This scratches a very specific itch, but if you do have that itch, it feels like home. This is an honest to goodness spiritual successor to Shadow Tower and its kin, and if you know what that means, that'll either frighten you dearly or set off long-dormant bulbs in your head.

Combat is dicey, it's easy to get lost, and savepoints are sparse—you're afraid to stray too far from what's familiar, and every adventure is a risk, exactly as it should be (although when more content drops, I am definitely drawing my own maps, navigation is TRICKY). The first couple hours of this game are perfect, and I do not use that word lightly.

That said, leveling is too fast or scaling is too generous, I can't tell which, and it stripped meaning from specialising in certain stats by making me a tanky dps powerhouse even as I focused on SPD and DEX. Items that offer +40 to max health or mana would be SUPER COOL finds, if only that wasn't easily attainable from just one level-up's worth of DEF or INT points, and leveling up is never terribly hard. The pre-castle area's placement also feels like a misstep, fracturing an otherwise gingerly interconnected world with too much space at [what I assume will be] a pivotal moment and flaunting the game's tonal hand too early. This is all peanuts though, and thinking about this game is just as rewarding as playing it. Also it just casually drops one of the best areas in any dungeon crawler ever as an optional side-route hinted at the moment the game kicks into gear. Lunacid brings me joy

Update from Nov 15th 2023
Finished 1.0, got what was labelled the "true ending", but I know there is still more to discover. But yeah, my original thoughts still hold up, I would highly recommend Lunacid!

Original Post from Jan 11th 2023
In my eight hour playtime, I have had multiple moments where I have said to myself "Maybe [insert silly solution here] might work?" with little to no confidence. To then immediately call myself a Gamer God Genius™ when it totally actually worked.

So much cool stuff going on in this game, and I want to detail none of it. Lunacid is walking the fine line of wearing all its influences on its sleeve, while also being its own thing. Going into the game knowing any more than "inspired by King's Field/Shadow Tower " is too much.

Not only is Lunacid a strong and easy recommendation to everyone who has touched any FromSoftware game (or game inspired by one) in the last 30 years. But also I would recommend Lunacid to anyone even mildly interested in the look of it.

Currently the game is still early access (Sep 2022 Castle Update), which means I would normally not score it yet and tell people to wait for a 1.0 release. But with the level of quality already on display, Lunacid would have to shit in my bed and infect my PC with malware for me to lower my 5 star score at a later date. (Also the games full price is $10 AUD, that's like only $3 real dollars!)

Edit after the full release: It is one of the greatest indie games I've played, the exploration and atmosphere is almost unmatched among the other games of its category. The ending(s) were more underwhelming than I would've expected, but the rest of the new content added is great.

Despite being in early access, the game has tons of content. I'd say currently (no new content after the castle at the moment) it has around 15 hours of content if you explore every nook and cranny. Almost all of the maps has many secrets, and one or two of these secrets are entirely new areas ! The areas are also very diverse: for example, some of them were genuinely scary, while others were calming. Great game overall, very fun to explore, and combat is satisfying enough. My only complaints are the minimal amount of bosses and navigation in a few areas. Other than these, I geniunely can't find anything negative.

I'll be honest; I've always loved King's Field and Shadow Tower and I find them amazing games but having played them recently, they are very old, clunky and slow games which naturally ends up in an outdated game of a genre already dead nowadays, and the truth is a shame, since FROMSOFTWARE doesn't feel like making more King's Field either, and it's understandable.

Several years later and in the middle of FROMSOFTWARE's golden age, it's normal that many people want to revisit their pre-Miyazaki titles, but again, they are not very accessible and go at 10 fps most of them, so they are games that I never recommend to play, despite liking them so much.

