Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• The common argument for real-time games is that they are more fast-paced and exciting than the turn-based ones. However, Fathom, a roguelite about magical combat, ends up feeling slower and far more tedious than the typical roguelike, since everyone moves slowly, and your life/mana gauge is shared, so attacking too quickly is easiest way to die. Moreover, your only attack has a sizeable area of effect, leaving you vulnerable to splashback, and while it has considerable range, the enemies only become vulnerable to it after you entered their (very short) aggro range. Thus, the optimal way to play is to carefully approach the two monster types to draw them out one by one, then walk backwards while shooting every few seconds and always keeping some distance. Even the golem bosses are trivial once you realize you get locked in their arena and do not waste time on trying to move out. The game also does not end when you kill those bosses, but requires you to walk to a boat and press "E" on it without telling you this - so you can still wander around for some time, while the basic monsters you have already killed will keep respawning. While the game has music and some SFX, the rest of its aesthetics are lacking. Graphics aren't exactly appealing even as far as the contest games go: moreover, they never provide crucial information in terms of enemy HP/reaction to damage, so you have to figure it out through trial and error that shooting at the monsters outside of aggro range does nothing to them, while they'll die after a couple of hits once they start moving towards you. Even the lore text uses an awkward cursive font that blends in with the background. There are some upgrades, but they are never exciting, only increasing some stats by 1/2 points and sometime reducing another stat to balance it out. The most useful one changes orb color from blue to green, reducing damage (which can be offset by other upgrades) but preventing deaths from shooting it too much. There's also a bug whereas you have a limited number of inventory slots and seemingly cannot drop what you have already equipped; you can still press "Pick up" button on drops, but it'll do nothing. Similarly, the monsters are not just slow, but are also prone to get stuck on bridges that are pretty much everywhere. In conclusion, Fathom requires a significant rethink to become a worthwhile game. While magic-based submissions aren't overly common, there are more than enough superior alternatives to this.
• This looks neat and definitely has potential, but I was a little confused about what was happening. Some more feedback when enemies take damage might help. Also, maybe some different text when you lose would make it clearer why the game ended?
• * Controls were a bit janky * No UI feedback on hitting / taking damage / health * Combat was a bit boring * Great graphic cutscene at the end!