Struggling to come up with a good way of describing this. It's sort of a linear rogue-like, where you explore (invade) a strange alien world (as an alien yourself), but can only jump forward through rooms, with no real decisions (except to advance or retreat).
Each jump forward increases the difficulty of the platforming fights you will face, with dangers including enemies, spiky enviornments and accidentally falling off cliffs (I seem to be especially prone to this). The enemies run, jump, fly, shoot and explode at you (occasionally into annoying swarms of killer bees).
As you explore, you level up in the traditional manner and collect items you can use to unlock and upgrade different weapons and armour (as well as stationary turrets and drones to help fight with you). The world is occupied by a range of natives, friendly, unfriendly and violent.
You and the world are drawn in a style both beautiful and horrible. The pencil lines and shading are distinctive and unusual, but they don't work brilliantly with the often frantic pace of the fights, as it can be a bit too easy for you to end up confusing yourself with an enemy.
Or a rock.
But the biggest flaw is the speed of progression. Now, fair point, I might be rubbish. It's entirely possible that I die a bit too frequently because I'm unskilled, and so have had to repeat the earlier levels more than is optimum. But, I keep finding myself not wanting to go on the next exploration because I just can't be bothered grinding away again. The action isn't sufficiently varied to make it an interesting challenge. Even the boss battles suffer this problem, as there is a significant grind to get back to them each time. The beige colour scheme fits a bit too well for that. I keep expecting a massive change in gameplay as I unlock the next feature, but I'm not seeing it. I'll slog through it a bit more, but I doubt it's one I'll finish.
Not recommended.
Tagged: Game Roguelike 2D Hard difficulty PC