Lunacid on the other hand... changes this, offering all the good stuff these games offer with everything they needed, like showing a small icon when you're near a fake wall so you don't have to spam the interact button on every wall, The story is just as awesome and interesting, there are several enemies that are direct references to King's Field and Shadow Tower. hell, in the trailer you see 2 areas that literally look like they are taken from the first King's Field and the "hub" of Shadow Tower, and I think it's perfect.


I don't know, it's literally everything I would have asked for from a new King's Field and more. I'm really glad to see it out, and I hope it becomes popular soon or the genre wakes up, because I really love the unique feel of real-time first-person dungeon crawlers.
To buy it on Early Access from day one, it's pretty polished and has a lot of content.

Something I love about King's Field and also Lunacid, is the ability to use magic at the same time you melee, ie; do both attacks at the same time instead of just one at a time. Some weapons have their own experience levels, and most of the time they are worth having, even if you don't plan to use them, it's just fun.

Actually the difficulty of the game is pretty--- "bland"? like, for now the only maze-like levels translate to a lot of darkness only, there are no things like multiple doors and keys in each level that open different paths (the castle update changed this), which made me a bit disappointed by the simplicity of the levels, but it doesn't take away from the fact that they're fun, they're just pretty short and the only reason to revisit an old area is the totally optional and unnecessary grinding.

That said, Lunacid has a lot of potential and I can't wait to see which way it goes.

Ganhei esse jogo de presente de aniversário de um amigo meu e imaginei que ele estivesse me "trollando" com um jogo ruim qualquer com gráficos duvidosos que são lançados de tempos em tempos na Steam pra ganhar dinheiro fácil. Nunca fiquei tão feliz em estar enganado. Lunacid me proporcionou uma das melhores experiências em vídeo-games que eu tive em muito tempo. Mas um aviso: O JOGO AINDA NÃO ESTÁ PRONTO! É um acesso antecipado com muitíssimo conteúdo, mas não está completo. Isso pode frustrar quem tiver um certo nível de envolvimento com o jogo e perceber que não tem como atingir um final.

Nunca joguei nenhum King's Field ou Shadow Tower, jogos pioneiros da From Software que formaram a base para o grande sucesso da fórmula Souls e serviram de inspiração para Lunacid. Porém, acredito que a imersão proporcionada por esse mundo se assemelha bastante ao que esses títulos ofereciam na época, mas com uma gameplay modernizada e beeeem mais fluida. Os elementos dungeon crawler misturados com um universo medieval, visuais retrô inspirados em jogos de PS1, e até mesmo uma pitada de terror, formam uma mistura extremamente agradável!

Lunacid é aquele tipo de jogo gostosinho que não segura sua mão te dizendo quais são os objetivos e o que você tem que fazer, e que te força a prestar atenção em cada detalhe pra ter noção do que fazer para progredir. Às vezes, mesmo com o máximo de atenção possível, ainda é bem possível ficar perdido. E não me entenda mal, eu não acho isso ruim, eu acho MARAVILHOSO! Grande parte do segredo da atmosfera e imersão do jogo está nesse detalhe. Sem mapas, minimapas ou indicadores na tela de onde você deve ir, não lhe restam muitas opções a não ser mergulhar de cabeça neste mundo!

Embora isso seja um dos seus principais trunfos para a imersão, entendo que a falta de um mapa pode ser frustrante para algumas pessoas, especialmente as que não estão acostumadas a esse estilo de jogos que vem ficando cada vez mais no passado ou que não tenham uma boa memória espacial (meu caso). Mesmo com os estandartes que servem para ajudar a se localizar e marcar o caminho por conta própria, esses só vem em uma área mais avançada no jogo. Então, o sentimento de estar perdido vai ser beeeem constante ao longo da jogatina. Dei sorte que eu meio que gosto dessa sensação.

