Cogmind is a traditional roguelike that does away with the towns, NPC's, and story in favour of weapons, tactics, and looter shooter mechanics. It's also been in early access for 6 years and I can't tell if it's an excuse or a mistake at this point.
Gameplay has you navigating procedurally generated dungeons, destroying robots and upgrading yourself from their parts allowing for a degree of customisation for how your robot is composed with different parts having their pro's and con's that shape your play style.
Despite trying new things the game is limited by its classical trappings. The grid-based turn-based design of rogue combat means positioning is everything but even with advantages it all comes down to the numbers. Your parts break as you take damage so you need to constantly be scavenging for replacements to stand a chance as you explore but whatever deals the most damage will take precedent.
Sessions are highly repetitive and there's a limited variety of equipment which runs counter to the looter shooter aspect the game wants to focus on. Builds depend on drops so nothing is guaranteed nor will it last because everything breaks.
It's a slightly refreshing take on an ageing genre like a slice of lime for a flat coke. The archaic rogue UI, limits of the core design, and simple tactical gameplay ensure this one may only appeal and stick to those who were around to play rogue in the first place.
Gameplay has you navigating procedurally generated dungeons, destroying robots and upgrading yourself from their parts allowing for a degree of customisation for how your robot is composed with different parts having their pro's and con's that shape your play style.
Despite trying new things the game is limited by its classical trappings. The grid-based turn-based design of rogue combat means positioning is everything but even with advantages it all comes down to the numbers. Your parts break as you take damage so you need to constantly be scavenging for replacements to stand a chance as you explore but whatever deals the most damage will take precedent.
Sessions are highly repetitive and there's a limited variety of equipment which runs counter to the looter shooter aspect the game wants to focus on. Builds depend on drops so nothing is guaranteed nor will it last because everything breaks.
It's a slightly refreshing take on an ageing genre like a slice of lime for a flat coke. The archaic rogue UI, limits of the core design, and simple tactical gameplay ensure this one may only appeal and stick to those who were around to play rogue in the first place.
I loved cogmind. It's this deeply strategic and incredible world you get to explore. It has so many secrets and characters. I've played for like 80 hours and I want to play 80 more.
Cogmind is the best game I have ever played, and I've been playing games for over thirty years. It's a traditional roguelike with a sleek, modern interface that plays like an immersive sim on steroids, and it's a masterclass in game design. It boggles my mind how a game can have that many interesting interlocking systems while being so tightly, thoughtfully and elegantly constructed at the same time.
Don't let the words "Early Access" or "Beta" fool you. Cogmind is huge, deep, polished, practically bugfree, and balanced to near perfection. It should be called "Version 8 Deluxe" or something, but the game's sole creator is a mad but very organized genius who can't bring himself to make a version called 1.0, maybe because he has very high standards and an insane work ethic, or maybe because he just loves his game and its community to death and can't let go.
Anyway, bottom line, I think Cogmind is quite possibly the greatest computer game ever made, I love that we keep getting more of it, and I hope someday in my lifetime I get to play that open-ended space game the developer has teased doing next.
Don't let the words "Early Access" or "Beta" fool you. Cogmind is huge, deep, polished, practically bugfree, and balanced to near perfection. It should be called "Version 8 Deluxe" or something, but the game's sole creator is a mad but very organized genius who can't bring himself to make a version called 1.0, maybe because he has very high standards and an insane work ethic, or maybe because he just loves his game and its community to death and can't let go.
Anyway, bottom line, I think Cogmind is quite possibly the greatest computer game ever made, I love that we keep getting more of it, and I hope someday in my lifetime I get to play that open-ended space game the developer has teased doing next.
Based