TL-DR: The game is a lot better now than what it was on launch. Many major points of concern have been addressed and changed and I can now recommend it, but for those still on the fence, give it a little longer in the oven.

Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash were some of my most favourite indie games to ever be made, so suffice to say I was extremely hyped (pun unintended) when this was first announced all those years back.

It's now in our hands, and despite a fairly rough start, the updates have been coming regularly, and the state of the game has definitely been improving with it.

The world generation works well, procedurally spreading out intended objectives, structures, encounters and boss fights in a neat way, with plenty of traversal and mobility options to get back and forth. A fog of war mechanics prevents you from simply cheesing each run by making a beeline between each point of interest, you'll need to actually explore the world to discover objective locations, boss arenas and the like.

Combat is in a better state now too than what it was on launch. Enemies still hit hard and can rip into your health early-game, but once you start obtaining upgrades and levels you can start hitting back as hard as them. Parries feel better to time as well as they are now omni-directional, but still feels a bit too high risk for the reward it can pay out (regenerating temporary lost health). Alternate healing options do come in the form of collecting bushes and trading resources for medkits at shrines, as well as the option to temporarily extract out of the world to refill supplies, upgrade equipment and refocus.

Performing actions in the world - whether it be killing enemies, snagging loot or discovering locations - steadily fills up a world tier meter, which gradually increases the danger posed by enemies, but also increasing the chance for rare loot to be found, as well as triggering danger events such as mobs of enemies or minibosses. In the past, these used to happen far too often far too quickly, but this has since been changed much better and now only procs once every 5-10 minutes, giving you much more breathing room to plan out and prepare. (Also radiation zones have been removed, thank God.)

PC configuration and settings are about what you expect - Terrain and texture detail, resolution scaling, shadows and ambient occlusion, etc. Still missing a few additional things that would be appreciated like upscaling or particle quality. Performance has also steadily been improving with each update, however drops when looking at a lot of terrain or when there's a lot happening on screen should still be expected.

I was genuinely sad at the state of the game when it first came out, but expressed hope that things would improve, and I'm very glad to say despite a bit of a false start, the game has definitely been getting there. I would still wait for a bit more content to justify the price, but if you want to support a studio that absolutely cares about the state of their games and their community, it's worth the leap.

[b]TL-DR: The game is a lot better now than what it was on launch. Many major points of concern have been addressed and changed and I can now recommend it, but for those still on the fence, give it a little longer in the oven.[/b] Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash were some of my most favourite indie games to ever be made, so suffice to say I was extremely hyped (pun unintended) when this was first announced all those years back. It's now in our hands, and despite a fairly rough start, the updates have been coming regularly, and the state of the game has definitely been improving with it. The world generation works well, procedurally spreading out intended objectives, structures, encounters and boss fights in a neat way, with plenty of traversal and mobility options to get back and forth. A fog of war mechanics prevents you from simply cheesing each run by making a beeline between each point of interest, you'll need to actually explore the world to discover objective locations, boss arenas and the like. Combat is in a better state now too than what it was on launch. Enemies still hit hard and can rip into your health early-game, but once you start obtaining upgrades and levels you can start hitting back as hard as them. Parries feel better to time as well as they are now omni-directional, but still feels a bit too high risk for the reward it can pay out (regenerating temporary lost health). Alternate healing options do come in the form of collecting bushes and trading resources for medkits at shrines, as well as the option to temporarily extract out of the world to refill supplies, upgrade equipment and refocus. Performing actions in the world - whether it be killing enemies, snagging loot or discovering locations - steadily fills up a world tier meter, which gradually increases the danger posed by enemies, but also increasing the chance for rare loot to be found, as well as triggering danger events such as mobs of enemies or minibosses. In the past, these used to happen far too often far too quickly, but this has since been changed much better and now only procs once every 5-10 minutes, giving you much more breathing room to plan out and prepare. (Also radiation zones have been removed, thank God.) PC configuration and settings are about what you expect - Terrain and texture detail, resolution scaling, shadows and ambient occlusion, etc. Still missing a few additional things that would be appreciated like upscaling or particle quality. Performance has also steadily been improving with each update, however drops when looking at a lot of terrain or when there's a lot happening on screen should still be expected. I was genuinely sad at the state of the game when it first came out, but expressed hope that things would improve, and I'm very glad to say despite a bit of a false start, the game has definitely been getting there. I would still wait for a bit more content to justify the price, but if you want to support a studio that absolutely cares about the state of their games and their community, it's worth the leap.