Uma coisa que não gostei mesmo foi o balanceamento. Depois de certo tempo evoluindo equipamentos, upando meu nível e progredindo no jogo, senti que estava ficando forte demais para os desafios que o jogo me proporcionou. Até experimentei aumentar a dificuldade, e na opção mais difícil consegui ter um pouco de desafio, porém nada tão desafiador assim. O lado bom é que eu chegar nesse nível "apelão" foi mais uma recompensa de ter explorado e prestado bastante atenção no mundo, e não algo dado de mão beijada.

Resumo de tudo: joguem Lunacid, principalmente se vocês gostam de jogos com estilo retrô, de King's Field ou Shadow Tower, ou se gostam de Dungeon Crawlers em geral. É uma maravilha, juro de coração! Apenas atentem-se para o fato de que é uma versão de acesso antecipado, e não sua versão completa.

Really fun game. Has a great gameplay loop of exploring and finding new ways to get more powerful and progress. It excels at the rpg dungeon crawling aspect. The environments are gorgeous and there are so many that really pulled me in. The music is amazing and overall this games strongest point for me is the atmosphere. I’ve been looking for a game outside of survival horror games that can capture serious atmosphere. This game does that but in its own way. And sometimes it’s genuinely creepy.

I don’t have much to complain about. All the stuff that annoyed me is mainly the traversal. Having entire maps in between the main ones with crystals is really frustrating. It can be hard to go back to explore more when it feels like the second you step away from a warp stone you can get lost at any moment. This game doesn’t have a map and that’s the other main problem. Almost every place I went I had such a good time until I realized I was stuck running in circles or missing some random corner or something. Would be nice to know where I’ve gone and have a visual for where I am at least. The game has banners to leave behind as you explore like bread crumbs. But that doesn’t do shit. It literally just makes you confused on an extra level when you end up looping no matter what. All these things were annoying but they weren’t enough to stop me from playing the rest of the game.

Btw the game is in early access. There’s still so much content to explore but just know that you’ll reach the end of what there is to do and you’ll just kinda have to realize that there’s no real ending. It’s more like you have to experience everything there is so far. Hopefully the game gets even bigger.

The game is just vibes. Like literally buy it and just walk around… kill some enemies (except for the snails and rabbits) find some secret walls and weapons. If that sounds like your type of thing you’ll love it.

Note: Completed every level available in the game at this point except for one small zone.

This is easily one of the best RPG experiences I've ever had. Lunacid wears its influences on its sleeve; inspiration from Silent Hill, Castlevania, and King's Field is present in everything from the soundtrack to the level design. KIRA clearly understands how to craft a retro ambience and that's what really carries the game. The Great Well is such a cool environment to explore, and while some levels are more interesting than others, they are all distinct, memorable, and well-developed. Books and plaques that hold important lore are strategically placed throughout zones, weapons and spells are found in abundance both in the open and in hidden rooms, and the enemies are consistently creepy and unnerving.

I only have two major issues with the game. The first problem is that I NEED more. Lunacid is brilliant and if KIRA can keep this quality up through the rest of the planned levels for the game, I will blitz through those, replay the entire game two or three times, and eagerly anticipate a sequel. My second issue is slightly more serious though, and that is with the difficulty. By halfway through the game, I was stupidly powerful compared to enemies around me, and I only ever got in trouble when I would get stuck between an enemy and a wall. By the time I got to the Accursed Tomb, I bumped the game difficulty up to the max and I was still breezing through every enemy encounter. Part of this could be because I had a mainly ranged build, but that leads me to a deeper problem, which is the combat. To me, there is no good reason to play anything other than a ranged character. Aside from a couple instances where you need specific weapons, you can use the double crossbow and twisted staff to make nearly every encounter a footnote in your journey. Melee combat on the other hand feels very clunky, as most enemies have some kind of effect or damage that they inflict if your body touches them, which is almost a guarantee given how many weapons thrust you forward into the enemy. I may just be playing wrong, but I wish the combat was more refined and that the game's difficulty was better balanced.

