meh
Very cool and unique take on a roguelite that mixes a top down bullet hell with some basic farming sim elements in the vein of Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon into the mix. In general I really do just find this to be a rather unique experience though, not just for any one element, whether it's the structure, the artstyle, the premise, everything feels like a rather fresh take on this style of game and as such it had me hooked for quite a while. This is definitely worth a shot if you're at all interested in this genre and it in fact is probably an easy enough place to start for the most part if you're looking to get into roguelites on the whole for a few different reasons.
One of the most interesting aspects of this game for me is the way that the scale feels extremely small, with the core gameplay loop revolving around leaving your farmland for stretches of 2 - 3 minutes at a time to collect resources and return to your farm to both grow crops and defend them from waves of enemies. Due to this limited time you are given with each day and night cycle, the world itself ends up being rather small and self-contained. This is further reinforced by the relatively small amount of items and upgrades actually present here, With 5 or 6 big runs likely being enough to have seen the vast majority of these rewards. While this limits variance, Atomicrops makes up for it by making almost every item a good choice instead, allowing for most runs to be viable to win in one way or another as long as the player properly sorts out their priorities on where to go from their current position. Any time you find an item, you're likely to be excited due to this as well, as you know that it is very likely to be getting a great upgrade that's worth the time investment to earn it.
The lower quantity of variable content like this also makes the game rather accessible as well thanks to not having to keep tabs on so many moving parts at one time. I also love the way the items are framed in this, as the only way to consistently get them is to devote time to scavenging through the various biomes that surround you, which not only makes each encounter feed into a strong risk-reward dynamic, sacrificing time and potentially taking damage for an item, but it does wonders for the atmosphere as well. The game is able to so potently establish the setting of a nuclear wasteland through this gameplay loop, forcing the player to go out of their way and brave their harsh surroundings time and time again just to have enough resources to generate basic income. Having everything tie into each other so nicely creates a strong feeling of cohesion to the point where I'd say that nothing is particularly out of place or frivolous, it all feels very thoughtfully put together.
While the lowered variance might help with this, I do think that the game has some issues with feeling almost as if you need certain upgrades to have any real chance of winning however. It feels like a run in this game is rarely able to get off the ground until the player has a few farm animals to help with the farming process, especially cows and pigs, but thanks to the random nature of this game, there are runs where the player will not get them early enough even if they spend their time aggressively exploring the landscape and doing nothing else until they're at a big disadvantage. While I understand that this can help craft a more dynamic experience and further contribute to the atmosphere, I feel like the borderline necessity of these animals is still frustrating nonetheless due to the fact that they're being put at such a steep disadvantage regardless, as I feel that in these sorts of games, the other items should feel more like things to improve your chances of winning or at least do something interesting, rather than being practically a requirement. Some of the enemy encounters also feel a bit rough, whether it's the worm boss with its strange hitboxes and absurd speed that can make certain situations undodgeable, or the mushroom boss that equates to running around your farm all night trying to meticulously track down every individual spore and wasting a lot of time without really acting as a threat, being far closer to a nuisance.
Overall, while this game is a bit rough in certain regards, I still really like it and think it's quite a unique take on this genre. The developers also seem to be in a constant state of updating and improving this experience as well, as can be seen with their most recent update completely overhauling the weapon system to be less RNG dependant and more strategic, which is always something I adore seeing in games. I love how every element of this feels tied back into the central concept of farming, all the way down to your HP drops being seeds that you need to plant and have grow, rather than just generic hearts on the ground, really goes a long way to making things feel focused, and it also usually contributes to its own brand of challenge in the process. A must have for fans of roguelites, and probably one of the better starting points for those looking to get into those games as well.
One of the most interesting aspects of this game for me is the way that the scale feels extremely small, with the core gameplay loop revolving around leaving your farmland for stretches of 2 - 3 minutes at a time to collect resources and return to your farm to both grow crops and defend them from waves of enemies. Due to this limited time you are given with each day and night cycle, the world itself ends up being rather small and self-contained. This is further reinforced by the relatively small amount of items and upgrades actually present here, With 5 or 6 big runs likely being enough to have seen the vast majority of these rewards. While this limits variance, Atomicrops makes up for it by making almost every item a good choice instead, allowing for most runs to be viable to win in one way or another as long as the player properly sorts out their priorities on where to go from their current position. Any time you find an item, you're likely to be excited due to this as well, as you know that it is very likely to be getting a great upgrade that's worth the time investment to earn it.
The lower quantity of variable content like this also makes the game rather accessible as well thanks to not having to keep tabs on so many moving parts at one time. I also love the way the items are framed in this, as the only way to consistently get them is to devote time to scavenging through the various biomes that surround you, which not only makes each encounter feed into a strong risk-reward dynamic, sacrificing time and potentially taking damage for an item, but it does wonders for the atmosphere as well. The game is able to so potently establish the setting of a nuclear wasteland through this gameplay loop, forcing the player to go out of their way and brave their harsh surroundings time and time again just to have enough resources to generate basic income. Having everything tie into each other so nicely creates a strong feeling of cohesion to the point where I'd say that nothing is particularly out of place or frivolous, it all feels very thoughtfully put together.
