Had seen a lot of hype around this in the lead-up to launch, and after checking out what it was, it seemed right up my street. I've spent about 5 hours with it so far, and I'm very glad I picked it up. In short: it's a roguelike, but with a little bit of a 'metroidvania' twist. Think Spelunky meets Rogue Legacy, but with really great and varied combat, and great presentation too?
Even though, yes, it is back to the beginning after every death, there are some skills (mostly ones that aid navigation) you learn that persist between games, and in the between-level hub area there's the chance to catch your breath and also use one of the game's currencies (Cells) to start unlocking some of the other permanent upgrades - so there is at least a good feeling of progression even though the real drive is to get you to play better.
You'll have up to four weapons / skills at a time which are split into three families, that can each be independently upgraded when you find a scroll - of which there's usually a few in each level. There's also "mutations" that are passive bonuses that you can apply one at a time as you progress through levels (so far up to 3 max) and that effect different groups of skills, so depending on what weapons you find and how you build your load out, each game can feel very different.
Cautious play seems a sensible approach at the start, but there are also time-locked doors that can yield some really great bonuses if you're willing to go hell for leather. So far in my experience, this has worked out much better, with the bonus goods working out a load better than those you'd get from pushing for 100% exploration in each level.
Oh and - as I'm sure the question will come up - there are definitely frame drops on the Switch version, and at times it's even done a weird rollback thing on me. I've not had it cause too many problems so far, but if you're particularly sensitive to performance issues then maybe avoid this version. Having looked online there are reports (link) that a patch may come to improve things, but not until November at the earliest.
Even though, yes, it is back to the beginning after every death, there are some skills (mostly ones that aid navigation) you learn that persist between games, and in the between-level hub area there's the chance to catch your breath and also use one of the game's currencies (Cells) to start unlocking some of the other permanent upgrades - so there is at least a good feeling of progression even though the real drive is to get you to play better.
You'll have up to four weapons / skills at a time which are split into three families, that can each be independently upgraded when you find a scroll - of which there's usually a few in each level. There's also "mutations" that are passive bonuses that you can apply one at a time as you progress through levels (so far up to 3 max) and that effect different groups of skills, so depending on what weapons you find and how you build your load out, each game can feel very different.
Cautious play seems a sensible approach at the start, but there are also time-locked doors that can yield some really great bonuses if you're willing to go hell for leather. So far in my experience, this has worked out much better, with the bonus goods working out a load better than those you'd get from pushing for 100% exploration in each level.
Oh and - as I'm sure the question will come up - there are definitely frame drops on the Switch version, and at times it's even done a weird rollback thing on me. I've not had it cause too many problems so far, but if you're particularly sensitive to performance issues then maybe avoid this version. Having looked online there are reports (link) that a patch may come to improve things, but not until November at the earliest.
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