Hey guys, I've been looking forward to this since the preview on PC gamer a few months back. Had a play yesterday and really enjoyed it. A bit of feedback for you:

Love the style, gameplay mechanics (especially the card system) and the teapot guy is the best game character I can remember for a long time.

Is it a bit easy? I died on my first game due to not understanding the fight mechanics, 2nd game went straight through to level 3 (and got through most of it) without much difficulty, hardly using powers, then died because I didn't see a sniper target. Admittedly I've only played those two games so far, but I usually think roguelike games should be turning the screws way before you get halfway through, challenging you to creatively problem solve with the mechanics.

Bit more info on what the powers do (e.g. turns/range for the ghost, effect of freezing an enemy during a fight) would be good in-game - maybe on the card (or flip side of the card?).

More teapot guy dialogue, he's brilliant. It would be great if he popped up (radio?) while walking around making comments when you kill a bad guy, get hit etc. He's really the soul of the game for me.

This is a tiny thing, but I thought the occasional robot effects on teapot guy's voice during the intro got in the way - like the whole thing of him is his down-the-pub ordinaryness, juxtaposed with psychedelic scifi. It's a nuance/taste thing but found it detracted from this slightly.

Cheers guys keep up the good work, looking forward to the finished vers.

Hi M4ndrake,

Thanks for this feedback!

Did anything stand out that made the run feel too easy for you? If you could share any seeds with us that you feel were too easy that'd be super helpful as well!

We are looking at some ways of having more of the teapot character in the game but we are a bit wary of having him comment on the current game too much as that can get a bit tiresome after a while!

no probs. I just died 5 times on level 1 so I gues it was just a lucky seed. Sorry I don't have the seed number. I think the main thing was I got enough good cards that the enemies became fairly trivial. Mind you level 3 was definitely harder so maybe I was just having a good run.

Totally see what you mean about the voice - you don't want is the same 15 clips playing over and over again. I was thinking something more like bastion but pared down - at key moments or triggered by certain events - you wouldn't hear the same sample more than once per run, maybe less than that, but at key moments like encountering a boss 'who's this hairy gadge?' or with a certain no of enemies on screen 'there's nay shortage of these fellas' - stuff like that. If you had enough so you rarely heard the same thing again, maybe with some super rare ones, it would be a way of keeping the experience fresh through multiple playthroughs.

Maybe not entirely relevant here but I'd like to ask about quantity of content in the game. I'm seriously loving the game so far, but my current impression is that there isn't quite enough 'stuff'. I really love the art and animations and all the characters and their voices, but I've seen the first two cutscenes (intro and one for dying the first time) and it doesn't seem like there's going to be many more to come. The teapot/genie is brilliant, he needs to have more presence This along with unique modifiers (the switching good/bad holograms card is an example of a VERY interesting card ) just feel like there isn't quite enough in numbers.

I understand this may be because I haven't gotten particularly far in the game yet (haven't beaten the third level) but these are my current impressions. So have I not seen a large bulk of content yet, and are there any plans to add anymore for/after release? I can really see this game becoming my favourite go-to rogue-like, having played over 500 hours of BoI. Great game, devs, well done!

P.s. I think the balance is a wonderful mix of relaxing, tense, challenging and thoughtful. I somewhat want a pass turn button but feel like it could also be too easy to manipulate and trust dev judgement much more than mine.

You certainly won't have seen everything there is to see yet, but you've probably seen a good deal of it. I'm afraid while there's still some things in the pipeline (most notably a final boss stage), we've currently have no plans to expand what we have substantially.

I'm really glad you've been having a good time with the game (and personally, _especially_ glad that the balance is feeling good!)

Thanks!

Hi all you insanely talented folks who made this game! I figured I should probably dump my feedback in this thread rather than starting another for the same purpose...

I have had a chance to play 5 or 6 games with the reckless and harried style I do everything these days. Firstly the level of polish is incredible for a refinery release. I haven't brushed up against the end of the game yet but this feels like a finished product to me. The entire aesthetic is just delightful! I could gush about it for pages and pages but I will sum up by saying that every little nuance of this thing tickles my fancy.

The gameplay was pretty easy to pick up with a few confusing bits that I easily learned once I did it wrong and was punished for it (sticky cards aren't the same as modifier cards, cards and attributes are independent, that sort of thing) I don't really understand why I should be caring if baddies take my cards right before I die. I get that these cards show up in other people's games but I guess I don't feel like I have ownership anymore since I am defeated and dead. The one time a baddie took a card when I was still alive however I was incensed! (in a good way) The difficulty seems spot on for me so far.

I wish the "Hold Q to Warp to Base" was grayed out when I couldn't use it.

Love the fast and automatic way the fights work but I still feel like the diagonal movement is imprecise so I end up fighting a lot when I don't want to. So far I it hasn't really annoyed me (like I said I am reckless) so hopefully as I get more precise with my intentions I will be more careful moving around.

One thing that I feel would be really nice is another psychological hook to get me to want to play another round once I die. I don't think it would even need to be anything extra. Perhaps just a tease, like finding out one of the really nice cards available in the next run. I feel like giving players a rational exit point is tough for games in the steam ecosystem these days and something more to wet my appetite after dying would go a long way.

One more thing, I HATE Whiskas and will risk everything I can to kill them on sight!