great roguelike with heavy elements of bullet hell. a hidden gem in steam
Enter the gungeon if it were a good game
January Roguelite/like
This one is fun! I think it has a lot of character and does a lot to differentiate itself from similar games (notably Binding of Isaac in my headspace). The best parts of the game are when it leans into the Shmup, particularly with the bosses.
Although I feel the progression is a bit slow. While the money you spend can add new weapons or characteristics to the dungeon, it takes far too long to earn enough money for a single one. I wish there was something a bit more incremental like Hades or Risk of Rain.
This one is fun! I think it has a lot of character and does a lot to differentiate itself from similar games (notably Binding of Isaac in my headspace). The best parts of the game are when it leans into the Shmup, particularly with the bosses.
Although I feel the progression is a bit slow. While the money you spend can add new weapons or characteristics to the dungeon, it takes far too long to earn enough money for a single one. I wish there was something a bit more incremental like Hades or Risk of Rain.
very fun! love the setting and how it plays so much
adding on cause since writing this i've gotten pretty much everything including the secret ending. i think the very fast paced nature of the game is great for someone who likes roguelikes but can't always get down for hour long isaac runs. the game is very responsive and dodging with dashes is extremely satisfying. most weapon types are a real joy to use, with me only not really caring for pulsar. i really respect that you can just turn off any you don't want to see so i usually keep it off, but might turn it back on now that i'm not grinding out sudden deaths.
all of the bosses are very unique, but the final bosses are such a treat in themselves. i love monolith and chaos god both very much and think they're extremely fun and cool. i think the temple mechanic they added was extremely fun and unique as well, really maximizes risk/reward gameplay in an interesting way! i'm really excited for the next expansion and i will be there when it drops
adding on cause since writing this i've gotten pretty much everything including the secret ending. i think the very fast paced nature of the game is great for someone who likes roguelikes but can't always get down for hour long isaac runs. the game is very responsive and dodging with dashes is extremely satisfying. most weapon types are a real joy to use, with me only not really caring for pulsar. i really respect that you can just turn off any you don't want to see so i usually keep it off, but might turn it back on now that i'm not grinding out sudden deaths.
all of the bosses are very unique, but the final bosses are such a treat in themselves. i love monolith and chaos god both very much and think they're extremely fun and cool. i think the temple mechanic they added was extremely fun and unique as well, really maximizes risk/reward gameplay in an interesting way! i'm really excited for the next expansion and i will be there when it drops
Star of Providence (formerly known as 'Monolith', but changed due to possible Copyright issues) is a phenomenal game. It has everything you could want in a shoot-m'-up Roguelite title: long-term progression, a plethora of weapons and weapon variations, clear visual and audio cues of enemy attacks, plenty of enemies and bosses with varying difficulty and attack styles, and I could go on and on.
The difficulty of Star of Providence is through the roof, but is kept fair by giving the player precise movement, mobility and only a teeny tiny hitbox. More importantly, I was able to learn my way through the difficulty curve without looking up any information on how to reach secrets or secret bosses, which is something I greatly appreciate of this title.
In addition, the game lets you customise builds and runs however you like, by giving the option to toggle settings and unlockables on/off whenever you want. You can change the difficulty of the game, how punishing the run will be, what weapons and bombs will appear in the spawn pool, and the game even allows you to input seeded runs.
The art and music of SoP are both incredible as well. Normally I dislike chiptune OST due to its shrill nature, but SoP's OST is devoid of this, making it a pleasure to listen to. Granted, some of the enemy sounds can be a tad loud, but this is needed for you to notice when an attack is coming.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the lore that goes behind this game. At first glance, it may seem like a regular shmup, but the story is actually quite interesting once you figure out why the world is as broken as it is. Many NPC's within the hub of the game reveal information on their experiences, allowing you to puzzle together a great deal of lore yourself.