Despite this somewhat glaring issue, Lunacid is still phenomenal. The exploration alone makes it worth buying as travelling through the dreamy scenery to a mix of ethereal, ominous, and melancholy tunes is an experience I would've gladly paid twice the price to enjoy. I honestly am a little disappointed because I fear no DRPG will impress me this much again.

[Noch im Early Access]

Ich bin gerade in einer kurzen manischen Phase in der ich Stuff spielen will der vorher nichts für mich war. Ich glaub diese Cherry hatte legit Armored Core für mich gepoppt, aber dann war da letztens so ein Video über die Wizardry Reihe, außerdem hatte ich son bisschen Kings Field und Shadow Tower Abyss gespielt, und nun bin ich hier.


Lunacid ist eine sehr sehr deutliche homage an From Software Titel bevor sie vorrangig für ihre Bosskämpfe bekannt waren. Besonders ihre Dungeon Crawler Tage, sowie zahlreichen Spiele die allesamt ebenfalls einfach nur Kings Field nochmal waren, werden hier stark referenziert. Und als erstes fand ich es daher auch son bisschen flach, da Navigation sehr einfach war, der Kampf leicht von der Hand ging, nichts wirklich gefährlich war und man mit einem affenzahn durch die einzelnen Gebiete bretterte, ohne die Chance zu haben sie kennenzulernen bevor man mit ihnen durch ist.

Und dann stieß ich auf die Crypt. Ein sehr großes Gebiet, ein sehr düsteres Gebiet, ein sehr sehr verwirrend strukturiertes Gebiet voller Monster und Gestalten denen ich keinen Schaden zufügen kann.
Meine Aufgabe ist leicht: Finde drei Öfen um das Licht erstrahlen zu lassen. Und zwei davon ließen sich auch spielend einfach finden. Bis ich den dritten haben sollte, vergingen wortwörtlich Stunden.
Stunden die ich umherirrte, ständig die selben Wege abging ohne es zu merken, Feinde mühselig mit Magie zu bekämpfen, dazwischen immer mal wieder zu leveln. Oh, ich hab ein neues Gebiet entdeckt, sehr düster, mit rötlichem Wasser und grausamen Gestalten. Oh, hier ist ein neues Gebiet, wo es aber erstmal nicht weitergeht. Aha, noch ein neues Gebiet! Aber auch hier finde ich erstmal nichts.
Oha, aber eine neue Waffe habe ich gefunden! Und damit kann ich nicht nur die Monster in den Katakomben abwehren, sondern bin durch Zufall auch darauf gestoßen, dass ich damit bestimmte Gatter öffnen kann.
Yes, jetzt gehts endlich wieder voran!!
...
...
"Death Approaches"
...

und das wars erstmal wieder mit Fortschritt.
Erst nach viel umherirren, Gegner bekämpfen und leveln, bekam ich meinen DEX Wert irgendwann so hoch, dass ich mich mit Kollisionsbugs und der furchtbaren Pillshaped Collision Box von Unity hoch in ein Loch ziehen konnte. Und hier war er endlich:
Der dritte Ofen. Es dauerte wortwörtlich Stunden bis der Skill hoch genug war um dieses Pflichtziel zu erreichen. Es sollte noch weitere 10 Stunden dauern, bis ich merkte, dass ich von Anfang an einen Spell hatte um auch so schon hier hoch zu kommen.
Endlich hatte ich Licht. Endlich konnten Monster bekämpft werden.

...nur den Tod konnte ich immer noch nicht bezwingen.

Allerdings habe ich ein Buch gefunden! Und einen Geheimraum mit einer mysteriösen und out of place wirkenden Wunderkiste! Und nun wo ich den Moonjump gemeistert hatte, wusste ich noch zwei weitere Orte zu denen ich hin konnte jeder faszinierender als der letzte.


