Hello everyone,
since I did not see a specific feedback thread I will open this new thread to give my feedback to the developers.
First of all, I love Hack&Slay games, that's why I played most of them like Diablo 2 & 3 (sure, who hasn't?), Torchlight 2, Path of Exile (but I don't really like this one), Grim Dawn (nice one), Wolcen (I like that somehow), Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 1-3, ...
Let's just say I played a few games and know a little about them.
Let's start with the obvious now: Graphics!
Graphics don't make a game, but for me personally I can say that I'm sort of a graphics wh*re, so I like games that look like Wolcen or Grim Dawn some more than the Torchlight series, but it's not that bad. My personal problem is not really the graphics itself here, but the scaling on monitors. I know, the game is a hybrid made for smartphone itsy-bitsy-tiny gaming and computer gaming, but the whole UI is way too big on computers. Please let us set it to a smaller scale, because I am not blind and need to get closer to the monitor like I need braille font here.
The art style is okay-ish, but looks rather ugly and too cartoony.
Talking about: the Story!
There's a story in this game? Seasiously, is there? Story is not that important to me in a hack & slay, but I don't really get anything of this. Part I don't even know who the characters are, part I just don't care. Let's be honest, it simply does not really matter if there is a story at all as long as killing thousands of monsters is fun.
Since graphics don't make a game and I don't see any story, I want to talk about: Gameplay!
Gameplay is mediocre okay-ish. What does that mean? I click on monsters and it's almost like in all the other hack&slay games, but somehow it's not as addictive as in other games. Monsters are pretty boring and they almost look the same. That's not a big problem, when the loot system works and is addictive.
Quick loot at: Skills!
I must say that I really like the skill system with having the main skills and the posibility to change sklills up to match your play style. You want to make more AoE damage? go for a bigger area your damage takes place. You want to add some fire damage to your atacks? Adjust the skills, so you will deal fire damage. You want to slow or freeze mobs? No Problem, just change the addons in your skill and it's possible.
Other games have this kind of customization too and I like that devs added it in Torchlight Infinite to get players the skills to match their play style.
Now let's face the real problem: the loot system!
What does a hack & slay need to be addictive? The answer is clear: a good loot system giving new and better loot while slaying through thousands of monsters. Does Torchlight Infinite work here? At least for me it doesn't, but why? I keep running around for multiple levels with all the same stuff, because I don't find anything new that has better stats than my current items. I don't think that I had so much luck, that I got the best possible items for my levels, so why is there no better loot? While we're at that topic now, let's discuss epic loot too. All the purple items are worse then that blue stuff I'm running aroung for few levels already. What the heck? I even stopped caring about the epic loot by now, because it's stats will be worse than my current stuff in like 95%. Devs, please have a look at loot again, this is far from being addictive, when all I get is just crap and it's not motivating to keep playing, since there is like no story in this game and graphics are mediocre mobile trash on PC too.
A side problem of the loot system is: the loot not visible on characters!
Why the heck we don't even see the items we collect on our characters? That's what makes a Hack&Slay good combined with increasing damage numbers or in general increasing stats. I guess this is coming from the mobile hybrid crap, so you don't even have to work on the graphics of loot on a character and my guess is that devs are just lazy and want to grab easy money from the players.
Short topic: Sound!
Let's keep this simple, I just deactivated it, because it's boring and repeating every few seconds, so I keep listening to my own playlist.
Money, money, money, that's not funny!
Let's discuss money and having to pay for stuff quickly.
Devs, why should I spend money on especially this game?
It's mostly mediocre at best and as a hybrid mobile game it's more like a quick cash grab than other games. There are enough other hack&slays around that don't use the shop so much and don't have a freaking battlepass implemented. Why do you think players should specifically spend money on this game? I don't reqally see a reason to spend money and I don't like battlepasses at all. I know, that's the hot shit in games over the last few years, but it's annoying to pay for having to play for not wasting the money directly after spending it. Having a huge shop with annoying visible icons appearing on the ingame screen plus a payable battlepass just don't do it for me and instantlay let's me think ybout greedy devs.
Alright, those were like most of my feedback, but I have one last topic: Will I keep playing?
I'm not sure. Since this is a non-addictive Hack&Slay game, the interface needs more space than the actual characters and maps on the screen and I don't even care for the characters, because they are absolutely replacable. I don't even see the loot I collect on my cahracter, so I don't think I will play this game for long and definitely won't spend any money on it. I guess I will have a look after the release, but will drop it pretty fast after that.
Come on devs, it's not like there are no successful Hack&Slays around to take inspiration from. Better work on your game for a while and change a few things (definitely loot system & loot visible on characters need to be worked on) and your game may become a lot better.