The only aspect of Star of Providence that I did not enjoy was the looping system. Looping, unlike changing the difficulty, changes certain aspects of the game whenever enabled. Mainly, bullet and minion output of regular enemies are greatly increased through this setting. You can loop as much as you want, increasing the difficulty only slightly every time you do so. At a certain point (from loop 25 and on), this mechanic forces you to completely overhaul your playstyle to an aggressive one, because you will need to kill enemies before they start attacking to avoid their hellish - and frankly unavoidable - bullet output. In other words: the game is not so much about dodging anymore, but more so denying enemies to attack you in the first place, which I find a bit excessive considering you need to withstand this for a minimum of 50 loops to get the final achievement. Like this achievement's name, it really feels like an eternal nightmare.
Despite this, I highly recommend SoP to any fan of the shmup and Roguelite genre. It is truly one of the best games I have played in the genre, and I have played a lot of them. If you play without 100%-ing, it has about 50 hours of content, so it is definitely worth its price as well!
The difficulty of Star of Providence is through the roof, but is kept fair by giving the player precise movement, mobility and only a teeny tiny hitbox. More importantly, I was able to learn my way through the difficulty curve without looking up any information on how to reach secrets or secret bosses, which is something I greatly appreciate of this title.
In addition, the game lets you customise builds and runs however you like, by giving the option to toggle settings and unlockables on/off whenever you want. You can change the difficulty of the game, how punishing the run will be, what weapons and bombs will appear in the spawn pool, and the game even allows you to input seeded runs.
The art and music of SoP are both incredible as well. Normally I dislike chiptune OST due to its shrill nature, but SoP's OST is devoid of this, making it a pleasure to listen to. Granted, some of the enemy sounds can be a tad loud, but this is needed for you to notice when an attack is coming.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the lore that goes behind this game. At first glance, it may seem like a regular shmup, but the story is actually quite interesting once you figure out why the world is as broken as it is. Many NPC's within the hub of the game reveal information on their experiences, allowing you to puzzle together a great deal of lore yourself.
The only aspect of Star of Providence that I did not enjoy was the looping system. Looping, unlike changing the difficulty, changes certain aspects of the game whenever enabled. Mainly, bullet and minion output of regular enemies are greatly increased through this setting. You can loop as much as you want, increasing the difficulty only slightly every time you do so. At a certain point (from loop 25 and on), this mechanic forces you to completely overhaul your playstyle to an aggressive one, because you will need to kill enemies before they start attacking to avoid their hellish - and frankly unavoidable - bullet output. In other words: the game is not so much about dodging anymore, but more so denying enemies to attack you in the first place, which I find a bit excessive considering you need to withstand this for a minimum of 50 loops to get the final achievement. Like this achievement's name, it really feels like an eternal nightmare.
Despite this, I highly recommend SoP to any fan of the shmup and Roguelite genre. It is truly one of the best games I have played in the genre, and I have played a lot of them. If you play without 100%-ing, it has about 50 hours of content, so it is definitely worth its price as well!
Por más que lo haya intentado, no he logrado conectar con este juego. No porque considere que sea un mal título, sino más bien porque su enfoque como rogue like me ha arruinado un poco mi relación con él.
He sacado el final "verdadero" y sé que luego viene el modo difícil y los loops, sin embargo... no tengo ganas de seguir con jugando. No hay nada que me motive a darle a otra run.
Al inicio, cuando me fijé en los elementos de rogue like de Star of Providence (la generación procedural, los distintos jefes y las armas), me parecieron bastante cool e interesantes a su manera. Era interesante poco a poco ir descubriéndolos.
La cosa fue cambiando conforme iban pasando las partidas. Eventualmente me di cuenta de que si bien había cierta variedad, era una variedad artificial. Al final del día todas las runs se sentían iguales.
No es como si fuera Gungeon para que la variedad y la espectacularidad de las armas fuera el motor principal para seguir jugando. Tampoco es como si se tratara de Spelunky, donde cada mínima variedad en las habitaciones era algo de lo que aprender sobre cómo interactuaban sus elementos.
Sé que después del primer final "verdadero" poco a poco puedes ir desbloqueando naves, no obstante, también sé que no es como que agreguen un cambio gigantesco en cómo se juega el juego en sí. O sea, no es Risk of Rain en ese sentido.