Lunacid ist ein Spiel das sehr harmlos anfängt, dich sehr einfach ohne viele Schnörkel in diese Art Spiel führt, und dich dann mit einer Wand trifft.
Endlose Labyrinthe, zu organisch sie simpel zu zeichnen, zu gleichaussehend um sich an der Architektur zu orientieren. Items, Zauber, Ereignisse die nicht erklärt werden und ausprobiert werden müssen. Unendlich viele Orte an denen man jederzeit nach dem roten Pfaden suchen kann.
Und versteht mich nicht falsch, all das ist GROSSARTIG. Ich liebe es Geheimnisse zu finden oder Geräusche zu hören deren Sinn oder Ursprung nie ganz klar wird. An einer Stelle habe ich ein Secret gefunden von dem ich wusste wo ich es einsetzen muss weil ich schon ein anderes Secret gefunden hatte, damit mir dann gezeigt wird wie ich ein anderes Secret finde, damit mir nie erklärt wird wofür das da sein soll. Es ist super faszinierend und macht diese Welt noch so viel interessanter und das Spielerlebnis sehr einprägsam.

Was ich aber nicht so mag ist, wenn eine große Anzahl an Optionen zu einer völligen Ziellosigkeit wird. Wenn mir eine Figur sagt, dass ich eine Quest machen soll, und ich nun die gesamte Welt mehrmals abgelatscht bin um diese Quest zu suchen, weil ich eine kleine Ranke an einem Baum übersehen hab.
Oder wie gerade die Katakomben mit ihrem Labyrinth einfach maßlos übertreiben, besonders wie häufig man es ablaufen muss.
Oder wie der einzige Punkt an dem ich in die Lösung gucken musste um weiterzukommen weil ich nicht darauf kam, eine nie erklärte Mechanik an einem Tor war durch das man durchkommen MUSS um das Spiel weiterzuspielen. Und gerade letzteres ist ein Fall wo ich wirklich hart dafür bin irgendeine Art Hinweis in die Welt zu werfen, weil ich mir sicher bin da nie drauf zu kommen.

Absolut esoterische Nonsense-Rätsel für optionale Waffen? Hell Yeah. Eine Joke-Quest hinter fünf versteckten Wänden? Les go! Aber wie man ins Schloss kommt, da wär ich legit nie drauf gekommen.

Ein paar andere Dinge die ich nicht mag, uh, das Spiel hat noch recht viel von diesem Unity-1-Mann-Projekt-Jank den man in sehr vielen dieser Retro-like Spiele sieht. Gerade wie floaty es ist, wie viel Weaponsway existiert, Kolissionsprobleme und besonders die Menüführung sind ziemlich nervig und passen find ich auch so gar nicht zu diesem Wunsch als retro-styled erkannt zu werden. Ich würd sogar so weit gehen, dass die Menüführung das schwächste am ganzen Spiel ist und driiingend überarbeitet werden sollte.

Denn abseits von ein mal stuck sein (für seeeehr lange) und diese Nitpicks, mag ich das Spiel sehr - sogar noch mehr nachdem ich es soweit es aktuell geht "durch"-gespielt hatte.

Denn nun hatte ich plötzlich ein paar neue, völlig andere Gebiete entdeckt, die wieder in nur noch mehr neue Gebiete führten. Oh, eine Geheimnis, wie cool. Oh, es führt an einen völlig neuen Ort, oh hier gibts eine große Herausforderung für eine besondere Waffe. Oh, sehr nice.
Oh, noch ein Gebiet mit völlig neuen Gegnern und Fallen. Und bisher völlig optional weil hier noch nicht viel ist.
Oh, eine Tafel mit alter Schrift.
Oh, ein neuer Zauber der mir eine ganz neue Fähigkeit gibt, sowie ein alter Zauber den ich schon die ganze Zeit hatte aber erst jetzt ausprobiert hab. Zeit die ganze Welt nochmal abzulaufen, Dinge auszuprobieren und dann in Paint.net ein paar Runen zu entschlüsseln während der Soundtrack im Hintergrund läuft.
Und es gibt ja trotzdem noch einiges zu entdecken! Da ist noch mindestens eine offene Quest, ich weiß noch nicht was es mit den Pflanzen im Wald auf sich hat, ein Gebiet ist weiterhin ausgegraut und dann soll ja sogar noch irgendwann was kommen, ist ja noch nichtmal fertig das Spiel!
Aber fürs erste hab ich glaub ich genug gesehen.