While the lowered variance might help with this, I do think that the game has some issues with feeling almost as if you need certain upgrades to have any real chance of winning however. It feels like a run in this game is rarely able to get off the ground until the player has a few farm animals to help with the farming process, especially cows and pigs, but thanks to the random nature of this game, there are runs where the player will not get them early enough even if they spend their time aggressively exploring the landscape and doing nothing else until they're at a big disadvantage. While I understand that this can help craft a more dynamic experience and further contribute to the atmosphere, I feel like the borderline necessity of these animals is still frustrating nonetheless due to the fact that they're being put at such a steep disadvantage regardless, as I feel that in these sorts of games, the other items should feel more like things to improve your chances of winning or at least do something interesting, rather than being practically a requirement. Some of the enemy encounters also feel a bit rough, whether it's the worm boss with its strange hitboxes and absurd speed that can make certain situations undodgeable, or the mushroom boss that equates to running around your farm all night trying to meticulously track down every individual spore and wasting a lot of time without really acting as a threat, being far closer to a nuisance.
Overall, while this game is a bit rough in certain regards, I still really like it and think it's quite a unique take on this genre. The developers also seem to be in a constant state of updating and improving this experience as well, as can be seen with their most recent update completely overhauling the weapon system to be less RNG dependant and more strategic, which is always something I adore seeing in games. I love how every element of this feels tied back into the central concept of farming, all the way down to your HP drops being seeds that you need to plant and have grow, rather than just generic hearts on the ground, really goes a long way to making things feel focused, and it also usually contributes to its own brand of challenge in the process. A must have for fans of roguelites, and probably one of the better starting points for those looking to get into those games as well.
Ok concepto, con ciertos problemas de progresión y algún que otro problema de escalado de dificultad.
Pero hacer un concepto nuevo con un juego de granjas + bulltethell es algo bastante destacable.
Pero hacer un concepto nuevo con un juego de granjas + bulltethell es algo bastante destacable.
ESTA bastante fino, tiene algun que otro problemilla pero esta en constante actualizacion tanto en pc como en consolas. He vencido todoslos años menos el ultimo y ha sido bastante divertido.
this game feels like it could easily be 5 stars, the first couple years of the game are fantastic and had me hooked, but as you unlock more years, the difficulty spikes and HARD as youre at the mercy of RNG.
until you get a cow to help with watering and a pig to help with expanding your land, you're pretty much useless, the years start off harder than they end as you're forced to fend off relentless enemies with your pea shooter for the first couple days. you get less hearts and spend the first 2 days dodging countless bullets from dozens of basic rabbit enemies as they begin to take 4-6 shots to take down. what started as some of the easiest enemies to take down and avoid and kill, quickly became some of the most bothersome. once you can buy guns, and earn some decent perks, the combat becomes more bearable. but all it takes a small amount of bad luck, or a ballsy decisions gone wrong and you're dead. then the last hour or so is just down the drain, all the perks and weapons you've grown accustomed to are now gone as you've reset back to day 1 with nothing but a pea shooter, 5 hearts, some potatoes and 9 squares of soil.
sure, there are some permanent changes you can earn throughout your various playthroughs, but its all meaningless stuff like "increase rain cloud duration by 20%" or "blood rain drops additional fertilizer". (you get fertilizer like candy btw). maybe the permanent upgrades improve once you give the ant 100 cornucopias for a workshop, but i only have 50 of them and frankly i dont know if i have the strength to even go on. i'm on year 4 and going through that first day again and heading to the easiest area only for dozens of enemies to see the screen covered in bullets and enemies all coming towards me, and knowing that this isnt even CLOSE to the hardest year is simply demotivating. i can't even fathom what year 10 must be like. i'm sure by the time most reach year 10, they'd have most things unlocked and who knows, maybe there are perks that let you start with a cow and a pig, and a character that has a faster and/or more powerful pea shooter or has 10 hearts no matter the year. it wouldnt fix all my problems, but just starting the year with those would mean so much to me.
among other things, i feel like the game should be a tad more merciful. im fine with starting over from year one, but i feel like you should be given a bit of an extra chance when you die. i know theres a chance to find a respawn pod, and thats good, but maybe when you die, you have one extra life that puts you back at the start of the season with half your max hearts but you keep everything else and only let it happen once per playthrough. maybe there can be a new character that starts with additional lives but reduced hearts. i understand that most of my issues seem to be common traits of the rogue-like genre, reasons why i could never get into games like isaac or spelunky or gungeon, but unlike those, atomicrops actually managed to captivate me until i hit that wall where the game just became unforgiving. i'd like to make it clear that i dont mind the difficulty, but there does need to be a little bit of mercy. maybe i'll keep grinding the first couple years, maybe i'll unlock something that will alleviate most my stress and i wont just be forced to bullet hell while praying to the RNG gods for something that isnt crap, but if not, i think my playthrough ends here, and i'm legitimately sad to say that considering how much i did enjoy the first couple years.
