I was really enjoying this game until the last act. Solid 8/10 before that.
10tons is a company I've been involuntarily following for years, basically their entire existence as a team. Not involuntarily because I dislike them, but because they've always toed the line to greatness but never really crossed it, coming the closes with Neon Chrome. At least so far, because Dysmantle is definitely their best work yet. Calling it a masterpiece is a bit much, and they've still got a way to go, but this game was fun the whole way through and never felt like it ran out of steam before it ran out of game, like nearly all other games they've made so far. The foundation was always there, but not enough else and their games became tiresome before their time. Not this time! In fact, this game might have the opposite problem of having too much content.
The game itself is a pretty standard indiemade survival game with a top-down view and some nicely borrowed Dark Souls mechanic, like enemies not respawning until you rest, which in turn is coupled with two other mechanics that both let you disable all respawns and, once you've killed every zombie in an area, allow them to respawn once for increased difficulty and rewards. Nice to see that someone else loved the bonfire ascetic in the unfairly hated Dark Souls II! Other than that, the game lives up to its name by allowing you to smash things. Literally all the things. As you progress and use your harvested resources to make new ones and improve old ones, you gain more and more destructive power. At first, you can barely pick berries and collect twigs, but by the end you're shooting magical fire that tears half a wooden house in one attack. The progression curve is constant and satisfying, almost never feeling like it stops and becomes dull even though the game is quite a bit longer than you might expect.
Graphics are fine. Standard Unity-type stuff. Controls and combat are also fine, but could maybe be a little bit better at the targeting and attacks feeling like they actually connect. For once in a 10tons game, I never even tried the one firearm you can craft. I'm sure it kind of sucks since this game is all about smashing things with your hammer. Or axe. Or khopesh that shoots unholy fire. The soundtrack stands out by having a few cool indie rock tracks that play at select cool moments in the story. It's mostly environment sounds and a bit of tension soundtrack here and there, but the game really shines when the rock with vocals comes in.
Unfortunately, there are a few things holding the game back from perfection at what it is... The world is actually just TOO large and a little convoluted in areas. Maze-like could be another descriptor. The map isn't the best help since it's quite bad at showing verticality and routes between height levels, and you can't just climb or drop down wherever you want and have to find the often frustratingly hidden singular path up to the plateau you need to get to. I hated the temperature mechanic and having to constantly switch clothes. Not only was it frustrating, it didn't seem to fit into a survival game where you also don't need to eat or sleep. The tower defense minigame is so undercooked that I don't even know why it's in the game. Apparently there will be DLC with more stuff you can build? The "complete" version on PS4 does have two entirely unused submenus in the build tool. I guess that's another thing to complain about; I've never seen 10tons take this long to actually finish a game. Granted, I just wrote that the game is quite large, but the fact that it's still not done at the supposed 1.0 release is a little disappointing.
I kind of just want to impulsively slam this with a 5/5 rating, since I had so much fun with it, but I can't in good conscience do that since I know there were quite a few frustrating or annoying moments throughout the game. I've already written more than there actually is to say about this game. It's just a very solid, very detailed and very entertaining little survival game that any fan of the genre should check out.
Little update: I just realized what this game is. It's How To Survive: Much Better Edition. It doesn't have as much building as HTS, but it does everything else better.
The game itself is a pretty standard indiemade survival game with a top-down view and some nicely borrowed Dark Souls mechanic, like enemies not respawning until you rest, which in turn is coupled with two other mechanics that both let you disable all respawns and, once you've killed every zombie in an area, allow them to respawn once for increased difficulty and rewards. Nice to see that someone else loved the bonfire ascetic in the unfairly hated Dark Souls II! Other than that, the game lives up to its name by allowing you to smash things. Literally all the things. As you progress and use your harvested resources to make new ones and improve old ones, you gain more and more destructive power. At first, you can barely pick berries and collect twigs, but by the end you're shooting magical fire that tears half a wooden house in one attack. The progression curve is constant and satisfying, almost never feeling like it stops and becomes dull even though the game is quite a bit longer than you might expect.
Graphics are fine. Standard Unity-type stuff. Controls and combat are also fine, but could maybe be a little bit better at the targeting and attacks feeling like they actually connect. For once in a 10tons game, I never even tried the one firearm you can craft. I'm sure it kind of sucks since this game is all about smashing things with your hammer. Or axe. Or khopesh that shoots unholy fire. The soundtrack stands out by having a few cool indie rock tracks that play at select cool moments in the story. It's mostly environment sounds and a bit of tension soundtrack here and there, but the game really shines when the rock with vocals comes in.
Unfortunately, there are a few things holding the game back from perfection at what it is... The world is actually just TOO large and a little convoluted in areas. Maze-like could be another descriptor. The map isn't the best help since it's quite bad at showing verticality and routes between height levels, and you can't just climb or drop down wherever you want and have to find the often frustratingly hidden singular path up to the plateau you need to get to. I hated the temperature mechanic and having to constantly switch clothes. Not only was it frustrating, it didn't seem to fit into a survival game where you also don't need to eat or sleep. The tower defense minigame is so undercooked that I don't even know why it's in the game. Apparently there will be DLC with more stuff you can build? The "complete" version on PS4 does have two entirely unused submenus in the build tool. I guess that's another thing to complain about; I've never seen 10tons take this long to actually finish a game. Granted, I just wrote that the game is quite large, but the fact that it's still not done at the supposed 1.0 release is a little disappointing.
I kind of just want to impulsively slam this with a 5/5 rating, since I had so much fun with it, but I can't in good conscience do that since I know there were quite a few frustrating or annoying moments throughout the game. I've already written more than there actually is to say about this game. It's just a very solid, very detailed and very entertaining little survival game that any fan of the genre should check out.
Little update: I just realized what this game is. It's How To Survive: Much Better Edition. It doesn't have as much building as HTS, but it does everything else better.
i think i was almost enjoying myself and then the map zoomed out and showed me a million radio towers and i spent so long hitting things with a crowbar. it's not bland or lifeless - the exhaustion is entirely on my side, and there are some little tricks of the level design like barricaded doors to bust open which i appreciate - but neither is it so intriguing that i couldn't bear to part with it after an hour or two.