Es ist schwierig das Spiel so richtig zu "bewerten" weil die Höhepunkte beim spielen gar nicht so hoch sind. Aber wie viel ich an diesen Spiel denken musste, ausprobiert hab, zuletzt mit Kumpels geknobelt habe (danke Lewis und Rig 🥰) war das schon mächtig faszinierend.

Ich wünschte nur, dass man sich etwas weniger stark auf seine Inspirationen beziehen würde. Ja, ich weiß dass man From Soft inspiriert war und ein paar Referenzen sind auch nichts schlimmes. Aber wenn du einen NPC hast der so heißt und das macht wie ein Dude in Dark Souls, ein Ort genau so nennst wie etwas aus Shadow Tower Abyss und sogar Waffen 1:1 übernimmst, frag ich mich halt ob du nicht auch irgendwie deine eigene Identität und Legacy schaffen möchtest, statt nur die von jemand anderen zu nehmen.

This game is full of fun traditional fromsoftware dungeon crawling in a dank and broken world heavily inspired by Kings Field but From Games in general too. So if you don't go in for first person, slow-paced (initially) gameplay this won't be for you entirely. What's here though takes the creepiness in atmosphere, design, and music Kira is known for most prominently in Lost In Vivo, and jams that skill and passion for creating an original horror world, into a dungeon crawler. Lots of fun weapons to use and upgrade, secrets to find, and sometimes funny others nightmareish stories to come across. If environmental/written lore is your thing there's a lot here. Since the combat is the meat of the game though, I can say it's some of the best of the genre it's attempting to source inspiration from. It surpasses the classics which felt clunky at times with modern smoothness, while still controlling as expected within that deliberately constricted dungeon crawling genre. The main setback at the moment is getting caught awkwardly on some terrain particularly in the fetid mire, but also some awkward bugs such as NPC quest items and being stuck in menus. After finishing it I can definitely say this is my top indie game of 2023 but not without problems that are yet to be fixed.

Played up thru the current update (ends after the castle boss).

It's a very well done modernization of the King's Field/Shadow Tower style of FROM Software games. As Shadow Tower Abyss proved, dual analog goes a hell of a long way to making them more palatable.

My quibbles currently involve some of the levels being a bit hard to parse. The temple, sewers, and catacombs are the main culprits here. My smooth brain contains marbles and they clatter around and make it hard for me to figure out where to go sometimes. The temple is pitch-black, the sewers all look the same, and the catacombs are also dark and samey so the marbles roll around alot.

I will say those are the only areas I have issues with. The temple and catacombs are cool aside from me getting lost.

There are some holes in teh game's balancing. The spell to place a ball of fire down is ridiculously strong (it lasts 45 seconds??????? even 20 seconds would be OP) as is the ice trap spell (a boss I fought melted because I hit him three times with it). I know I missed gear but I only ever found 1 ice and 1 poison element weapons and both were pretty underwhelming. Other elements get better representation but hopefully later updates will rectify that.

I found the secret challenge tower, and found it overall easy. It has some cool unique enemies that I'd love to see in main areas in later updates, and the reward is well-worth the ascent.

