I bought this game on a whim after having the opportunity to watch a friend play a bit of it.
I am really enjoying it. :)
I never played Descent so this style of game is completely new to me. I like the visuals of Retrovirus and the music (I would buy the soundtrack). The story is nicely presented in a way that isn’t intrusive but not overly vague either. There is enough concrete information given to me to follow along, while enough is left unsaid to keep me curious and exploring for more.
I have been playing on “Admin” (medium) difficulty. The gameplay has been challenging in certain areas but not to the point of making me want to break my computer. I’ve died frequently but instead of making me frustrated, it’s caused me to reconsider my approach to the room and strategy. In other areas I have the freedom to take my time and really absorb the visuals. Certain levels “deeper in the machine” were pretty impressive and I like how the interior of the computer has been portrayed. Some optional areas are so well hidden that I couldn’t find them. There is replay value in exploring to find all those hidden gems.
I use a gaming laptop and have not really noticed much in the way of performance issues that some people have commented about on the Steam forum. In some areas there is an FPS hit, possibly due to the size of the map, but it doesn’t compromise the gameplay. There are some graphic glitches that the devs could spend some time polishing, and a few bugs (like Oracle speaking but the UI showing Courier’s icon). I’ve broken out of a level once and had to reload, and there are a number of typos and grammar errors in the emails and displayed dialogue that should be fixed.
I’ve played just over twelve hours and thought I was basically finished. Based on my progress for one of the achievements it looks like I have a ways to go yet! I haven’t tried the co-op or multiplayer options yet either.
For the price? Definitely worth adding to your collection simply for some fun.