Coelacanth

I haven't seen you post in any of them but there are some Weekly Recommendations threads in the various gaming communities you could post into if you don't want to make a standalone post.

D: !!! Damn. Alright, I'm in. everything sounds pretty great.

I'll be curious to see if you feel the same, but it's this thing where the game has a very unique and distinct voice and art direction, the characters are all slightly odd, the game has a lot of little systems and secrets and details that make you go "oh that's cool". I dunno it's totally vibes-based but it gives me a similar emotion. I guess the exploration focus in a dangerous environment also plays into it I'm sure.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts, it does look pretty neat. I hope you post follow-up thoughts somewhere!

Please don't let me discourage you, I've played some more today and the game is amazing - it's just not a game you play for the combat. It's not like Sekiro or Ninja Gaiden or Rise of the Ronin or something where you'd be like "damn, I just want to get in some fun fights today". Withering Rooms is all about exploration, story, world building, mood, atmosphere and light horror and so far it really shines there. The setting is really cool and it has a very unique vibe to it, almost hitting me the same way as the unique vibe of Dark Souls 1 hit me the first time I played it. So if you were itching for a roguelike and this is your vibe I think you'd like it a lot.

At the same time, I also really enjoyed Enotria too. I don't know what it is with me and somewhat janky AA games with a lot of heart, but it's a weakness I think. Greedfall was similar for me (though unfortunately I've heard the sequel is not so good 😓). I hope you don't run into too many bugs, I know there are still some in Enotria unfortunately. But I had a good time with it. Really pretty and well designed environments, cool setting and Commedia Dell'Arte theme, good music too.

Just set your expectations at "charming AA jank" and not "Lies of P level polish" and you'll be alright.

Ah, gotcha! Yeah that makes more sense. BG3 is very impressive from a systems perspective and how flexible many of the encounters are for sure.

Crazy to hear that about BG3, the world is absolutely static there. NPCs are just standing around waiting for the player and there isn't even a day/night cycle! The game has its qualities but a living dynamic world really isn't one of them.

This is what I tell my doctor regularly on checkups. Can't really say it's helping a ton but I sure do notice whenever I run out so it must be doing something.

I've seen enough to tell you that this will be quite a whiplash after Sekiro, that's for sure. This is more Dark Souls 1 than anything, although without the stamina. It's slow, it's clunky, you run away and kite a lot. If you unironically liked the combat in DS1 you might enjoy this.

But that being said, I think there is also a bit of a design choice in making the combat clunky and difficult. You're playing as a 14-year-old girl and it's a horror game. Enemies are supposed to be scary. You're not supposed to easily go toe to toe with everything.

Though in fairness I've also barely scratched the surface, and it looks like the game is both full of tools to use for combat and that this is the intention - use whatever you can to survive. Again goes with the horror. Spells, decoys, temporary invisibility, even a flamethrower according to the trailer. Plus hit and run attacks, hiding and backstabbing and so on.

We'll see where I land on it, but so far the rest of the game has been so intriguing that I don't mind the combat regardless.

Just started Withering Rooms today, a very unique horror roguelike with a great story, some superb world building and some janky ass combat.

Only 2-3 hours in but I am really liking what I see so far.

Most Wanted 2005 is an all-timer.

You can also try Chrono Ark if it gets stale, which I feel compelled to proselytize for every time roguelike deckbuilders come up now. Incredible game and super underrated somehow.