Updated Review for v1.0
The remade act one is certainly an improvement over the demo version, but I still have a lot of the same problems with this game as before. I feel like I can see the vision a bit more now, but the game is kind of janky is maybe the best way to put it. There exists a certain charm under that jank, but the game just isn't there yet despite that.
My main problem was with the writing and still is with the writing. The opening sets up this neat idea of the weak MC wanting to create a guild that he and others can prosper under. This does not go his way as no one wants to join him, until one similar outcast partners up with him to journey to the "mountain of power" to, well, obtain power.
The game lacks in the details. It sets up this long and arduous journey only to portray it more like a walk in the park. All these perilous places you travel through within a day, maybe have an encounter that seemingly plays out the same no matter your choice, sleep, and repeat. At one point they're walking through a frozen tundra while the MC is in a t-shirt and the girl in a revealing dress. They talk about how cold it is when realistically they would be icicles. Unrealistic is a good term for the whole thing really, but perhaps the game isn't really striving for that kind of realism.
I originally complained about the MC lacking any sort of charm and just being boring to play as. Again while he's a bit better than before, I still feel the same. I guess I'd expect some way for him to show talents that make up for him being psychically weak (in the beginning). Something that would make me say "yeah this guy has potential." But really all he has is a sort of determination to make things work but with no plan for it. He doesn't feel like a leader in any respect.
Now this game actually has a twist, and turns out to be what seemingly might be a sort of revenge story? After making it to the mountain of power and obtaining thor's hammer, you save your companion and fly back to town. Long story short a guild leader, descendant of Odin, wants the hammer. She tries to kill you for it, you smack her in the head, and then are branded as an outlaw and kicked out of town.
Queue sandbox. You must save your reputation. The MCs plan for this is to go around helping people to prove he isn't an outlaw. It's a fine motivation I guess, but you would think with now being empowered with the power of a god he could tackle pretty big problems. Instead, go sweep this temple until the bitch priestesses decide to help you. I just don't really get what the games plan is I think. It feels sort of inconsistent. There's a couple random combat encounters and quests to help random village folk, and some of them are kinda fun even, but it feels weirdly out of place at the same time. A lot of the sandbox systems feel mostly like placeholders or just don't exist as well.
For as critical as I am about this, there's parts that do sort of have that charm to it I mentioned as well. I like Hazel a lot actually and it was nice interacting with her on the initial journey (it's more the MC who feels like the odd piece of the puzzle). The renders and character models have a pretty unique vibe to them, and the animations themselves are kind of fun and not awful in lewd scenes. I don't mind so much the journeying around doing quests too, but for the reasons I mentioned before it takes me out of it a bit at the same time.
I don't really know what this game wants to be I guess. It's not really a riveting story and feels pieced together more than a consistent plot, but maybe as just a charmingly jank sandbox game I could see it growing into something fun? It's a work in progress for sure. I'd be interested to see how this develops but I wouldn't say I'm invested at the moment.