The music is great as well, ranging from some early game tracks that I can't imagine not being King's Field 4 inspired to uncomfortable ambiance ala Silent Hill to catchy triphop. Some of the tracks were composed by certified Good Youtube Boy Thorhighheels so hells yea. (I also saw on Youtube an earlier update had a track straight-up using KF4 and Evergrace samples and while nice....yea better not use it to be safe)

I think the one thing I'm most looking forward to is seeing what zones end up being mandatory and what ends up 100% optional. I'll probably wait for the final update and write a new review based off that

At first I was super into the fact that there's an indie King's Field-like, but it left me disappointed. The atmosphere is fantastic horror-adjacent stuff, but the difficulty is busted. It feels more like Symphony of the Night in that first few enemies can steamroll you, but after an hour you just don't encounter any issues.

In a game with this kind of emphasis on atmosphere and secrets, its difficulty completely betrays it. What's the point of being scared if nothing can kill you? Why should I care about secrets if most it can give me is an HP up? The only boss was the only thing that gave me SOME trouble before I realized leaving little fire farts around him would sap his HP in a second.

I've beaten most of the content, and gotten the strongest weapon by clearing the hardest combat challenge by walking into it unprepared at like level 50 despite the fact that I leveled basically nothing but jumping and walking speed.

I'd recommend it, but hoping the author refines the difficulty.

This is a game best experienced going in fairly blind. I won't say it's perfect, but the experience is more than worth it, especially for the price.

The game is (mostly :3) very serious about what it draws from, and I believe it is mostly for the better. Whether in looks, musical identity, or overall design (eg. title cards, UI), it manages to improve upon what it references while keeping a wonderful distinct identity. This endeavor to keep and improve its source material seems to have come at a cost: including antiquated features and design choices for the sake of authenticity.

I adore the authenticity and immersion that this provides, but I'd be remiss to overlook the very real flaws. For instance, no control rebinds (which may just be an early access thing!) sucks. I had a fun time figuring 100% of the controls out, but that's still not good! Next, no map. I also had a fun time drawing out a map for areas I was exploring and backtracking, but it is absolutely a pain in the rear. Menus are clunky and slightly difficult to use effectively/efficiently, even more so as you get more items. Last and certainly not least on this unfortunate list is the combat. It's simple, and very easy to get a feel for. It is almost mandatory to kite enemies, blocking feels useless, and ranged weapons mostly dominate when you get a good one. I'm not sure if this would be better remedied by changing how the player fights, or how enemies... are. they are mostly extremely sluggish, which creates the other combat issues. I would not strongly recommend that be changed, I'm just noting it kinda sucks in practice. Most of this is an improvement on the older games it learned from, but seemingly refuses to learn why later games make some of the decisions they do.

It's worth noting that the game also feels... hard to traverse. I'm not referring to difficult enemies, or not enough crystals, those are fine. The world is just big, and you have stumpy little legs. Even after upgrading my stat quite a bit, using a certain weapon as a (very) janky movement tool, and using a spell, getting around within areas is a chore. It makes the exploring more sluggish, which can be slightly frustrating. You can argue that you can just put more points into it, but why? I don't want to. It feels wasteful past a certain point, and there doesn't appear to be any advanced movement tech

On to better things, there's a lot. It has sapphic vampire lore, a birb merchant, Snuggly Friend approaches, the LowTierGod spell, a great assortment of weapons, and too many secrets to find. The music fits everything perfectly, the sections that make you feel fear do so very effectively (i do not do well with that so uh, ye), I almost collapsed with relief every single time I saw a new save crystal, and went wild every time I found a cool new weapon. I gasped at some of the areas I found, and felt like I'd had water poured over me as I explored others. I could ramble on for hours about what I loved about this game, but much of it is better felt than heard.

The game is still in early access, and I haven't looked too much into its development, so some of this review may be false or misleading when or after it's posted.

TL;DR Fun dungeon exploration with some early access crust
Pros? 10/10 atmosphere and design, an explorer's wonderland, great music, stays interesting the whole way through (so far), Le Fanu, and it scratches that FromSoft itch.
Cons? King's Field combat limits it, big world teeny legs, no in game map makes backtracking suck, no key rebinding, and inventory could be less annoying.