Dicho esto, fuera de todo el componente rogue like, sí que hay algo a lo que las personas se pueden agarrar (y entiendo que lo hacen) para seguirle dando al juego: el componente shmups.
Y allí sinceramente no sé cómo acercarme. No es que me haya disgustado esta parte del juego, pero tampoco me fascinó como con otros títulos que he jugado. Sin embargo, tampoco sabría decir exactamente qué decir sobre todo esto. Quizá simplemente no sé apreciarlo adecuadamente.
En resumidas cuentas, probablemente todo esto se trate de que Star of Providence no es un juego para mí.
He sacado el final "verdadero" y sé que luego viene el modo difícil y los loops, sin embargo... no tengo ganas de seguir con jugando. No hay nada que me motive a darle a otra run.
Al inicio, cuando me fijé en los elementos de rogue like de Star of Providence (la generación procedural, los distintos jefes y las armas), me parecieron bastante cool e interesantes a su manera. Era interesante poco a poco ir descubriéndolos.
La cosa fue cambiando conforme iban pasando las partidas. Eventualmente me di cuenta de que si bien había cierta variedad, era una variedad artificial. Al final del día todas las runs se sentían iguales.
No es como si fuera Gungeon para que la variedad y la espectacularidad de las armas fuera el motor principal para seguir jugando. Tampoco es como si se tratara de Spelunky, donde cada mínima variedad en las habitaciones era algo de lo que aprender sobre cómo interactuaban sus elementos.
Sé que después del primer final "verdadero" poco a poco puedes ir desbloqueando naves, no obstante, también sé que no es como que agreguen un cambio gigantesco en cómo se juega el juego en sí. O sea, no es Risk of Rain en ese sentido.
Dicho esto, fuera de todo el componente rogue like, sí que hay algo a lo que las personas se pueden agarrar (y entiendo que lo hacen) para seguirle dando al juego: el componente shmups.
Y allí sinceramente no sé cómo acercarme. No es que me haya disgustado esta parte del juego, pero tampoco me fascinó como con otros títulos que he jugado. Sin embargo, tampoco sabría decir exactamente qué decir sobre todo esto. Quizá simplemente no sé apreciarlo adecuadamente.
En resumidas cuentas, probablemente todo esto se trate de que Star of Providence no es un juego para mí.
Solid roguelite that's The Binding of Isaac structured. Enjoyable time and pretty addicting gameplay, also solid difficulty that challenges but doesn't feel like you'll never win a run. Runs are also on the shorter side compared to a lot of rougelite/likes if that's something you care about. Music is pretty solid as well.
RATING: Fantastic
This right here is probably my favorite "roguelike" game, thanks to having an extremely solid foundation the roguelike elements are built on top of. Weapons and their keywords feel easily comprehensible, the pool of weapons/upgrades/keywords/items is diverse but not overwhelmingly bloated, the general difficulty of the game is fair while still maintaining a good amount of challenge where run failures feel more like my own mistakes rather than bad luck, and the enemies are fun to fight against. Easily a must play for anyone who enjoys "roguelike" type games, and has plenty of secrets to uncover buried within.
This right here is probably my favorite "roguelike" game, thanks to having an extremely solid foundation the roguelike elements are built on top of. Weapons and their keywords feel easily comprehensible, the pool of weapons/upgrades/keywords/items is diverse but not overwhelmingly bloated, the general difficulty of the game is fair while still maintaining a good amount of challenge where run failures feel more like my own mistakes rather than bad luck, and the enemies are fun to fight against. Easily a must play for anyone who enjoys "roguelike" type games, and has plenty of secrets to uncover buried within.
Fantastic roguelike that ought to be mentioned in the same breath as Enter the Gungeon or Binding of Isaac. Tight gameplay, tough but fair encounters (well, some of the enemies can be a headache to deal with, but it's always fun), really interesting and varied aesthetic throughout with gorgeous retro visuals, and an incredible soundtrack. If you're a fan of EtG or BoI at all, I highly highly recommend you pick this one up.
Great shmup roguelike. Really hard and fast-paced.