How is it?
With the recent 1.0 release, I have re-visited this gem of a game with a friend of mine & wife, as well as solo. The controls are incredibly simple, as expected. I used a Razer Wolverine controller as well as mouse & keyboard. When the game begins, it’s super fun to learn all the abilities, synergies, enemies, and bosses. Starting with my favorite Tem, Chromeon, his moveset is the m
ost diverse and is only unlocked by beating the final boss of the Evershifting Tower. By the time I had him unlocked, my wife decided to join. She didn’t have to ask many questions, everything was laid out pretty simply enough for her to be able to navigate menus & understand what things meant without needing to Google things repeatedly. Often times in these games you’re looking up best builds or best character, but the way everything was set up let us find our own and enjoy doing it.
The objectives are fun most of the time, the most notable un-fun objective is the “Gotta go fast!”. 99% of the time, you are going to be running into enemies or blocks or both. When playing squishier Tems, it can be a health drainer at higher difficulties. Tankier Tems like Crystle, you have the health and armor but not the speed. You can still do it, even in the most chaotic of times, but you need to have a good build & good reaction time.
The difficulty spike from Pansun to Evershifting Tower is kinda rough if you don’t check your Tempedia for the recommended typing. It did help, even though any Tems of any kind can show up. (Hence the ever-shifting part) Leading up to that, however, is pretty smooth sailing. Nothing catches you quite off guard and you can conquer most of it without having to be too careful with your build. The bosses add an additional element, with unique attack patterns and weaknesses. Cycrox, for example, spits poison in lines & rains it down (among other abilities) creating an additional dynamic when surviving against the regular enemies. Some bosses have some rough abilities that feel either terrible – I am looking at you, Volgon – or easy peasy, like Nessla. Once you beat a levels final boss within a certain amount of time, generally 60 seconds, you can add an additional challenge by making it endless, or making it twice the speed, reducing your HP, etc. via the hacking mode. It can multiply your Pansun income, and can really benefit you if you prefer a certain Tem on a certain level.
Playing with friends is always more enjoyable than alone, and we have tried both sharing EXP and not sharing. We didn’t see much of a difference in level differentiation. Sharing EXP can lead to slower overall leveling but can benefit you if you are lagging in damage.
Some cons though, we have had plenty of disconnects, thankfully though it was at the very beginning of a match. Once a game is started and everyone is connected you can get a whole game in without worry. This could be due to increased stress since it did just release, but the most recent patch did appear to fix this. Another con (for some people) it can be quite grindy. I have one prestiged Tem, Innki, and Chromeon is close on his heels at 93%. Once you get to prestige a Tem, the only way to level that Tem is to use that Tem. That can get quite grindy quite fast. Prestige 1 rewards you with Luma, and prestige 2 rewards Umbra. After that, it’s just a flex.
Also, it runs spectacularly on the Steam Deck.
On my way towards 100%’ing the game. Really all I have left is using synergies.
Overall, I think it is a fantastic game with plenty of replayability. I recommend it both solo and with friends.