's definitely $15 worth of enjoyment here. Hades kind of ruined some of this b/c the bar was set so high. A little polish on the user interface and menus, some of the dialog.
7.5/10
Combat and general feel of the responsiveness is probably the high point for me. The combat feels nice, dodge cancel, block cancel, parrying. All works almost exactly as you'd expect it to. Parry window and perfect attack windows are forgiving enough that you can execute them without the stat / equipment buffs that extend them. It isn't a Hades where you're somewhat on the razor's edge or you're AoE'ing 12 enemies at once. There's basically 1 - 5 enemies per screen, 2 or more could be stationary projectile enemies. The higher levels it shuffles some things around.
Not a huge variety of mob types but enough for now I'd say. And nothing is so difficult or "cheap" feeling that you can't execute perfectly and do no hit runs. Some annoyances with the traps and ground stuff and some annoying map layouts that seem to stick ranged mobs in the worst spots. It isn't terrible though.
Bosses are middle of the road for me. I've beaten everyone but the last one so far. It isn't bad they just are pretty quick to figure out and by that point you can get to at least the 4th level pretty easily without getting hit by a boss. The last few do feel more difficult.
It has all the regular things you'd expect. Currency to upgrade your base health, lucid (mana), attack window; another to open more shops, bonus rooms, puzzle rooms; one to craft new weapons and abilities; and one to craft gift for companion relationships (sort of like Hades in a way). You can also chose a starting loadout based on what you've sketched (unlocked) to start with a particular weapon (think there's 22 possible), Ranged Weapon (16), Shoes, Shield, and one Spell. And enable one of your companion influences who provide buffs depending on who it is. Each item can be mastered to unlock a passive for that item.
One thing about the combat so far, until you unlock upgrade rooms on each floor, is that I swap weapons in runs constantly to whatever is the highest damage or best synergy. Because until you can unlock an upgrade room there's no way to upgrade your weapons or equipment. Kind of makes you learn more of them. And they're close enough that relearning the weapon timings aren't that bad. Some are better and more unique than others though. And now that I've got a decent amount unlocked (weapons, passives, companions) there's some cool synergies or at least combos. Many of them seem viable but again the game isn't forcing you on the bleeding edge hanging by a thread usually. You can also "lock" weapons from spawning in the world if you want.
Without going too long about all that crap I'll just say that not a lot of people will probably like the story. The real world stuff of walking about and growing relationships with the friends is somewhat bland. The art style is cool, really dig it. The game comes off as a "Life is Strange" or "Gone Home" meets Roguelite. And the dialog supports that. It almost seems like it was written by non-native English and they're translating meaningful ideas and conversations as if a high school student was writing it. Which sounds harsh and isn't meant to be. But it is very angsty and overly trying hard to be deep. I've been following it just because, and it is whatever. You can skip all of it and focus on the combat which is 90% of it anyways.
I'm happy with the purchase for sure. And plan to spend more time going through it and completing the last boss. $20 and EA may be too much and wouldn't blame anyone. $15 and it'd be a damn steal though b/c there's definitely $15 worth of enjoyment here. Hades kind of ruined some of this b/c the bar was set so high. A little polish on the user interface and menus, some of the dialog.
7.5/10
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Hateyou
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I do not understand the puzzle room with the blue lights on the ground. My brain isn’t picking up any patterns. I though the amount of lights corresponded to how many other lights are touching that one but I’ve seen ones that don’t make sense with that logic.
Intrinsic
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Hateyou
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Makes sense, I just forgot minesweeper counted diagonals. I was getting close every time and then when I’d lose or win it felt like luck.
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Hateyou
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Hateyou
Not Great, Not Terrible
- 16,320
- 42,428
I’m on PC but think it would be fine on switch. Handheld mode the fonts may be small in a few areas like when you walk into a challenge room, it tells you the challenge at the bottom and it’s not very big. Other than that I don’t think the screen size would be an issue.