until you get a cow to help with watering and a pig to help with expanding your land, you're pretty much useless, the years start off harder than they end as you're forced to fend off relentless enemies with your pea shooter for the first couple days. you get less hearts and spend the first 2 days dodging countless bullets from dozens of basic rabbit enemies as they begin to take 4-6 shots to take down. what started as some of the easiest enemies to take down and avoid and kill, quickly became some of the most bothersome. once you can buy guns, and earn some decent perks, the combat becomes more bearable. but all it takes a small amount of bad luck, or a ballsy decisions gone wrong and you're dead. then the last hour or so is just down the drain, all the perks and weapons you've grown accustomed to are now gone as you've reset back to day 1 with nothing but a pea shooter, 5 hearts, some potatoes and 9 squares of soil.
sure, there are some permanent changes you can earn throughout your various playthroughs, but its all meaningless stuff like "increase rain cloud duration by 20%" or "blood rain drops additional fertilizer". (you get fertilizer like candy btw). maybe the permanent upgrades improve once you give the ant 100 cornucopias for a workshop, but i only have 50 of them and frankly i dont know if i have the strength to even go on. i'm on year 4 and going through that first day again and heading to the easiest area only for dozens of enemies to see the screen covered in bullets and enemies all coming towards me, and knowing that this isnt even CLOSE to the hardest year is simply demotivating. i can't even fathom what year 10 must be like. i'm sure by the time most reach year 10, they'd have most things unlocked and who knows, maybe there are perks that let you start with a cow and a pig, and a character that has a faster and/or more powerful pea shooter or has 10 hearts no matter the year. it wouldnt fix all my problems, but just starting the year with those would mean so much to me.
among other things, i feel like the game should be a tad more merciful. im fine with starting over from year one, but i feel like you should be given a bit of an extra chance when you die. i know theres a chance to find a respawn pod, and thats good, but maybe when you die, you have one extra life that puts you back at the start of the season with half your max hearts but you keep everything else and only let it happen once per playthrough. maybe there can be a new character that starts with additional lives but reduced hearts. i understand that most of my issues seem to be common traits of the rogue-like genre, reasons why i could never get into games like isaac or spelunky or gungeon, but unlike those, atomicrops actually managed to captivate me until i hit that wall where the game just became unforgiving. i'd like to make it clear that i dont mind the difficulty, but there does need to be a little bit of mercy. maybe i'll keep grinding the first couple years, maybe i'll unlock something that will alleviate most my stress and i wont just be forced to bullet hell while praying to the RNG gods for something that isnt crap, but if not, i think my playthrough ends here, and i'm legitimately sad to say that considering how much i did enjoy the first couple years.
god i love this game, part 2
will be back for the next update(s)
will be back for the next update(s)
I usually enjoy twin stick shooters, I usually enjoy farming games, and I usually enjoy roguelites, but after playing this game for a couple hours over a couple days, I realized I hadn't had any fun yet. Well OK, apart from the intro animation, which was hilarious and looked great.
The gameplay graphics look OK in still screens but they're kind of a mess in motion, the camera is constantly whipping around as you change your aim, the pacing is flat (it's low-grade intense at almost all times, day and night), and the music started to grate on my nerves pretty quickly, so I turned it off. There are some interesting-looking systems, but the baseline gameplay just wasn't fun enough to keep me engaged.
The gameplay graphics look OK in still screens but they're kind of a mess in motion, the camera is constantly whipping around as you change your aim, the pacing is flat (it's low-grade intense at almost all times, day and night), and the music started to grate on my nerves pretty quickly, so I turned it off. There are some interesting-looking systems, but the baseline gameplay just wasn't fun enough to keep me engaged.
very good game the best game of this year
Did not gel with me in the least.
It can be a chill game, but it has a mixture with action that can be a differential from the same games. I didn't like too much, but the tutorial is very good and the humor is a nice touch to it.
A bit rough around the edges, but the game is fun enough to warrant your time, and it tries something different, which is much needed in this genre.
It had a lot of fun elements but the gameplay itself could get rough at times?
it's fun and the music is goofy. the romance and farming mechanic are super unique, and take a little bit to get used to, but they're fun to play with.
Pretty engaging, but not as much depth as other games in this genre. Days feel too short and most runs after year 1 depend on you getting a cow early on. Screen gets way too cluttered at times. Final boss is really cool. Will probably get even more fun as more updates come out, if any.
A parody of Starred Valley/Harvest Moon that takes elements of the genre and twists them into a frantic, difficult, twin stick shooter roguelite
It has slightly cluttered visuals and has a lot of unsatisfying deaths, but when you start formulating strategy and figuring out the games tricky systems then Atomicrops becomes totally addictive as all good roguelikes do
It has slightly cluttered visuals and has a lot of unsatisfying deaths, but when you start formulating strategy and figuring out the games tricky systems then Atomicrops becomes totally addictive as all good roguelikes do
A hectic game where you never feel quite in control or in front of the 8 ball, but not in a particularly enjoyable way. The game always feels like its nipping at your heels with very little downtime, and most runs feel like the same chaotic mess. Soundtrack was pretty neat though.