itch.io

Great game that was a lot fun to play.

What's with the "Jerry#" and similarly named bots though?
Their stats are all over the place...
- They do 70-130k damage but there's no weapons in the loadout.
- They have 100k health but die to a single hit that does 1k damage.

What exactly will the full version include besides new classes?

> The inventory/quartermaster UX has honestly been one of the trickiest parts of the game. I've reworked it a few times during development already, but I agree it still doesn't feel completely cohesive in places.

I can't speak for everyone, but this was my perspective when dealing with the inventory:

• Once I got over the initial difficulty hump and raids were easier to manage, I made it a habit of organizing my inventory a certain way (consumables and throwables on the right-hand side, sellable items on the left hand side)
• When switching to the Quartermaster, the organization was lost, as all inventory items and stash items were converted to a list.
  Additionally, I couldn't make sense of how the Quartermaster sell list was sorted, as it appeared to change every run when new items were picked up, making it easy to accidentally sell the wrong thing.
  (e.g. if i started the run with 3 minor health potions, and a throwable, the list would be sorted as: [throwable, potion1, potion2, potion 3], but at the end of the run, the list would be sorted as: [potion1, throwable, bunch of new items, potion2, potion3]).
• Also, the fact that both stash and inventory were merged together into a single list (I understand why you had to do this with several storage mechanics), made me spend more time than I wanted to, sorting through the list and try to figure out what I wanted to sell, without accidentally selling something in stash. (which is why I suggested the context --> sell option)

Just throwing out one QoL suggestion:
Maybe the sell item section at the Quartermaster can have separate tabs for stash/vault/pouch, so players don't have to be more diligent about accidentally selling something from the wrong place.

So I played more conservatively in the beginning and was able to pretty much beat what's currently available in the game  (all achievements, class equipment set, complete bestiary) , without any deaths.

It's a really great concept you have here and I'd love to replay a refined version with more features and replayability.

A few notes that I think would be an improvement in the future:

• Obviously more variation in the item pool, raids and enemies. (I'm sure that's already on your roadmap)
• More UI consistency for inventory management:
  • The list view in the quartermaster makes it hard to quickly sell a bunch of junk, perhaps a "Sell" context option in the inventory would be more useful.
  • It also feels jarring to see a mix of both item images (inventory) and colorful grid tile view (quartermaster, looting etc.).
• Progression milestones? Something to look forward to or unique as you hit certain milestones (whether character level, raid level, or whatever else).

Regardless, really nice work; this was fun to play!

Thanks for the help.
I'll retry with this information in mind.

Thanks for the follow up.

> The game is meant to be a hardcore roguelite, so dying is part of the progression loop. Even if you can't beat the boss yet, killing regular enemies still gives you experience, so you're still making progress by leveling up.

I see, so the gameplay loop is essentially dying, improving stats and retrying; the items aren't the key to progression early on.

Consider a scenario where the player has little to no money left and no health potions to survive a run (could happen at any point really due to an expensive purchase, not necessarily only during early game).
They're basically soft-locked from progression unless they spend significantly more time leveling up (without reward), than they would need to with potions, up until their stats outweigh the benefits of the potions.

> At the start, you can't use the pouch during a raid. Just collect the loot you find, and if you successfully complete the raid, you can move those items out/into the pouch afterward.

I'm confused; what is the difference between the stash and pouch then?
Both survive death and cannot be accessed during runs.
Does "At the start" imply that as the game progresses, the pouch will become usable mid-raid to preserve some items from a failed run, while the stash (clearly) won't?

I really want to like this game and play it more because it seems fun, but I'm totally confused about the raid mechanic.

I currently have less than 10 gold (after upgrading what I could), playing on raid level 3 and I die at the boss on every raid attempt (simply not enough health or potions to survive long enough).

Can't upgrade to survive longer because I lose all items/gold on death or retreat.

Also right-click after looting doesn't move anything to the "pouch" and I can't seem to find any way to access inventory or pouch while raiding.

Unless I'm missing something it basically feels like I'm stuck and unable to progress because farming for improved survival is impossible.

What am I meant to do in this situation?