A mixture of Diablo-like ARPG, survival and mighty crafting.
The game is announced for platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Mac OS.
LYRICAL INTRODUCTION
I don’t remember exactly when it was and in what format, but somehow I played either early access or the beta of Gatewalkers. I really didn’t like the mechanics back then, but the general idea was quite the opposite.
The survival part was done, at that time, in the worst traditions of the genre – the hero constantly wanted to drink and eat, at the same time, he was kicked by local monsters and it was practically impossible to find food. And if I somehow got used to getting water from streams, then food was simply a problem.
I remember that, out of emotion, I uploaded detailed feedback to the Steam forum about what was wrong with the game, the developers even answered something, and I added the game to my wish list and forgot about it for a while. It was noticeably burnt, but I also saw something good.
And so, quite unexpectedly, on January 12, the project was released, immediately grabbing something like 20% of positive reviews (now 67%). It became interesting – how are you doing, what’s new, is it playable now, is such a cool meeting relevant?? Let’s try to clarify the situation in this review.
There is a guild of portal travelers. They do this thanks to the technology and artifacts of the ancients – a long-lost, but technically very savvy race.
Our hero is a recruit of this very guild and undergoes a rite of passage.
The gameplay is an atypical mixture of Diablo-like ARPG, survival and crafting (why I mentioned it will become clear below).
They show a quite interesting introductory video about these same portal travelers, and then show the archetypes of heroes and offer to create your own character.
When we first get into the game, a window of very detailed and colorfully designed training opens. If something is not clear, you can look further here.
An interesting, important point is that the hero may not have an archetype at all.
At the start, in the storage room, we will be given all (noob-level) types of weapons and will be advised to try each one in battle – whichever one we like best, then use it. If you apply enough persistence, it is quite possible to upgrade them all and use them situationally/according to your mood. For example, I started as an archer, and then “changed” him into a fighter with a one-handed weapon and a shield.
Changing a class is as easy as shelling pears here – it is determined by what weapon the hero is holding in his hands. The skills we can use depend on the gun. Some of the skills, in the future, will be on other items, but the basis is weapons.
The only obstacle to jumping between classes may be the state of the passive skill tree. And here lies the main revelation of the game – it is entirely based on crafting.
For the first time in my life I see such a main development tree, where you have to choose not just some power-ups, but the opportunity to create this or that item.
This also opens up interesting possibilities for building construction. The “knight” here is not at all obliged to use heavy armor, for example. And the “magician” can easily wear armor if, of course, it is necessary.
If we consider in general and without details (which are important), then the entire gameplay comes down to visiting arena levels (large) through the portal and then returning to the guild base for a report or leveling up. The course of the game is determined in two directions:
– Plot. Here they give us quests.
— Free hunting. Farming the necessary resources and pumping points, so that, as a result, you can craft and wear current gear.
When we follow the plot, we are thrown into relatively unique locations where we need to complete one or another quest. The tasks here are accompanied by dialogues and the promotion of the main story.
When we go farming/grinding, relatively identical levels are generated, depending on the biome (there are 5 of them) and its difficulty grade (there are 7). There will be tasks like: go to the obelisk, study it. This activity seems a bit boring, but it also moves progress forward.
On the one hand, for simple quests they give points for upgrading skills, which, in general, there’s nowhere to get. Yes, of course, you can look for special crystals at the “combat levels” (which we exchange with the scientist for “skill points”), but this is a teaspoon per hour, you can run around the entire location and not find a single one.
On the other hand, while https://mayapalacecasino.co.uk/bonus/ we are running, we can do the glorious task of collecting everything that is not nailed down. We need absolutely everything – ore, grass, wood, skins from monsters and other ingredients for subsequent crafting.
Interesting and very unusual combat system. The hero has:
– Stamina scale, which is spent on strikes, skills, dodges (somersaults).
— Health is protected by a regenerating shield. If we suffer damage to our health, we can heal ourselves either by relaxing in a tent/sleeping bag or by using relatively expensive consumables. As far as I understand (but this is not certain), the amount of health does not change from the start and is 1000 units.
— Protective shield. We can influence this value with gear (with new things, the hero, as a rule, becomes fatter), and consumables much more actively (there are a lot of reagents).
— Skills depend on weapons and sometimes other items of equipment.
— There is a quick access panel for consumables (food, water, grenades, etc.).
