This is a fantastic game, and I thoroughly recommend it. The pros: The writing and world building of Dread Delusion are absolutely fantastic. You can tell that the developers poured their heart and soul into this game, in the environments, the feeling of life to each and every character. There is a sense that the world is very much divided and going through he issues that it describes, the ongoing conflict between Gods and men, and what, in the end, is truly best for us. It asks deeply personal questions of who we are, and where our morals stand. Is sacrifice best for long term gain? Or should we outright reject those who stand to benefit from even a modicum of our suffering, even if it is for a so-called Greater Good? Dread Delusion asks all these questions of the player, and does little to force an identity upon them, making it a true roleplaying game. Its writing, its world-building, and its ambition in a genre of constant remakes and sequels are commendable. The compass mechanic and map-marking are really engaging, as if exploring and finding your way around the Oneiric Isles. The magic system is intrinsically cool though has its flaws (see cons) Having now completed the game twice with 100% achievements, I can say that hard mode is a LITTLE more challenging, but if you know what you're doing and equip yourself well, you can still breeze through quite handily; it is however, just a little more exhilirating, though still not exactly some hardened Souls-like combat or anything (The magic moths hit pretty hard in Hard mode, though!) It's also excellent that your choices genuinely matter; each quest can influence the result of the end-game, including smaller choices and side-quests. Amazing attention to detail was payed here, and it feels like you've genuinely played a roleplaying game. The cons: The Gameplay: While the world-building and writing are fantastic. Dread Delusion is a game where your strengths matter very little. Lore is undoubtedly the most powerful skill simply because it allows you to open doors to more things to claim. Most things that have a mechanical influence on the game matter very little. Upgrade a weapon and you're pretty much set. Magic has little impact beyond the fast-run spell; find the ability to quick-strike enemies with magic and you're set. Enemies are easily staggered, and they often loom in your face without actually attacking, or seemingly feinting, but this looks more like a glitch, simply give them strong strikes, back up a little and throw a spell or two and they will crumple. The more you advance, the easier it becomes: There is absolutely no threat of death in this game beyond accidentally falling off a cliff or, at a very low level, stumbling into one of very few areas where more than one enemy will attack you at once. The parry mechanic is, at this point, almost supplementary. To be satisfying, in my opinion, the game must be given a higher difficulty option with enemies that are not simply staggered at every strong hit: If you have a parry mechanic, there must be a give-and-take regarding timing. This combat deficiency further invalidates other game mechanics: Certain armours, starting-traits etc. become surplus to requirement, and remove the potential pragmatism and immersion of roleplay elements the game strives to incorporate. Why invest in Guile when an upgraded helmet will do the job? Why invest in Might when most lockpicks and lore skills will do the job of smashing open a door, or when enemies fall with very little attack power in the first place? Persona and Wisdom have their places, but with high enough and easily swappable armours, these things are simple enough to acquire when you need them. There are not enough character-based drawbacks. Furthermore, this means that a lot spell-based characters have the majority of their spells invalidated. As you rarely fight more than one or two opponents at a time, slowing opponents is almost pointless, slower missile spells are pointless, and a spell-shield is almost entirely pointless because the chances of an enemy hitting you if you have even the slightest wit about you is almost nil. Once you have a fast-casting offensive spell and a vaguely upgraded sword, perhaps even less, you need little skill to fight any enemy in this game. In short, the combat is deeply unrewarding, and you very rarely leave an encounter feeling as though you escaped using every ability available to you. In a world full of Gods, boss-fights against their diminished forms would have been fantastic. The framework for exhilarating combat exists, but the available enemies do not reflect it in the slightest: They must be made more powerful. They must feel dangerous. Conclusion: This game is a gem, a powerful, thought-provoking piece of art with highly flawed mechanical internals. For the combat-RPG focused-player, there is not enough to sustain interest. I have been pulled in by the story and its fascinating implications, but the deeply unrewarding nature of combat feels like you are not truly fighting for your beliefs: I think that for this game - and I believe it is a masterpiece in the making - to reach its true potential, it must offer options of higher difficulty, and faster enemies that do not seem to be looming - highly stunnable - in your face without attacking. I do not wish to appear shallow in this review: The game and its writing are top-notch, but more is needed for it to feel like its ideals are fought for, as opposed to breezed through. Edits: Just as I posted this game's cons, a Hard Mode was added to the game so.. Depending on how that goes, I may have to amend, but it shows that the developers listened to complaints about too-low difficulty! Another point in their favour. As of making this edit I've just completed the game for the first time and even with the easy combat it was definitely worth the journey.
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