All this, coupled with the fact that the enemies (and especially the bosses) are far from plush, leads to quite energetic and serious battles. You have to use your skills and heals and move quickly.
The enemies are simple at first, but over time they become dangerous. If you’re lazy, it’s very easy to lose a fight.
Opponents are represented by two types:
— Mechanisms/creatures of the ancients. These are some kind of robots.
— Fauna of biomes. It will all start with simple jackals, and will end with powerful beasts and even intelligent races.
Full of all sorts of elites and bosses. The further the battles go, the more interesting they become. Bosses are not shy about calling for help out of every little thing.
Consider the system survival. Either it was finished, or in the past I played like a noob, but now I really liked it. How does this work?
The hero experiences at least (I haven’t been to all biomes, most likely there is something else) four types of problems:
– Hunger. You can defeat him by eating food. There are plenty of resources, no problems with searching and crafting. It’s very easy to overstock.
— Thirst. Similar to hunger, only you need to drink. You can take a bunch of water flasks with you. There is no problem even on some long trip where it will be impossible to replenish supplies.
— Cold in frosty biomes. The issue is resolved by placing a fire or an appropriate (for different temperatures, different shooting ranges) raincoat.
— Mental health. When it gets dark, the hero gradually gets “scared” and nightmare monsters begin to endlessly attack him. To overcome this (so that there are no consequences and the psyche does not decline), you must either drink special potions that provide illumination or carry a torch. It looks very beautiful and atmospheric, especially night battles with bosses.
An important point – at the guild base, neither hunger nor thirst torment the hero. It’s worth using.
Let’s move on to the king of this game – crafting. I have already clearly shown above that all pumping goes through him (development tree). Going into dungeons of higher levels/tiers relative to your gear is unrealistic, even if you manage to win, it will be very slowly, there will be little damage to enemies, but a lot of damage in return. There are seven shooting galleries in total, as far as I understand. In addition, there are gradations according to the rarity of the item being manufactured.
You need to vacuum all the resources you can reach. Crafting here is multifactorial, that is, for some weapon you may need metal and wood, fabric/leather, some stones.
In addition, many materials are obtained only from other materials. This means that it is advisable to keep in mind what exactly needs to be collected now and where exactly (this is described in the descriptions).
If we take a very general look, then we craft:
– Melee Weapons. One-handed and two-handed, axes, hammers, swords.
– Shields. Separate development branch.
– Ranged weapons. These are onion variations. It seems like there are paired daggers right there.
– Three types of armor: cloth, leather, heavy/metal.
– Various types of food/drink.
– Items for gathering crafts, picks, axes, skinning knives, sickles for collecting herbs.
As far as I understand (but this is not certain), ready-made items do not drop from enemies at all. I haven’t gotten one yet.
At the base there are several crafting machines with wide functionality, which will open as the hero is upgraded. I think there is no point in listing them all, let’s focus on some main points:
– Leather processing takes place at the woodworking station (room opposite the blacksmith). Strange, but true, I searched where the leather could be processed.
– To get into a random dungeon, you need to buy either a reconnaissance drone of the corresponding shooting range or parts for it from a merchant and then craft it from a scientist.
Crafting food and drink. The more complex the finished product, the more delicious buffs the hero will receive when saturated. Food is important to help you cope with the darkness; I don’t want to grab a torch instead of a shield.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of the game and summarize.
+ Simple but nice graphics.
+ Good music and sound.
+ An interesting hero development system based on crafting.
+ Decent variety of weapons and other equipment.
+ Many types of enemies. There are elites and bosses.
+ There is a single passage, there is co-op for up to 4 people.
+ Survival done normally – a rare case.
+ Russian text language.
THINGS THAT CAN BE BOTH A PLUS AND A MINUS:
± The game is quite slow in terms of leveling up and dressing the hero, collecting resources for crafting. You need some kind of blade of grass and then you cut circles. Personally, it doesn’t bother me. But I can understand those who will not like this situation.
– No obvious ones detected.
Diablo-like ARPG with an unusual twist on crafting. There is a normal (non-stressful) survival system. In my opinion, the game cannot be compared with the leaders of the genre (Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, Path of Exile), but as a beginner, it performed well and may arouse interest.
PS: I probably didn’t cover all the aspects, I might have missed something. I will be glad to add/correct the review or answer questions along the way in the comments.